I’ve had my 10-gallon planted tank for about 3 years now, and honestly, it’s dead and ugly. The plants are always dying, I’ve lost so many fish, and it’s overrun with snails. I’ve tried so hard to make it work but nothing seems to help. Im at the point where I’m thinking of just giving up. I see all the beautiful tanks people post here, and I really want that for mine too. So im hoping for some advice or tips to help turn things around. Over the years, I’ve kept guppies, bettas, tetras, some little bottom feeders, and of course… the pest snails that never go away. I started the tank using Aqueon Plant & Shrimp Substrate because I heard it was good for planted tanks. I’ve tried plants like Anubias, underwater ferns, and others I can’t even remember at this point. The only one that’s survived all this time is the Anubias, but even that’s gone downhill, the leaves used to be the size of quarters, and now they’re barely bigger than a penny. Iused liquid CO2 for a while but stopped about a year ago. Now I use liquid fertilizer and root tabs. I do a 10% water change every week. The tank stays around 80°F, and I use a basic Petco filter and heater. The light is 14 watts (not sure if that’s strong enough?), but that’s what I’ve got. Im honestly considering either restarting the whole thing or just giving up on it completely. But before I do, I’d love to hear any tips, tricks, or advice you all have. I’d really love to finally get the healthy, thriving tank I’ve always wanted. If you need any more details about my tank please ask!!!
Im sorry the photo is bad but that’s my tank the middle plant is dying as well as the small little one on the bottom
Posted by isabel199383828
4 Comments
Idk if this will be helpful but a lot of plants for me just cannot thrive in my tank. Some I’ve tried 3-4 times and they just melt and my snails devour them lol. Some plants do fine enough and some seem to thrive, I’ve had some plants completely melt off to find them come back a few weeks later as well. I think for me it may be my ph being kinda high, where some plants don’t really want a ph over neutral. My tanks like 4-5 years old and only just this past year ish being where I want it to be. When a plant does well in my tank I’ll usually buy a couple more of the same thing.
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Hey there ! So yes, that light absolutely needs to be upgraded. A lot of the plants are leggy. That means they are trying to reach up for more light. Lucky for you for a tank that size a really good high-quality light isn’t too expensive. I would start there.
It’s a journey. Some people get there a lot easier then others. I like you struggled. I didn’t want to use c0, but changing my light for ahigh-quality grow light made a huge difference.
Edit ; Nicrew is another good affordable brand for low/ mid light plants as well .
Honestly, I think you’d benefit from a fresh start. I’d invest in a bit better light first and then take out any plants that you’d like to try and save. Then just start from groud up 🙂
I always recommend cryptos – I literally grew them in bare sand once, and maybe they were not thriving, but they were alive and looked nice. They also have so many different shapes and sizes and colours you can pick from. They will melt when you first plant them, but that’s just their thing.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t recommend stem plants. They’re easy to grow, sure, but they can very easily become overwhelming, and that’s not fun.