TPolk Posted November 7, 2021 Share Posted November 7, 2021 Hello everyone, I have a few questions for anyone who is very well versed in aquatic horticulture and knows how to grow plants the best under various parameters. Continuously, I have tried and tried to grow plants to no avail. I can keep most plant species alive. I have little to no deficiencies detectable, yet the plants remain stagnant in their growth. After searching on online forums and YouTube for hours and hours over the course of a year, studying and trying new tactics, I still have little to no growth within all of my plants. The only plant I have had success with in anubias sp.. I have the readings of each: the water out of my tap, my tanks current water and tap water after 24hrs of gassing off posted down below. My tank is a 29g tank, inert substrate with aquarium coop root tabs throughout the tank that are replenished every month. I also dose easy green every other day and add 2 tsp of seachem equilibrium after each weekly 50% water change(hence my gh being a few degrees higher in my tank water). The plants look healthy, just little to no growth. The only other possible option I could think to be wrong is that there is some sort of cO2 deficiency in my water. I started injecting cO2 as of yesterday. Any input would be greatly appreciated! Out of the tap: -2° kh -4° gh -6.8-7 ph -0-5ppm nitrates Tank water: -6.5-6.6ph -2° kh -7° gh -5-10ppm nitrates 24hr tap water gassed off: -7-7.2 ph -2° kh -3° gh -0ppm nitrate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scapexghost Posted November 7, 2021 Share Posted November 7, 2021 What kind of light are you using and for what duration? One thing i would try is significantly reduce water changes. Try doing 25% water changes every other week. 20-40 ppm nitrates is what is generally recommended for planted tanks, unless you are keeping really finicky fish 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted November 7, 2021 Share Posted November 7, 2021 Do you have pictures of those plants? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPolk Posted November 7, 2021 Author Share Posted November 7, 2021 (edited) @Scapexghost I am using a finnex stingray 2, it is set on a timer. I had a bit of hair algae starting to develop(on the other side of the tank that doesn’t get natural sunlight) so I lowered the lighting period from 8 hours a day to 7 hours a day. Other than that, I deal with almost no algae on the glass or any other surfaces. I do slack on water changes, I used to go every two weeks but I have significantly increased my bioload in the tank in the last few months so I usually stay on top of quick water changes, just lowering the water level and filling it back up(no siphoning of detritus since there is none). It is filtered by a fluval 306. The tank readings I posted above are a day after water changes, so nitrates seem quite low. The tank is a South American(based) tank, stocking consists of: 5x sub adult Bolivian rams 4x skunk Corydoras 7x von rio tetras 1x ottocinculus Plants: Dwarf Sagittaria helanthium boliviarum christmas moss limnophila heterophylla Edited November 7, 2021 by TPolk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TPolk Posted November 7, 2021 Author Share Posted November 7, 2021 @Mmiller2001i do not have any right now but I will be sure to get some Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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