Sounds familiar?
It is to me. But then I am on the receiving end but if you go onto forums you'll see this sort of statement all the time. I often here the same reason as to why aquarium plants are dying and it's normally due to the fact that they have algae. They've been told (normally by shops) they need to starve the algae. Advice like this is sooooo old school yet the message is continually advised from shop owners who in my opinion clearly don't know what is best.
So hobbyists follow the advice given to starve their algae and totally stop the nutrients they are putting in. Algae dies back a little and plants totally disintegrate - the reason why is simply
you've just starved your plants to death...
My advice to anyone who is looking for advice is speak to experts, like us (and a few others) who know what is best, and not generic shops which peddle out these toxic messages. If your plants are dying you need to first work out why. First, are they actually aquatic plants? Sounds a funny thing to ask but there are still a lot of shops that sell non aquatic plants! This only adds to confusion to hobbyists who may be doing everything else right. Below are pictures of a few non aquatic plant - looks nice heh?
Problem is they will last a couple of weeks then start breaking down. These plants should live in your garden or conservatory, not in your tank. So if you have a plant that looks like these (normally they come without plant labels for identification), remove them and start again.
Secondly, are your plants getting the right nutrients? I'm recommending Neutro T for non CO2 tanks and Neutro+ for CO2 infused tanks.Your plants need no other nutrients with these ferts below.
You add these ferts daily because that's what plants want. Just like us, they want feeding every day - not so crazy is it? Feeding weekly is nuts and just marketing spiel to make it appear that the fertilisers are more economical then they actually are.
Are you providing your plants with carbon is gas or liquid form? If not, why not? Carbon is the backbone of plant growth and without it, your plants will suffer. Try Neutro CO2
Are you performing weekly water changes of at least 30%? Plants need clean water unless you want to grow algae and I'm guessing you don't.
If you follow these very basic steps I guarantee that you will have success with the majority of plants. Some that you might struggle with are advanced one's but we'll get onto that at another time.
If you're still having troubles, reply to this post.
27 comments
Hello Richard
Im new to plant keeping.I got my plants last Tuesday i bean puting in easylife profio and 1m a week of nitro i have stared to see a loot of dead levies floating on top is this normal for new plant.I have a good flow in the tank all the plant are moving my lighting is not the best it is t8 aqua-glo 20w and life-glo20w my tank is 90liters this is the second time i have given growing plants ago so any help would be appreciated
THANKS KEITH
Hello Dan
The answer is right in front of you and I quote:
I don’t add fertilisers
basically you’re starving your plants to death so why would they be growing? You’re giving them zero nutrients.
Liquid carbon is good – but it aint nutrition – it’s carbon so does a different job.
You’ve got several types of algae growing because you’re giving your plants no energy to grow, so they’re dying and algae loves that type of environment.
So here’s what you need to do
Add fertilisers – preferably Neutro T – available here http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/neutro-t-medium-p-6380.html
Keep adding the liquid carbon.
Make sure you have enough plants – minimum of 70% plant mass as this helps to stabilise things.
Reduce lighting to 7 hours per day for the next few weeks. Then max of 8 hours of lighting per day.
Perform regular water changes with a minimum of 30% per week. If you do more, your algae will hate it and die back!
Pressurised CO2 is great but get your own house in order first – if you can’t get it right without pressurised CO2, you sure as hell won’t with CO2.
Make sense? :)
Hello, I’ve had a variety of plants growing in my tank for a few months. A lot of them now appear to be dying back for no apparent reason. I have a 120cm tank with two t5 54w tubes with reflectors. My nitrates were high around 60-80ppm up until around a week ago when I got them down to around 20ppm. The plants were already dying before I lowered the nitrates. Phosphates are between 1-2ppm but may be closer to 1ppm. M lights are on for 10 hours a day and I don’t add fertilisers but I do add liquid carbon. I’ve got quite a few types of algae growing in my tank which I’m guessing this isn’t helping? I am in the process of setting up a pressurised co2 system, but what’s causing them to die off when I haven’t changed anything? Thanks.
Hi Richard – Does a 30% Water Change have a negative impact on the Fish?
I’m told Tropical Fish are sensitive to extreme changes.
Regards
Sean
Never heard that before – sounds like an old wives tale. There is so much rubbish online you have to be very careful what you read/believe.
30% in not en extreme change. 100% might be but I’ve never even known fish to have a problem with that either.