dwarf baby tears and dwarf hair grass

Mean Harri

Your substrate is fine: as in sand?
Wonder if it's compacting around the roots and choking it off.

Mean Harri

I retract my earlier statement on the bulbs I will be using. As it stands now it will be
1- Aqua Glo T8
1- Flor Sun T8
Not that anyone should care. But I spent 2 weeks straight approx. 40 hrs a week for each of those two weeks reading about lighting. Once I decided on the type, T 8, then I read to find the bulbs I wanted. Yeah yeah daylight bulbs from Home Depot. Not for this kid. :)~ raspberry

Angel079

While plants will be ok - once established bare in mind- to be moved and rearranged every once in a while; doing it permanently like every single week or so will indeed take its toll on the plants. But once you do indeed get them properly planted and they will start establishing they'll come right back.
So for the Sag: cut all the not so hot looking leaf's off, even if that means there's only te center with 2-3 leaf's left then; plant properly and do whatever you can to keep it planted & alone so it can root down for several weeks (ask your gardener for help).
All plants you named doing well with the exception of the Anubias are fairly undemanding plants (still needing a good water quality & blanace) however the Anubias are more ton the tochy side of the plant book if you will, so that's throwing me off right now why it is thriving while the Swords would not Do your Swords have root ferts? And you're sure there's no new leaf emerging from the center of it?
Vallis drive in just about anything just like Hygro or Pennywort - so that's really over my head for the moment as to why.

How long have these very plants been in that planting arrangement? And what brand water conditioner with combo of what liquid fert do you use?

I think I need to rest my head few hrs and re-think that issue with a cup of coffee in the AM, promised

stephanieleah

You're so sweet Natalie!

New plants (about three weeks in tank) = hygro agustafolia, pennywort, dwarf sag, java moss, 1 amazon sword (there's literally only one root on it), vallis nana
Old plants (almost two months in tank) = italian vallis, java fern, Anubias, 1 Amazon Sword, willow leaf hygro

The bolded ones are healthy and flourishing, the not bolded ones are not dying by not growing.

Okay here's a lot of random info about the plants that have been a good brainstorm for me.

Both swords have root tabs.

Actually I'm just meditating in front of my tank trying to find some common denominator and I noticed the swords do have new growth...even the one with only one root. They just aren't growing and for the most part the leaves are sticking straight up.

The sag has for the most part stayed put or the last week and I don't want to mess with it! I do see one new leaf coming out of two of the plants. There are large rocks on top of a very fine gravel substrate---almost sand, but not quite.

Both vallis are in corners and I wonder if there's too much shade.

Both hygros have reached the top (I haven't pruned them because I like the shade they provide) and I wonder if they are light-hogs. But I'm picking up some frogbit today from soneone so the shade is about to increase even more.

I use Kordon Amquel water cond (Kordon LLC - Kordon - The Original Amquel)

Flourish ferts (comprehensive one) twice a week 1mL
Flourish Excel daily 1mL

Algae growth in this tank is minimal but there.

There's also the hydra problem in this tank because I'm a chronic over-feeder. And the dp's are messy so they leave food everywhere.

Mean Harri

Flourish twice a week and Excel daily could be the problem. With no co2 injection that's pretty high fertilizing. Ok, with co2 injection ferting is a daily thing practically. You may not even need to carbon as it is a, what's the word, not a replacement but a "generic" form of giving co2 to the plants. It's a carbon supply. With lower lighting you may want to fertilize once a week or every other week? Natalie what ya think?
Maybe even just apply enough fert. to the water change water. I'll leave that diagnosis to others more experienced.

stephanieleah

well i stopped using excel in my other tank when i decreased my lighting (got algae problems...decreased lighting did the trick). but i still use it in my 10 because i think my bioload is small with on the dp's. not sure if i need it or not. i believe it keeps the algae in check (and there are many varieties of algae in the tank, just very minimal amounts that aren't problematic....yet).

Angel079

The Swords seem to be the main concern. They need to be planted & left alone so they can start out by establishing a root system and then the leaf's will start thriving.
Remember all the fuss in my new 55g and I had to take plants out again uhm maybe 5-6 weeks into the game and when I pulled up my Swords boy lemme tell ya they had dev one heck of a root system in that short timing.
The Pennywort does form roots in the gravel yes; but also a lot times you'll find them dev roots alone the stem; for this plant it really does not matter if its planted or used as a floater it'll thrive either way. And they do grow real quick; like 1-2" new growth per week is a very safe assumption (turning around looking at my tank def).

I know you had a concern a while back with your gravel not being deep enough; had you added some extra to help keep the plants down?

What just REALLY get's me reading all this from you: Hygo, Valis & Pennywort (from all my exp) are the same growing "rate" if you wanna say it like that; they're always the first plants in my set ups to reach the top and bush out. So one thrives for you but the other 2 don't....arg

Why do you use Excel if I may ask? I don't recall all your fish by heart but measure your KH & pH and you can either calculate the CO2 yourself (or if you're like me) use the table here on the bottom and see where you're at Measuring CO2 levels in a Planted Tank

Do you add the Flourish Comprehensive right away with your w/c? I'd give it like 2 days after the w/c and then add it just to be sure you're getting the full use for the plants.

stephanieleah

The not-deep-enough gravel was with my other tank...the gravel I ordered is on the way this week. Hopefully it lives up to my very high expectations : ) Clearly since I'm having trouble keeping plants rooted in this tank it's not just about the gravel, but also the, um, gardener : )

I use excel out of habit because i used to use it in my other tank before I re-did the lighting then there was no need for it. I just figure since there's no algae and only three dp's (and a few shrimp) i probably need it. But maybe I should check. My KH is around 4 degrees and my pH around 7.6 in this tank. I'm going to check out that link you sent to measure the CO2 needed...

stephanieleah

whoa...that page is something i'm going to hunker down with and study to understand. I'll have to do that later, or some morning with a cup of coffee (as you always say)

thanks : )

Angel079

If you have the spare time one day...there's a lot good ideas on that site.