planted help needed on a mature tank

[tovtm]

hi i have a 125ltr tropical tank which has been running just over a year now and have had plants growing.
its come to the time now where ive benn looking at others tanks and have noticed for the time it has been running my plants are not as healthy and nice as everyone elses. so i want to do things propperly and go for a propper planted tank and need as much info/help as i can get as i have no idea what info im ment to be looking for as ive been looking through pages after pages and its all going straight over my head.

my tank has a sand substrate, 28*c T8 light which is a 40w power glo tube.

i know now reading up i should have put some sort of plant base under the sand but now its up and running im not sure i can put soil in the tank without it turning messy unless you can suggest a way.

i just want suggestions of what to do to get the best of of my tank i.e is the jbl root balls good enough light needs to be changed plants need to be moved around ect

i want a tank which is thriving with green plants which i think would make my two discus stand out nice and when i introduce cardinal tetra will also look great. some tanks thank i like the look of and what i want to aim towards are these. http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz49 ... d-days.jpg http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/8758/pict0249hk0.jpg

p.s the tempeture of the tank cant really change as this is perfect for my discus so would have to be plants to survive these temps

thanks in advance tom

 

[Westyggx]

You need to feed your plants by supplementing nutrients/fertilisers instead of the substrate change right now.

 

[tovtm]

thanks, what do you recommend to use and how often?
also would it be ok to start to introduce new plants?

 

[Tom]

Have a look here at "Estimative Index" http://theplantedtank.co.uk/ (under Dosing Methods)

Tom

 

[Iain Sutherland]

rootmedic root tabs work a treat too!!

 

[Gfish]

Your tank definitely has great potential, but no matter how healthy and green the plants are, the first thing we'll always notice will be the traffic cone!
Your discus will find somewhere nice to spawn if they want to reproduce, a piece of bogwood or rock or even chunky plant leaf. I know we see a few traffic cones in our rivers but in the amazon there's hardly any 🙂

 

[Bobtastic]

I agree with Westyggx and Tom, as you don't have a nutrient rich substrate you'll need to dose the water column with fertilisers so that plants can get what they need from there. Also as suggested root tabs will help and they wont be as much hassle as a substrate exchange.

I would have thought that with such low light that the plants demands would be really low... Are you using Buffered RO water? or do you Buffer the water out of your tap?

EDIT - Rubbish... Stealth thread revival. Clearly didn't like the original advice...