New to planted

[caoder]

Hello all,
i've been reading lots of posts on MKF and there is a lot of knowledge here.

I would just like to ask what i should do to start a planted aquarium.

Right now we have aquarium sand in a 20g roughly 1" thick and i tried planting a few plants in it. i got some java ferns and cabomba or ambulia not sure.. but all of them cept the java ferns have died off. they kept being broken / melted. the java ferns are just growing on black leaves of the ferns. but none of it is growing large leaves only small leaves smaller than an 1" long. I change water / vacuum the sand every week or so. its stocked with a pleco, senegalis, 1 female betta, 1 crawfish and 2 platys. i've been adding flourish regularly. but it helped first couple of days but then very little effect. I'm running a 18" aquaglo bulb and a HOB filter with water level topped off so that the water isn't cascading into the aquarium.

i'm now trying to to figure out how i can get these plants to take off and glow. but right now it needs to be very low budget.

 

[caoder]

also... i forgot but am i suppose to take the plants out of the sponge and plant them in the substrate?

 

[Owain4]

Java ferns are pretty good growers, i've had one that has doubled in size and i dont even have any type of fertilizer in it. What helps for rooted plants is if you get root tabs. they are fertilizer you put into the substrate by plants so it helps their roots grow and get nutrients. Camboba you dont have to take out of the sponge because it is not a true rooting plant, the sponge is probably holding the stems together. Aslong as their is new plant growth thats okay. how long have they been in the tank? some plants melt when they get into new tanks just to get used to the conditions of the tank

 

[caoder]

I'll be sure to get some root tabs and the cambomba well it kinda all melted / eaten by the crawfish that died yesterday due to a bad shed.

Would it be beneficial if i took everything out, put down a layer of soil from the back yard and then cover it with the sand? The soil out back is pretty spongy and dark.

 

[Owain4]

Crawfish molt their shells so they often will appear to be dead and soft but they are just molting. they shed their old shell and grow a new one. I wouldnt personally add soil, it might just be too much of a mess

 

[caoder]

yea.. i've seen one successful molt from him and this time things just wasn't right. he had a gill sticking out the side no energy/ other things for 2 days. I learned that i hadn't provided enough iodine and minerals for him (also fed him too much protien based foods so he ended up shedding to soon ect.). But back to plants if i put down some potting soil and plant the aquarium well, i read that i shouldn't vacuum the bottom and just let the plants and snails in there do the work of keeping the sand well aerated and loose. I've also seen this person's low tech tank with soil / gravel and it just bloomed, so it's just got me wanting to try it. i guess plants are something that needs a lot of experimentation or knowledge haha, thanks for the replys.