added plants to my new 10g, but they dont look too good?!?!?

[sharkbait1213]

Started a 10g tank, sand substrate from the fish store, washed it out blah blah blah. Cycled it using the fishless method. Then added 2 apon bulbs already sprouted, they have long thin leaves. Also added 2 misc, crypts which have long stems then have the leaf, only like 3-5 though. And added a "underwater palm" Not sure what it is or what it needs, but my girl loves the way it looks so i bought it. I used some soft rubber plant anchors buried the roots in the sand. Its been about 3 days & they look like they are fading into a brown color and dying. I know i have enough light, 2 14watt T-5 bulb fixture. 1 bulb is a 6700k the other is a full spectrum bulb thats more bluish color. Also there are no fish in the tank yet, i wanted to get it all set up and stable b4 adding any fish.

Anyway, what should i do to make sure the water is right for the plants, do i need to use any ferts etc?? I really would like to stick with live plants but they are such a pain. LOL Any Help/ suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you all lots.!!

[MyraVan]

Hmmm. You have a strange mix of things:

* a plain substrate, not one specifically for plants (sand has no nutrients)
* masses of light (3 WPG)
* no CO2
* no ferts

This is a very unbalanced setup, and it won't grow plants all that well. The best setup are ones that are balanced, with a good substrate (you can buy stuff like Flourite or Eco-complete, or go the low cost route of soil + gravel, which is what I do), good lighting (I usually shoot for 2 to 2.5 WPG; over about 2.5 WPG you need to supplement with CO2 in order for your plants to take advantage of the light), and ferts appropriate to the amount of light and type of substrate. Generally, the more light you use, and the less rich your substrate is, the more ferts you have to add to the water.

I would suggest that either you remove the sand and replace with something better, and add CO2 and ferts (going the high-tech route), or else you remove one of the lighting tubes and go for some low-light plants which will work well with a sand substrate and low lighting. (You may have to add some ferts even in the low-light setup, since your substrate has no ferts.)

BTW the "underwater palm" might not be an aquatic plant: lots of shops have terrestrial plants in with their true aquatic plants, and don't tell you that it will die soon. If you post a picture we can help identify it for you.