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I have a small 20g tank w/ very few plants in it, a TON of guppys, and a few tetras. I have had the tank for about 2 years and havent been able to keep 1 plant alive. I have tried difrent lighting, heaters, oxygen cubes, and some sort of organic matirial that kind of looks like the carbon found in filter cartriges. I have heard that you can use peatmos under the gravil but, im afraid that it will make my tank cloudy and send the ph threw the flore. The organic matirial I mentiond earlier already has already brought the ph down to under 5.5 and even lower. If anyone has any advice,it would be greatly apriciated.

Maybe you haven`t had any of the really easy plants? To actually kill plants like Echinodorus bleheri, Microsorium pteropus, Sagittaria subullata, Vallisneria sp. (google them if you don`t already know them)etc. is nearly impossible. If you buy plants from club auctions you generally get the really easy ones as they are the species people have to get rid of.

Even easy plants require some light, but not much. Wrong kelvin number, lack of co2 etc. will not be fatal to the species mentioned and other easy plants. That being said I advice you to use lights with a kelvin number of 4000-7000 as it is optimal for general purpose planted tanks. Some fertalisation is good, but not as high a dose as recommended. 1/4-1/2 is usually enough.

Welcome to the forum.

Okay, first ditch the gravel and replace with at least two inches of sand mixed 60/40 with a proprietary planted tank substrate (e.g. Seachem, CaribSea, ADA etc).

Stick to the plants Haarvard mentioned, plus I would also try Anubias (anchor this to wood in the same way as the Microsorium), Ceratophyllum (this one floats, and is great for fry, algae problems and new tanks) and Cryptocoryne wendtii.

All you need as far as lighting goes is one standard T5 tube designed for plants (doesn't matter which make).

Plants need CO2 to grow, and assuming you don't want to mess around with yeast mixes and pressurised cylinders, you will need to make sure your water isn't being over-agitated as this drives off the CO2 produced by the fishes, so remove airstones and spraybars. You say you have a "ton" of guppies, so do be aware of the oxygen requirements of an overstocked tank when removing aeration.

Having a pH of 5.5 is not going to help either the plants or fish, so just use regular tapwater, and don't add anything else, except perhaps some fertiliser as Haarvard suggested with every weekly 25% water change.

Install a lighting timer to give you a stable 10-11 hours of lighting per day.

Add a couple of algae eaters too, such as Crossocheilus siamensis, or Neocaridina to help keep things clean, but if you still get plagued by algae, this means you have too much light/nutrients and your plants are being limited by a lack of CO2.

Remember also before you add new plants, to remove dead leaves and give their roots a trim to promote growth.

Hope this helps

Thanks for the help, I hope this stuf works. However i was wandering, when you say that a ph of 5.5 isn't the best fo my plants, did you mean that more alkaline water is alot better, or if it may just help a little. Also does anyone know how to do this so that I don't have to rely on changing water to keep it that way.

My plants are:VESICULARIA FERRIEI, ECHINODORUS MART, CABOMBA, and some sort of lilypad looking thing.

Thanks for the lighting tip, My lighting is at 2800k, and i keep it on for about 11-13 hours a day.

PS: No afence, but I'm not a real enviernmental freak(seeing as I don't even know how to spell that word), but when it comes to animals I try to "keep it real", and go all natural( as much as posible), so try to give as natural of advice as posible.

My plants are:VESICULARIA FERRIEI, ECHINODORUS MART, CABOMBA, and some sort of lilypad looking thing.

Just stick to the plants Haarvard and I recommended and you won't go far wrong.

However i was wandering, when you say that a ph of 5.5 isn't the best fo my plants, did you mean that more alkaline water is alot better, or if it may just help a little

Plants are like fish and some prefer different water conditions to others. I have kept all the plants I suggested at a neutral-ish pH (6.5-7.5) and I suggest you do the same. A low pH can also be very unstable and even acid-loving fish like tetras can suffer from acidosis should it get too low. For the fish and plants you are keeping I would not drop below 6.5 and I would remove the "organic material" from the tank, as this will cause a pH drop.

Also does anyone know how to do this so that I don't have to rely on changing water to keep it that way.

Every aquarium should have at least 25% of its water changed weekly. This is essential routine maintenance to keep your fish healthy. A water change dilutes poisonous nitrates and phosphates that build up in the tank, and replenishes the KH which keeps your pH stable. Your fish will be more resilient to disease, live longer and be more active and colourful with regular water changes.

What is the pH and KH of your tapwater by the way?

A small note on V. ferriei. I have kept this moss for a couple of years, and it has been a real challenge in periods. This is NOT an easy moss. It grows slowly and is easily damaged by algae. A tank with such a demanding moss should contain a large population of shrimp, and maybe some small rasboras or such. SAE will eat moss, and can therefore not be used.

I am primarily a plant geek, who has become more interested in fish over the years. I had around 11 tanks with co2 and a lot of light. Over time I got more interested in fish, and stopped using co2. My plants still grew nicely, but not as fast, and maybe the colours weren`t as vibrant, but they never died. I also cut down on light and the hours the light was on, and the plants were still doing OK. Actually killing plants is very difficult. At least the easy ones.

My advice if you want to have a rather nice community tank with some nice fish and healthy and beautiful plants is to use easy plants, some nutrition(not much), no co2 addition and average lighting. Substrate should preferably be of mixed grain size. A ph of 5,5 is very low. This kind of acid water is for specialist use only. Aim for something around 7 or slightly lower.

I have had my real plants for 1 week and 1 day.The trick is to use fine gravel adjust your temp.and use aquariumfertilizer with iron.Also watch of for big plecs and snails.A great starter plant is anacharis,it oxygenates,removes waste and looks great! Some people don't even use fertilizer with it and some people cycle goldfish tanks with it.

I have had no problem with regular tank lighting , weekly doses of Seachem florish on the following plants, I have had these plants original in gravel, now all my tanks are sand and they florish.

java fern
java moss
anachrius
anubias barteri
anubias nana
crypts
water wisteria
water sprite
frog bit
water lettuce
duckweed

My ph is (I think) way over 8, like around 9 or even higher(I doubt it thoe). I realy don't have a very good test kit and need to run by the store and get another one. I also need a kh test kit, so I'll get back to yall on that.

Thanks for the advice on the water changeing specs, it's good to know that stuf. Especialy when i thought that I was suposed to change over 50% of the tanks water / weak.

I'm lovin all the plant sugestions, that realy helps.

Ok, this next question might sound real dumd( I'm still a nube... kinda). Ok would ghost shrip help with the bactiria, and get along with a clown pleco, a rainbow shark, 7tetras, and a lot of guppies(wich I intend to get rid of soon).

O, forgot. THANK YOU for not eating me alive for my lack of knowladge about... EVERYTHING, realy apreciat it.