Bump for the fact that I can't seem to get any 'planted' plants to thrive in my 50 gallon...The floaters (water lettuce) are doing well, and the water lilly bulb I planted months ago sprouts new leaves about every other week, but I know my big Pleco is munching on the leaves-holes and floating disjointed leaves...The other plants have the brown leaf ends and even my bamboo just stays the same, until maybe a week ago I am finally starting to see new growth.
zebvance- look into some fertilizer for planted aquariums, since I see sand only, it is most likely that your plants are starving from lack of nutrition. In my tank, it started as just a gravel substrate, with one section I put sand into to give the plants something to grip onto...After a few months, I was able to plant most anything and it wouldn't die, because of the decaying fish food and poo, there were nitrates and such to feed my plants. Another good idea would be to add a simple CO2 reactor, these can be purchased new for under $30,and it take tablets to create the CO2, these last a couple mouths I hear.
