Plant Help

Hi all, hope your well

So i got my new tank and posted pics but then decided to get real plants.   
I opted for easy to keep and got the twisted vallis and dwarf ambulia oh and the red coloured plant that was in with some water whisteria that i bought (sry about the spelling lol)
The vallis has gone an orange/yellow and doesn't look too good but the ambulia is growing like mad
Pics attached
I only have small gravel in there
Any advice would be welcome

Hi,

Matt will probably reply but, in the meantime, a few questions:

1 What lighting do the plants have?
2 Are the plants' roots only in gravel?
3 Are you using any liquid fertilizers?
4 Are there any fish in the tank?

This will do for the moment.

JPC

I'd suggest some root tabs for fertiliser, they can just be poked into the gravel.
Matt will be able to help with this as he is quite the plant expert. 

Hi littlefish thanks for the suggestion will order some straight away 

Fcmf hi sorry I wasn't aware I'd done it as a poll I'm new to the forum 
What i ment was........ do they sort of wilt a bit till they get re-established in my tank  or should i be doing something to help them grow
Reading back i realise i wasn't very clear
Thank you all

My priority is always the fish, rather than the plants, and I've not used CO2 because I was concerned about the impact on the fish. I've used liquid carbon in the past (TNC liquid carbon, in conjunction with TNC Complete/TNC Lite for liquid ferts), though the tanks that Matt has designed for me over the past 6 months are all low tech and run without it. With "easy" plants, such as vallis and water wisteria, I've found that they are ok with root tabs and liquid ferts. In fact, if you have a look at Matt's site http://scapeeasy.co.uk/ there is lots of information regarding low tech planting.
I'd hope that the root tabs would be a good start in nursing the vallis back to health, though they do seem to do better in hard water. If you decide to go down the route of liquid ferts as well, I've always been told that daily dosing works better than weekly dosing. Your red plant in particular will require more nutrients than your 3 neons can produce.
Live plants can be a bit tricky, getting the balance of ferts, light, etc correct without encouraging algae, but I'm a big fan of low tech set ups. You'd be amazed at the amount of plants that are suitable. 

Hi,

Have you considered the Anubias varieties? Anubias nana is one to consider. It's a good choice for a beginner. It doesn't even need to be planted in the substrate/gravel. Nor should it be. Being what's known as a rhizome, it is normally attached to an ornament or piece of driftwood. They are very undemanding plants. I have A. nana in my German Ram juvenile tank. The only source of nutrients is a dozen 7 month old fish.

JPC

Hi jpc
you must be psychic lol I  have ordered the anubias nana this morning to attach to my bogwood also narrow leaf java fern to attach to an ornament 

I use to have real plants year's ago but for reasons i can't even remember i reverted to plastic or silk

I'm really getting back into real plants the natural colours and movement are so much better not to mention the benefit to the fish and tanks
Your advice and suggestions are very much appreciated thank you
Kim 

It can be challenging getting plants established in a new, clean, low stocked tank. Even if you intend to eventually have a low tech tank, you will need to supplement with fertilisers until you have enough fish stock to provide the macro nutrients for the plants.

It can also help initially to not vaccuum quite as much as you might otherwise, to allow the gravel to natually collect nutrients from the fish waste. Though with only 3 neons, you're not going to get much.

Also be sure to remove brown dead leaves (not the whole plant, just the sad leaves). As they rot, they will increase the ammonia levels and upset the balance of nutrients that you're trying to achieve.

If you have a look at my tank in the gallery, you can see how many plants you can have in a low tech tank if you get the balance right. But it has taken me years and several learning iterations to get to this point. 

Hi thanks Helen
The tank is new but I'm using media from another tank and the gravel is half old half new if that makes sense the bogwood is old but hasn't been in a tank for a while
I will take a look at your tank

Also thanks sue

Sorry Im just catching up with all this!!!

Root tabs were a good decision. Testing nitrates is also a valid point, though if you really do want low maintenance I would not necessarily add nitrates as these will always be present even if in low quantities (or in higher quantities once you get your new fish!). If however you start seeing holes or discolouring in leaves this might indicate a lack of Micro fertilisers. These can be dosed weekly and do not include nitrates or potassium. Please make sure to get one with phosphates (these do not cause algae!) As else this macro nutrient will be missing from your system. The other macro I've not covered here is phosphorus, but this is added through feeding the fish as it is present in fish food. Hope that makes sense... let me know if not!

This strategy will also mean you do not need carbon dosing as growth will be slow. Liquid carbon should be avoided with vallis. I killed a whole tank of vallis using liquid carbon. The reason I used it was as an algecide. It can be very useful for this (be careful it is quite hazardous... don't breath it in!!). This fish also add co2 to the system

Java fern needs a decent amount of light so placing that higher up attached to decor is a good idea. You can also do anubias as Helen suggests provided the rhizomes is not burried, the rooty bits can be.

Do continue to vacuum your substrate to maintain the health of your tank... just avoid the areas where the plant roots are and push the root tabs down far enough so they don't release those nutrients into the water column (I can only imagine this is why the reviewer had problems with their fish).

I have grown vallis in sand with no fertilisation. It's tough as old boots your stem plant will feed from the water column, so root tabs not effective here, this is where you need liquid ferts as I described.

Your red plant.... to set expectations this may not make it... at the lest it is unlikely to stay red in your low tech setup. Great if you get better success with it than this, but don't have your heart set on this one

You have a nice selection of plants with different textures there - let me know if you want a hand laying out the tank ;

You plants looks to be doing just fine, you have new growth and that is the key, if some of it dies off don't panic, remove it, and wait for new growth. This is the plant adapting to your water.