plant nubie question

[mostlycichlids]

last week I bought my first plants I bought some anacharis moneywort and some java fern. My java and moneywort seem to be ok but it looks like some of my anacharis are dying turning orangish and loosing thickness. The tanks are

5 gallon 15 watt bulb one beta 2 java fern 3 anacharis 1 moneywort whisper 5-15 filter

10 gallon 15 watt stock bulb 3 juvi tetras 2 juvi corys 1 rubberlipped pleco 5 anacharis whisper 20 whisper 5-15

20 gallon two fancy goldies 15 watt stock bulb 4 anacharis 3 moneywort.penguin 200 whisper 5-15
there seems to be one anacharis dying in each tank the rest are pretty healthy looking.

I ordered a 65 watt fixture for the 20 gallon on the way.

Should I be dosing fertilizer and if so how much how often? What should My Nitrates be like? I do 50% water changes weekly and my tap water has a small trace of Nitrates like less than 5ppm on average. I took the carbon out of my filters. My main concern is the dying anacharis am I doing something for them to be dying what levels should I be checkinh on a regular?

Oh I use prime as my water conditioner is that ok to use with plants?

 

[WyldFya]

DON'T USE PRIME! IT NEUTRALIZES NITRATES, SO THAT PLANTS CANNOT USE IT! The problem is the lighting. Anacharis needs at least 2 WPG, and it needs to be intense lighting. 15 w over a 10 that is flourescent isn't intense enough. It is more than 1WPG but it doesn't have the ability to grow plants the same. For ferts it depends on your lighting schedule and if you have co2 in some form. How do you filter these aquariums? HOBs are a no-no, as are air bubblers. Nitrates should stay aroun 5-10 ppm for red plants, and 5-30 ppm for general plants.

 

[mostlycichlids]

ok so what would you suggest for a water conditioner? I dont do co2 and the light are 12h on 12h off. What fertilizer would you suggest? The nitrates are below 5ppm I thin this may be the problem too. The lights I know need to be more intese but dont want to upgrade right now.

 

[WyldFya]

For ferts I would do greg watson ferts. I would look at CO2 injection. For a tank that size you would only need a sugar/yeast reactor. For my planted tank I use RO water now, but before that I used Sodium Thiosulfate.

 

[mostlycichlids]

thanks for your replies and help wyldfya.

 

[WyldFya]

No problems. Planted tanks are a whole new beast to jump into. I was probably more lost than anyone ever has been when I first jumped into planted tanks.