# New to Live plants...failing already



## slowngreen (Sep 17, 2012)

Hey every body. I bought (online) 5 dwarf sag plants and they looked real healthy when I got them, 5 days ago. I planted them according to online instructions. Yesterday they were looking pretty haggered, then this morning when I woke up, they were all gone! All the leave were floating or stuck in my filter. The roots are still sticking out of the gravel though.

Prolly a foot in the mouth thing here but my gravel is small on bottom then a layer of larger gravel on top. Did I maybe just plant them to hard/forcefully and thats why they detached from the roots and died or what? 

Thought about picking up some sand and putting it on top of the gravel and trying again....?


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## NYREPS (Jun 18, 2011)

They will bounce back don't touch them sag always melt,once they bounce back they will spreads like wild fire


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## ThinkTank (Aug 2, 2011)

If you top your gravel with sand, it will eventually settle to the bottom and you'll still have gravel on top (unless you use a lot of sand). 
Most aquarium plants are pretty resilient so being rough when planting them probably won't cause them to die off.


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## slowngreen (Sep 17, 2012)

Ok good to know guys. I just knew I had killed them lol. Thanks for the info.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Do you see any sprout at the roots? How longhas your tank been set up? Do you have any nutrients in your rocks or gravel?


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## slowngreen (Sep 17, 2012)

My tank is a 50g and has been setup for over a year. No added nutrients. I didnt research much before buying the plants. All I can see sticking out now are really really really fine stands maybe 2 inches long...


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

If you have inert substrate and no nutrients then I'd say that you have or will starve your plants to death. The only way they can get nutrients is from tons of fish/plant waste enriching the soil or you adding nutrients. Sand and gravel do not have the ability to absorb and store nutrients ( low CEC). Unless your water where you live is highly nutrient rich then there is nothing for your plants to eat



slowngreen said:


> My tank is a 50g and has been setup for over a year. No added nutrients. I didnt research much before buying the plants. All I can see sticking out now are really really really fine stands maybe 2 inches long...


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

What kind of light do you have? 
Fluorescent? LED? Other?
What size is it? 
Does it have a number on it like 6500K or a name like 'Daylight'? 
How ling do you have the lights on?


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## slowngreen (Sep 17, 2012)

I have florescent 48" bulbs, one is a ....dont know, just a Philips 32w that was sold with the fixture Im using (yes this is a very cheap setup) and the other is a _True Actinic 03 Flourescent . _ Prolly doing it wrong but I have my lights come on around 7am and they go off every two hours, wait and hour then come on again on a timer till night time then they are off all night....Sorry Im coming in as such a newb with lack of searching.


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

The Philips... is it a T-8? (1" diameter) There are ways of looking up info about the light. Try www.usa.philips.com. On my computer the site loads slowly, and it takes a while to find info. What you are looking for will probably look like a chart with a series of arches, showing what wavelengths the bulb puts out. 
(Very hard to find...)

The Acitinic (I looked that one up) is a specific bulb for marine tanks that replicates the full tropical noonday sun shining into the coral reef. Our aquatic plants do not use that range of wavelengths. Most come from tropical streams or rivers with a fair amount of trees surrounding or overhanging, and the water often has more organic matter in it. I would swap out that bulb for one that is better for plants. It may be labeled 'plant and aquarium'. It does not light up the tank very well according to our eyes, it looks sort of pink-purple when I look right at the bulb. But it has exactly the right wavelengths that plants use.

The timing may not be all that bad, really. There is a way of timing the lights like that, called 'Siesta', seems to reduce algae. Usually it is just one longer break rather than several, but I do not see that is a problem.


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## slowngreen (Sep 17, 2012)

Thanks for all the tips/advice. Been thanks about swapping my fish into another tank while I build a back ground (or paint) in this one. If so then I'll prolly start from the substrate up and go from there instead of just tossing some plants in like I did.


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