Help Choosing Plants For My Fish Tank

While the plants you mention might be OK, they're not necessarily the easiest and would probably not thrive under only 7 hours of light a day. Easy plants tend to be the ones that look like "weeds" to many people. I've found Amazon swords strange, they have grown well in two of my tanks, poorly in two and died in the others even though all the tanks were set up in the same way.

Tropical plants naturally receive 12 hours of daylight and will generally do better the closer to this they get. Many of the easier plants are not actually tropical and can do with less, while the Java fern, Java moss and Anubias are among those which can do with the least amount of light.

The Aponogeton should be fully submersible, but all of them are bulbs and tend to die back to the bulb for a rest from time to time which can leave things looking rather bare until they grow back.

I assume the plants which you said have melted away were in your old tank rather than the big one you have used pond compost in? If so, you should find that they do better in the new tank.

If plants do badly it could be lack of nutrients  (unlikely with the compost layer and your hard water), not enough CO₂ (fish will increase this) or not enough light.

In my opinion, CO₂ should only be considered if all the other factors are OK, i.e. nutrients and light. You should be OK for nutrients with your compost base. Fish poo will add to this, though the more gravel cleaning you do, the less nutrients get through to the plants.

Fish are pretty efficient at producing CO₂. One of the original ideas behind the "balanced aquarium" was that plants would use up the CO₂ produced by the fish. As far as I can tell, your tank is still quite lightly stocked and as you add more fish and the existing fish grow, so they will produce more CO₂. You also only have a relatively small number of plants and so they won't need that much CO₂. As I remember you have hard water it is likely to have high carbonate hardness and most aquatic plants can also use the bicarbonate ions in the water instead of CO₂.

There is always one limiting factor to plant growth and so if, for example, it is light then no matter how much extra CO₂ you add will make no difference whatever unless you increase the light.

If you look here http://tropica.com/en/inspiration/ then you will find tanks that probably do need added CO₂, very densely planted with difficult plants, very strong lighting, added nutrients and few, if any, fish. Plus a lot of work on an almost daily basis to keep them looking good. Not practical for most of us who like to keep fish without TOO much work.

I installed CO2 in my planted tank and I thought it made an obvious difference. But when I cut back on maintenance requirements, it was one of the first things to go (or not be renewed). While trying to identify the limiting factor in my tank, I discovered that I had v. low calcium and nitrates. So I now add calcium nitrate at water change, as well as ferropol and as long as I do my water changes frequently enough,  the plants do very well.   Last time I changed my light tubes, I went for one that was noticeably more yellow. I was really impressed with how much my limnophilia improved from this one change. So much so, I've removed most of it because it started to take over!

Wow, that's gorgeous. I'd need to increase my filtration considerably with that many plants obstructing the flow.

My tanks have just as much luxuriant growth as the one in the picture without any fertilisers, added CO₂ or special lighting. Using more fish will provide plenty of fish poo fertiliser and  CO₂. But you have to be patient, it takes time for plants to grow and some are much slower than others. Whichever method you choose, plants will continue to grow after they reach the level of growth you want and will then need some "pruning". An aquarium is a living system, like a garden, not, like a room that you decorate with inanimate objects and which stays the same until you want to change it.

I gues I meant the flow, rather than the filtration. I've already supplemented with a small pump to improve overall circulation and would probably have to upgrade that. I have a tank with a drilled base so the flow from the filter is all at one end of the tank. I have discovered there is a sweet point in my tank with max plants and still sufficient flow everywhere.

I reckon it took me the best part of a year to get my plants how I wanted them. Then I was so used to tweaking that I couldn't stop and my ultimate design changed!

Just a good news update, a fortnight into carbo and profito and plants are perking up no end, vallis is greener, and tiger lotus bulbs are putting on a hell of a spurt so i'm well pleased

If we're talking about the same product - EasyCarbo, or liquid carbon, apparently it contains gluteraldehyde which is usually used to sterilise medical and dental equipment. It's also supposed to kill algae. I would check it with the producer though, because I got this info second hand.

Either they want to keep it a secret or it's something so simple that you could buy the ingredients much more cheaply. I know they call it "liquid carbon" which is something I doubt you would find in a chemistry textbook.

I vaguely remember a conversation about liquid carbon, a long time ago. Think it was possibly a post on the previous incarnation of this site. I will see if I can dredge up the memory.