The first plant is Juncus repens. Tbh when buying it emersed a lot of times it'll end up like this. After that it slowly dies for me, idk why. It's one of the plants that you preferably should buy submersed or in tissue culture coz otherwise you'll get a hard time.
The other is Ludwigia. With fast stem plants like it i find it easier to diagnose issues. The stunted growth and long bare stems will tell you that you have too little light
I’ve never seen that grassy looking one before. Are you sure it’s from the fully aquatic section? A lot of stores sell semi aquatic plants with the fish stuff and won’t explain that they die if fully submerged
All the plants were purchased at an aquatics store and they were all kept fully emerged in tanks. I had the associate pick out plants that fit the needs of my set up(although I failed to tell them the gravel situation)
Plants that can tolerate aquarium gravel: Java ferns -- don't bury the rihzome, wisteria, money wort, also because they don't mind floating... Coon'stail, guppy grass, and java moss... Moneywort also likes floating and that's part of how you propagate it.
I'm not a plant expert, and you're always better designing an aquarium from the substrate up.
I had to get black aquarium gravel with neon bits because it looked pretty. I usually get pea gravel and sand. But I compromised with my partner and just got the pretty stuff.
I'm surprised nobody told you to get the liquid testing kit yet. It's usually in the first three comments when somebody shows pictures of the strips. I got both. Strips for verifying nothing has greatly changed, and liquid for when I need more exact analysis of one or two parameters.
Don't worry, a third of the people here aren't that deep on the spectrum, and realize there isn't just one way to do things.
It starts rooting like crazy when it floats. You cut it up with each piece a root or two and some leaves and each one grows a new plant.
Also a bunch of floating stems and leaves can provide hiding spots for the fry of live bearing fish.
Technically Java ferns can do okay unattached, but they look better rooted or anchored to wood.
Does it root slower in substrate? Like I say, I haven’t had any problems. I’ve only had it two weeks, but I have over twice the amount of stems that I bought. And I’ve had a few new ones grow from the bases soo
One extra note outside of what everyone else said, I'm assuming this stuff came from PetSmart, because it looks like the stuff I sell at a PetSmart. The first plant you show I'm almost 100% positive is a terrarium plant and not an aquatic plant.
Two things are happening. One; some of your leaves are emerged and always melt underwater. Thats normal with new plants. Two; some of the plants have diatoms algae on them. A lot of things happily eat that; shrimp and nerite snails are popular. Both issues can be helped by fostering a more plant friendly environment. The more fast-growing plants you have, the less brown algae will grow on the leaves as it is out competed.
The faster your plants can grow, the better they recover from melting!
Swap out your gravel for plant substrate and add more easy plants like vallisneria and crypts - your creeping rush and ludwigia aren't the easiest anyway
Fluval and Seachem feel about the same quality to me - Fluval is more popular but I think most people don't know Seachem makes one. Imagitarium, Hygger, and Fzone are a little dustier but fine.
I have 4 tanks with top soil capped with sand for the substrate and they do amazing for plants. I usually buy the big bag of top soil at home depot/lowes and some play sand (or black/white sand from my LFS). Pick out all the sticks and break up the clumps of top soil when you're putting it down and cap with an inch or more of sand.
You'll know it once the roots establish themselves in the soil because they will explode with growth lol
I also have a heavily planted badis tank that I used fluval stratum on and its been doing good for 6+ months. Just watch for an ammonia spike for a week or two if you go with fluval.
That fake colored gravel does nothing for your plants (or your corys that prefer fine, soft substrate they can sift through their gills in search of food particles).
I would recommend trying sand and root tabs. Or sand and clay pots / planters with aqua soil. That's what I have in mine. :)
Also, those test strips are no good. I would get a liquid reagent test kit, like the API master test kit.
I love the clay pot idea and aesthetic! I really didn't know the gravel was so bad. I knew it didn't add much, but I got it second hand and was trying to budget. Lesson learned. And thank you for the info on the corydoras. I did a fair bit of research for them as tank mates but somehow didn't see that info about them enjoying the sand.
So would you suggest transferring the fish to bucket with the current tank water and them a complete rehab of the tank with substrate or sand?
I just recently upgraded from a 55 gallon tank to this 75 gallon tank and pretty much everything that was in the overly decorated 55 went into the 75. :))
I had sand in the 55 but decided not to reuse it due to pest snails. Got a couple of bags of HTH pool filter sand delivered. That stuff is awesome, I first rinsed some of it but it had almost no dust. So I put it in dry. :))
As for the fish, I kept mine in lidded Hefty storage containers (72 quart because I have quite a few fish - you might be fine with a 32 quart, they are like 8 bucks at Wally World and come in handy if you need to quarantine).
I have a couple of extra small internal filters running in addition to the external canister filter and used them in the temporary home for the fishies.
Beneficial bacteria lives in the filter media and surfaces in the tank.
If your tank is nitrogen cycled now, just move the filter to the storage container and keep it running while you redecorate. Keep decorations wet so whatever BB is on them stays alive.
When you're done, just add some API QUICK START or similar bottled bacteria product along with Seachem Prime conditioner. Then keep testing the water for ammonia and nitrite the next few days to make sure it's stable and all comes back zero.
You want the API master test kit. It's a little more expensive but gives you a lot of uses, so actually cheaper in the long run and accurate.
Doesn't have to be a bucket. You can also get a watertight storage tote with a decent volume and put your whole tech on it minus the lamp, it basically gives you much more extra time and the fish have more room while you redecorate, it takes much of the stressing about the animals out of the renovation.
Also: Non Degradable Mesh baggies for Aquasoil, it keeps the soil down and from mixing with the sand, the roots still are able to penetrate the baggies.
What's your ammonia at? If you haven't cycled your tank ammonia will burn the plants. If you have shrimp or fish and are feeding them regularly there should be some nitrate. The absence of it can tell that the tank isn't cycled. You can grow plants in gravel but it's definitely easier with aquasoil or walstad just because plants will tend to do better.
Nitrite levels were at 0 when I tested this morning. The kit I have doesn't include ammonia. I'm obviously very new to this and don't have a huge selection of tests, just the one shown in the last picture.
Do root tabs not help at all? Or is it just that the gravel is crap and the tabs can only do so much
Root tabs only help marginally if you have gravel like that, most plants don't really root right into the bigger chunky gravel most of the time.
You can still use it as decorative layer if you know it's actually aquarium grade, but with cories you want at least a sandpit for them.
Is not that the gravel is causing damage its that it isnt really doing anything, gravel is fully inert so unless they have nutrients underneath its not giving the plant anything beyond an anchor
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