New to planted aquariums! Help!

I'm new to this whole planted tank thing as well...and my plants look the same as yours. I used the blasting grit as a substrate and buried some tabs. I have dosed twice in 2 weeks with Flourish but my LED strips are pretty cheap and with a 22" high tank, I know I'm flirting with disaster. My plants look about the same as yours...melting and some brown algae on them. I find that responses here aren't always fast in coming. I posted something similar to your post yesterday and no responses as of this morning. But I have read up a lot on the whole low tech thing and it seems that there is often an adjustment period complete with a little algae and melt and what not. I'm counting on the fact that that is all it is. I scrutinized my plants this morning and despite my less than ideal conditions, I noticed new growth...not just on the wisteria but also on one grass like plant (no clue what it is) as well as my Anacharis. I have another plant that had new growth a few days ago but my Acara (that my daughter named 'Milo') is a greedy little bugger and keeps munching on it. So don't stress just yet. It seems as though it takes a few weeks for the plants to acclimate and put out signs of new growth. So if no one responds to us with a personalized approach to how we can improve our individual tanks, we still have the option of waiting and trusting that life has a way of prevailing and that our plants will come around. Keeping my fingers crossed for both of us!

renk777 said:

I thought the middle one was dracaena as well...as far as I know, it needs some portion of plant above the water. But my friend submerged her bamboo (for some reason I think it's the same family of plants) completely and it's doing fine. But you might want to check if that one needs to be raised?

Click to expand...

Most of these type plants will survive totally submersed for some time but will eventually fail. You are correct, Dracaena is in the bamboo family.


From wetwebmedia-
Non-aquatic plants
Most of the plants sold to aquarists are able to live underwater permanently. Some of these plants naturally live completely submerged their entire lives, such as Vallisneria spiralis, but others are only submerged seasonally, for example Echinodorus bleheri will spend many months of the year above the waterline in the waterlogged soil along the banks of rivers and lakes. But some of the plants sold to aquarists cannot and will not adapt to life in an aquarium. Most of these are simply repackaged houseplants, but a few a marsh plants that can survive a few months underwater. The houseplants obviously have no value to fishkeepers, but the marsh plants can be used in open-topped aquaria or vivaria where their roots can be kept underwater but their leaves are exposed to the air. Whether houseplant or marsh plant, kept permanently submerged these species will inevitably die and rot away, so however inexpensive they may be, they're still a waste of money.
Dracaena marginata is probably the most widely sold non-aquatic plant. As a houseplant, this species is known as a dragon tree and can reach up to 5 metres in height. The baby plants sold in aquarium shops are obviously much smaller, and typically comprise a single stiff stem bearing a rosette of long, narrow leaves that are frequently variegated and may be coloured green or red. The green dracaena Dracaena deremensis is similar but has leaves with undulating edges. Neither lasts long in an aquarium, and in fact both prefer relatively dry soil conditions. The lucky bamboo Dracaena sanderiana is equally unsuited to aquarium life.