I can't seem to grow anything (except algae!)

[max1zzz]

I'm really struggling to get anything to grow long term in my 4" tank, anything I plant seems to grow ok for a couple of weeks than will start dying away, the few plants that do start to get established soon start getting covered in algae...

The tank currently has a good couple of cm of tropica plant substrate at the bottom capped with 1" or so of sand, and previously (when had the Fluval Roma 240) had a similar amount of a different substrate (JBL?) capped with a similar amount of sand, I have tried several plant fertilisers over the last few years (TNC lite / Complete, EI ferts mixed to APF's starting mix, Tropica Specialised Nutrition) all of which made little too no difference. I have also tried liquid carbon (Seachem Flourish Excel) which seemed to help some plants, but caused others to develop holes in their leaves. I did try CO2 injection as well but after causing a filter crash that lost me most of my shrimp population I don't want to be trying that on this tank again if I can avoid it!

The tank is currently lit with a 90cm 35w Arcadia Classica Stretch which TBH I have never been that impressed by, it's always seemed a little on the dim side (Which is a shame as the marine version I have on the salty tank is brilliant!) before that the old Fluval Roma was lit with T5's which the Java ferns grew well under but not much else did and before that I had some generic Chinese RGB LED tape with seemed to be the best of the bunch!

Here's a picture of the tank, it's not terrible, but nothing is growing quite as well as I would like...

[Gingerlove05]

After you have first planted aquatic plants they do tend to melt (leaves dying off) initially as they are adapting to new conditions and put their energy into establishing roots. If you clip any yellow/brown or algae covered leaves off it will encourage the plants to grow new leaves as the plant has more energy to put into the roots and new leaves instead of trying to repair the damaged leaves.
You can also try rubbing the algae off or spot dose hydrogen peroxide onto the leaves/algae. The HP will kill the algae but doesn’t affect anything else as the reaction in water produces water with an extra oxygen molecule, just dont squirt it directly onto your livestock

[Martinspuddle]

Don't despair, I could never get Vallis to grow...


click to enlarge

I don't use Co2 injection either, I daren't!

As @Gingerlove05 said but also remember, light, nutrients, daily feeding and water flow all goes to help maintain healthy aquarium plants.

[max1zzz]

@Gingerlove05 what percentage H202 would you use for that? A quick 20 seconds on amazon brings up 3% as the most common but 6% and 12% also seem to be available

@Martinspuddle Funnily enough I managed to get Vallis to grow really well in the first incarnation of the Roma (Sand base with no plant substrate, stock T8 light's and later the chepo LED's when the t8's failed, no ferts, no co2), they grew so well I had to keep pulling the damn things up, I even had them gowing under the BN's log! Could never get the damn things to grow nearly as well after the tank got moved and redone! I'm actually trying to get some to fill that gap on the left but nowhere (trustworthy) had them in stock when I was looking last week

[Stephen]

Looking at the image can you tell me what each item is please?

On the far left, the clear pipe?
Is the black ribbed pipe behind the tank?

On the far right, there's a heater.
Are they two outlet pipes, one grey, one dark green/black?

What is the pipe on the sand in front of the wood?

Can I also ask why is the sand deeper on the right than the left?

Thanks

[Gingerlove05]

3% or 6%
You dont need a lot, just enough to squirt a bit on the algae affected areas. It will discolour and go orange/brown fairly quickly, you can then rub it off or your fish might have a go at it

[max1zzz]

@Stephen All the pipe's (both the black ribbed ones and the clear ones) are filter pipes. The tank has 2 external filters on it each of which has one clear and one black ribbed pipe, the reason for the mix of pipework is that the tank has two small cabinates under it each only big enough for one filter, the shorter pipe on each is the black ribbed pipe (originally from the inlet / outlet kit of my old fluval 406) whereas the longer pipe form each is the clear pipe (New pipework form a few months ago with intake / outlet fittings from the Eheim filters - I would have used he Eheim fittings on both with all new pipework but I could only find one set of Eheim fittings at the time)

Intake for both filters is on the far right, outlet is on the far left.

The bit of pipework on the floor should be clipped up in the front left of the tank to reduce the amount of the floating weed on the surface of the tank that gets pushed underwater buy the flow out f the filters. I hadn't noticed that had come loose

The sand is deeper on the right due the the filter outlets both being at the back left of the tank pointed at the front of the tank which has slowly washed the sand into that slope. It's not a ideal setup but the tank has a glass rim that only has holes for pipework in the extreme right and left corners and I couldn't think of a better way to position them at the time (Either that or it's the pesky corys digging up the tank again! )

I hope that all makes sense, it makes sense to me but by the time things like this have been through my brain and been typed in they can become somewhat less clear

@Gingerlove05 Thanks, I'll order some whichever one ends up being cheaper then

[Stephen]

@Stephen All the pipe's (both the black ribbed ones and the clear ones) are filter pipes. The tank has 2 external filters on it each of which has one clear and one black ribbed pipe, the reason for the mix of pipework is that the tank has two small cabinates under it each only big enough for one filter, the shorter pipe on each is the black ribbed pipe (originally from the inlet / outlet kit of my old fluval 406) whereas the longer pipe form each is the clear pipe (New pipework form a few months ago with intake / outlet fittings from the Eheim filters - I would have used he Eheim fittings on both with all new pipework but I could only find one set of Eheim fittings at the time)

Intake for both filters is on the far right, outlet is on the far left.

How are the outlets on the left positioned?

Also what is your water hardness & water temperature? This can affect plants.

[Martinspuddle]

@Martinspuddle Funnily enough I managed to get Vallis to grow really well in the first incarnation of the Roma (Sand base with no plant substrate, stock T8 light's and later the chepo LED's when the t8's failed, no ferts, no co2), they grew so well I had to keep pulling the damn things up, I even had them gowing under the BN's log! Could never get the damn things to grow nearly as well after the tank got moved and redone!

Yep, it's doing that, starting to look like one of my previous aquariums.

[max1zzz]

@Stephen All the pipe's (both the black ribbed ones and the clear ones) are filter pipes. The tank has 2 external filters on it each of which has one clear and one black ribbed pipe, the reason for the mix of pipework is that the tank has two small cabinates under it each only big enough for one filter, the shorter pipe on each is the black ribbed pipe (originally from the inlet / outlet kit of my old fluval 406) whereas the longer pipe form each is the clear pipe (New pipework form a few months ago with intake / outlet fittings from the Eheim filters - I would have used he Eheim fittings on both with all new pipework but I could only find one set of Eheim fittings at the time)

Intake for both filters is on the far right, outlet is on the far left.

How are the outlets on the left positioned?

Also what is your water hardness & water temperature? This can affect plants.

They are pointed at the front of the tank

Hardness is 7.2 degrees and temp is 24C