My plants don't survive?

[Maura_Paz]

I have substrate from when I set up the tank. (I didn't put a thick layer) I have made quiet an investment on plants and they never last. I am frustrated because I would like a planted aquarium... What should I do? Would it be bad to add more substrate with my fish in the tank? Do I need to have plants w discus!? I've seen some aquariums w little decor and it looks contemporary clean ..... Any advises are greatly appreciated!

[pcsb23]

No doubt it is easier to grow and keep discus in bare tanks, you definitely do not need plants. A group of healthy discus look fine in bare tanks too. Some people just want to have discus in planted tanks, and that's great too.

But as you are finding out growing plants isn't as easy as it may look. It is in my experience far harder to have a tank with healthy plants in than a tank with healthy discus in.

The decision you need to make is do you want to spend the time to learn about growing plants and the time maintaining them or do you just want a tank of discus?

[nvladik]

Hard to tell without your providing A LOT more detail. Which substrate, size of aquarium, which lights, how high, which plants, CO2 injection or no, which fertilizers if any are just some of the questions.

As it sounds you are very new to planted tanks, and since you are in a Discus forum, I am going to guess you are trying to mix plants and discus, which is very risky as you should be intermediate to expert in both before you try to mix them together.

plantedtank.net is a good place to start reading on successful planted setups.

[nvladik]

No doubt it is easier to grow and keep discus in bare tanks, you definitely do not need plants. A group of healthy discus look fine in bare tanks too. Some people just want to have discus in planted tanks, and that's great too.

But as you are finding out growing plants isn't as easy as it may look. It is in my experience far harder to have a tank with healthy plants in than a tank with healthy discus in.

The decision you need to make is do you want to spend the time to learn about growing plants and the time maintaining them or do you just want a tank of discus?

+1.

[kareen]

I have a 125g planted Discus Tank it has 3in of substrate and I use root tubs But I make sure I do 50/75% water changes weekly. But if your Discus are small like 2-3in I would keep them in a Bare Tank Thay will not do good in a planted tank.

[Maura_Paz]

Thank you all! I don't think I'm gonna go the plant route. I rather have my babies strive and grown in a healthy setting than me experimenting w the chance of growing plants.

[Mihai Boldor]

Definitely easier to keep small discus in a bare bottom tank but in the future if you decide to go with a planted tank some homework will have to be done, a planted tank is just a generic name, different plants require different conditions regarding light, Co2, fertilization and substrate. I would recommend looking into the so called easy plants category. A high tech lush planted tank is a handful even without the discus

[DISCUS STU]

At the upper end of Discus temps. (86 f). most plants don't make it, with the exception of Amazon Swords, Radican Swords, Red Mellon Swords, etc. Found this out the hard way and only keep potted Radican Swords which can be really spectacular when fully grown out.

[DISCUS STU]

83224 Planted Radican Sword in bare bottom tank.

[jds1990]

Sounds to me like you might not have enough light. Also depends on the types of plants your growing. You can find a list that are compatible with discus water prerequisites on the forum.

[DISCUS STU]

Check out this guy's post. He has one Discus eating and excreting gravel, but the tank looks great!

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?115778-Gravel-in-discus-fieces

[Disucs15]

When your Discus get biger and you still would like a planted tank look up about dirt tanks I have a dirted tank with a sand cap and love it my plants grow very good I started with 2" discus in a 40g BB tank and grow them up till thay were 4" and then put them in my planted Dirt tank thay are happy and heathy just keep up on your W/C and you well do good

[Aquacrazed]

What's your pH at?
Water temp?
Do you have trace elements in the water?
What light are you using?