Why are my aquatic plants dieing?

Question

about 2 months ago, i bought a bag os soil pellets that are very xpensive...the store owner said that the soil pellets would be able to allow plants to grow...so i bought it and about 8 aquatic plants...now everyday i would find leaves floating on top of the water and some of my plants are turning brown...however not al of them are like that, only 5 out of 8...i heard that when the plant turn brown it is a sign of bad water quality but so far, none of my fishes are sick..i tried adding in CO2 ablets and some nutrients but they do not work...why?...

amonia: 0

nitrite:0

nitrate: about 10ppm

Answer 1

First, it is lack of light, try using a fluoscent light, 6 hours per day.

Second, it needs CO2, tablets only work for a while, plants need them all the time(Make sure its for freshwater not marine plants).

Third, try putting some gravels on the plants' root, make it stable.

Answer 2

How much light are the plants getting a day? most need 10-12hrs. Are you using florecent bulbs or irradecent?  Plants can't grow under irradecent bulbs as the don't have the right light spectrum.   Do you have fish in the tank?  Plants take part of their nutriants from fish waste.   Are you gravel vacing other than to remove waste right on top of the gravel?  If so you are taking nutriants from the plants.     What type of plants do you have? certain species commonly die back when transplanted and then come back.   Did you buy the plants from a cold water tank and put them in a heated tank or vise versa?  This often causes plants to die.    

Answer 3

It could be to much light or not enough light.

Answer 4

In order for your plants to use those nutrients, they need the appropriate wattage of light for the species of plant.  Otherwise, you're dumping chemicals in the water that will never be used.  Think of it as a car, and you've got gas in it, but no battery to start the engine.  Pour all the gas in that you want, but you're not going to go anywhere.

Most plants need 3-5+ watts of T-8 flourescent light per gallon of water. If you've got T5, then cut that to 2.5-4 watts per gallon.  Most basic lighting setups for tanks provide about 0.8 watts per gallon.  You shouldn't assume that the light that came with your tank is sufficient to grow anything other than java moss and java fern.

They need it in the right spectrum and for the correct duration.

Plants will wilt when the temperature goes over 78 degrees.  Most aquatic plants sold in stores prefer 76 or lower.

Having too many plants will also cause problems. If they all suck up the co2 for the day in the first hour of life, then they'll starve the rest of the day away.   If you don't actually measure how many parts per million of co2 you have, then you can't really know if you've got too much or too little...   Co2 tablets don't last long.  It takes 20 minutes for all the co2 in a tank to dissipate after its supply is cut off.

Plants are not a beginner's thing.  They're a money maker for the stores, since they'll die so easy without proper care.