Newbie

[Aqua junky]

I'm completely new to the planted tanks! I'm trying tho. I bought a bunch of plants from a local Petshop and I'm pretty sure they had no idea what they were called. Here's a few pics and mu parameter.
Tank-55G
Lights are Amazon Special 
Full Spectrum- 7000K
Timer set- 9hrs
Fertilizer- Easy Green (Aquarium Co-Op) 
Dosing-every 2 weeks (recommended dosage)
Water Change-Every 2 weeks
I used root tabs twice in past month
Substrate- Cichlid Sand 
parameters are
Amonia-0-.25ppm
Nitrite=0-ppm
Nitrate-40ppm
PH-8.4 (Well Water)
KH-API test drops 15 drops 200ppm
GH-API as well 9 drops 150ppm
I know they say plants will melt and grow new runners but I'm not sure if this is happening or if it's just dying. Plants have been in the tank for 1 month
HELP

[Alison]

Hello! I don't see signs of impending doom on your plants so it could just be a bit of melt and acclimation. Sometimes even the plants you get locally are not established. I found i had a lot more success with my stem and other substrate planted plants when I doses with flourish advance for a few weeks. This product contains a hormone that helps stimulate root growth.  A lot of the stem plants I aas getting were basically fresh cuttings and it was murder for me to get them to root. This helped me a lot and my latest batch of stems are starting to do well and look less sad.  It's hard to be patient but even the healthiest plants will experience some set back and acclimation period before taking off.

 

Don't be discouraged if some don't do well, just try something else. I have a crypt wendtii that is doing fabulous but my crypt balansae rotted and never took. Experiment and try lots of things. I've been having really good luck with anubias, hygo agustifolia, aponogeton type plants, smaller crypts and  vesuvius swords. I've planted a couple of runners and harvested a couple more and brought them back to my lfs for credit and trades.