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My 12 gallon is my second tank and the first I tried to plant and I have had mixed results that I call a failure.
Plants

Java Moss Doing great but trapping crud not got by filter

Amazon Sword Not doing well no growth leaves shriveling

Saggiterius A mistake (cutting off 1 plants roots) has cost this plant dearly though it is growing slowly it looks bad

Valseneria Dead it was turning brown and clogging the filter so I was forced to remove it

I was thinking of removing everything other than the java moss and re-aquascaping it. My ideas...

Java Fern
Bannana plant
anubias (small)

This is my stock and some other info that may help.
12 Gallon
Black Sand
1 WPG
FISH
1 Female (I think) Bolivian Ram
3 Panda Cory's
5 Bloodfin Tetra's

Any help is apreciated.
(Note: Most of my bad plant choices were based on a lfs employee.)

"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man" Simpsons

Well iam not an expert in plants but i know some stuff....first off i would say that you fish limit is excedded or over. Second i would say that u need more wattage...how bright are your bulbs? Are they flourescent? You should think about getting some because you're gonna need some bright lights to feed those plants. Next i would say keep the moss and deffinatley get the bananna plant maybe two and maybe 2-3 nana anubias...they are descent sized and easy to take care of...this is for starters...you can decide what to do with the rest of you tank later on...but give it time and have fun!



PMP

20 GALLON LONG CURRENTLY EMPTY ~~~~ 10 GALLON W/ STRIPPED CONVICT

Sounds like incorrect type of light.

More info on your lights and type, the k rating if you have it will help.

'swishing' the java moss around by hand every few days should keep it free of gunk.


The Amazon Nut...

The tank stocking doesn't sound like too much (assuming regular waterchanges) as much as a bit off... both the cories and the tetras are schooling fish and as a guideline, should be kept in groups of at least six. I'd personally drop one of the schools and bump up the other one... but I guess that's up to you.

What kind of "black sand" is this? Onyx? Or something else? In any case, sand generally sucks for live plants. It compacts too readily, and doesn't allow for water/nutrients circulation around the roots. I had pretty much the same thing (Onyx sand, live plants) and couldn't grow diddley squat.

If you're going to keep the sand, either get some snails that dig in the substrate (malaysian trumpet snails), or get plants that aren't PLANTED in the substrate... like java fern, anubias... you can tie those to rocks or driftwood and they will happily grow there.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Hi,
First, the light...
One watt per gallon should work for a low light tank.
Be sure the bulb is a DAYLIGHT or SUNLIGHT bulb, the
"warm" or "Glow" or "Cool" light bulbs will probably
not give you the quality and quantity of light you need
for the plants.
Generally speaking, 1wpg, is at the bottom end of plant
acceptability, we usually try for 1.5wpg for low light
plants.

Second, the plants...
The Java Fern and anubis are low light plants and if
properly attached to something (lava rock, driftwood)
should grow. Because they are low light plants, they
will take months to grow. They won't spring out "over
night."

The Bannana plant is a high light plant and needs around
3wpg. The other plants you mentioned are also either high
or medium light plants and won't survive in a one watt
tank.

If you have 1.5 or higher, the Sword should survive and
grow. They are heavy root feeders, and if this is a new
tank (less than a year old and lightly stocked) then
there probably is not enough nutrients in the tank for
it. Or, you recently got the plant, and as with all
plants that are transplanted, they have to adapt to the
new environment. During that time they shed old leaves
grow new roots, and new leaves and consume stored energy
during that process. They look like they are dying off.
However, as long as the central part of the plant is
firm (not mushy) it should grow back.

WIth low light look for nearly any of the crypts, the
anubis, and the ferns. The mosses that you had are high
light demand plants.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Sorry, I forgot to put the bulb info it is an aquarium light 12 watts sorry no K value listed. Also the amazon sword is not recently purchased it has been in for 3-4 months. As for sand type I have no idea unfourtantly threw away the bags a long time ago. I think I was unclear on the valsneria, it was 100% dead the whole plant was limp and brown.
I still am unsure about the banana plant as I have read and heard many things some say low light some say high light so which is it??

"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man" Simpsons

Here is a quick tid bit about your amazon sword. Most of the time these plants are grown out of water because they grow faster that way. When this has been done the leaves will be more rounded than sword shaped. As stated before the old leaves will die off and new ones will grow from the center of the plant. When the old leaves start to die off it is ok to cut them off this way the plant doesn't have to use energy to try to prepare the leaf. These plants get there nutrients from the gravel so if you can find some tab ferts the sword would really like it. I use Flurish tabs with mine.

Also your lighting makes a big differnce. Try and find a light that is made for growing plants in aquarims. Aqua-Glows work pretty well for me.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

We still need to know if your light is a regular incandescent bulb, or a flourescent.

The Amazon Nut...

flourescent

"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man" Simpsons

So if I bought some flourish tabs and a plant light then the plants would improve??

"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man" Simpsons

Ok I think I got it now thank you all for anwsering my questions though I may not have done so well in providing info. I am going to upgrade the bulb, look into ferts, and mabye look into CO2 (might not though). I will probably re scape I am thinking of using java fern, bolbitus, and small anubias along with a new rock setup. I am thinking about crypts but I have heard they take a while to get set in a tank. Again thank you all for the help this website has been great in anwsering my questions and helping me into this hobby.

"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man" Simpsons