I have 50 over small fish like tretra, guppies and zebra..They lived happily but not my plants? Why?

Question

The edges and tips of the plant started to turn brownish. I have a very powerful air filter. There is sufficient carbon dioxide for the plants and oxygen for the fishes. I thought the waste of the fishes will provide fertilizer for the plants. Since the start, I have placed my tank beside the window to get some sunlight. Please suggest some way I could revived the health of my plants.

Answer 1

Light is the answer and not just sun light but direct light from a flourescent tube. They need full spectrum light to make them turn green in photosynthesis and this if filtered out by the glass in the window and the tank sides.
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Answer 2

How do you inject CO2? You say you have enough, but do you add any to the tank, or just rely on the fish to produce it? If you aren't adding any CO2 to the tank, you should be. You can do it yourself, and it is very inexpensive. Take a 2L coke bottle, rinsed. Drill a hole in the cap that is slightly smaller than the width of some airline. Cut the airline at an angle so it makes a point. Poke the point through the hole and pull it through with pliars, so it is perfectly sealed. In the bottle, put 2 cups of sugar, and fill it warm water up until the bottle starts to curve in towards the top. Let the sugar disolve and add a teaspoon of bakers yeast. Close the bottle. This will create CO2, and if you stick the end of the airline into the water you'll see bubbles of CO2 coming out. You want to disolve these bubbles as much as possible before they hit the surface; you can buy CO2 diffusers on e-bay or at a petstore with a good selection of fish stuff.

Other than CO2, you need fetilizers. Sometimes fish waste can be enough ferts for the plants, and other times you need to add fertilizers. Get some Seachem Flourish and start treating the tank with about 1/3 the recommended dose every week when you do your water change. Increase the dose until your plants look better or until you see a very slight algae formation.

The last element is light. Other than window, what kind of lighting do you have? To grow some basic plants like java fern, about 1 watt per gallon is sufficient. If you want some higher light plants, you'll need more like 2-3 watts of (fluorescent) light per gallon. If you aren't getting enough light, you might want to invest in a compact fluorescent fixture (Corallife makes a great one).

One last thing to consider is plant shock. Some plants, particularly cryptos, typically go through a period of ill health, losing all their leaves and then growing new ones again. Sometimes it's just a matter of time.

Answer 3

its hard to say without knowing what type of plant it is -- you can try an 0-0-3 fertilizer that is a good plant growth booster. if your plants are fairly hardy plants this is probably all they need. harder to grow plants often need extra nitrogen and carbon dioxide injections. its best to know what kind of plant you are buying before you buy it. sometimes pet stores will slip in tropical plants that can survive for a few months underwater but won't grow and eventually die. they look good when you get them though.

Answer 4

Maybe your fish have eaten the plants.