Plants in novice tank

[Klex]

Hi, I'm a complete novice starting a tropical tank.
We've planted it up with aquatic plants (no fish to be added for a month at least) but at first I had a heck of a bother with them floating to the top. I replanted and added soil and it seemed to be ok.
I've been adding Nite-out as directed daily but all of my leaves seem to be going brown and I've lost a few.
Help!

[Beneficialchampion2]

Why are you leaving it a month before adding fish? Are you adding ammonia and doing a fishless cycle?

What plants are they? Some won't tolerate being buried

[Klex]

Turns out it was crypt melt.

Part of the wait is financial - we got a deal on the tank there and then but want to wait till the wee man's birthday to get the fish. But we were also advised to get it all cycled to have it as healthy as possible first.

[Beneficialchampion2]

Your tank won't cycle without fish.

You have two options

Fish in cycle which risks the health of the fish

Or

Fishless cycle.

The methods for both are obtainable through a quick Google search.

[Klex]

@Beneficialchampion2

Your tank won't cycle without fish.

You have two options

Fish in cycle which risks the health of the fish

Or

Fishless cycle.

The methods for both are obtainable through a quick Google search.

We are adding shrimp on next week once water has been tested (our local specialist does it for you if you take in a sample)

[Beneficialchampion2]

Shrimp are sensitive, whilst they excrete very little in terms of waste as soon as you add fish this will change and they will be poisoned by ammonia, most shrimp aren't very hardy and odds are they will probably die, best case they suffer for around 4-6 weeks whilst your filter develops the correct bacteria to process ammonia from fish waste.

You should really buy your own test kit, daily or bi daily testing is pretty important when establishing an aquarium and cycling the tank with or without fish, without it your only indication as to tank health is the way the fish behave, usually if they die or become ill it's inductive of poor water quality or incorrect water parameters for species chosen, do you know the pH and gH/kH of your tap supply? This will dictate what you can keep, some fish require soft acidic water, others hard alkaline water.

What is the tank volume? If you plan to add fish before cycling then a test kit is a necessity, be prepared to do large water changes every day/every other day, around 60-80% to bring that ammonia and or nitrite reading down to under 0.25PPM.

You could choose to ignore my advice but I've been keeping fish for over 20 years, fresh/salty you name it I've probably kept it. I'm not trying to boast but my knowledge will be a lot more useful than that of a shop, the thing that exists to make money. 9/10 they have zero interest in the welfare of the animals, unless you go to an independent retailer.

As I stated previously, please read up on fish in and fishless cycling, it is crucial to getting this right and to prevent the needless harm of the animals you are intending to buy, plus the heartache and wanted money from when the inevitable happens...

Also please do your research on the species of shrimp you buy, some species are not suited to general aquaria also and require specialist diets.

[Klex]

Thanks @Beneficialchampion2 that's very helpful. It's a small 34l tank and the plan is to have tetra.
I've been adding Nite-out/starter bacteria to the water as recommended by our local aquatic store.
I also took out the charcoal filter and have had no more plays die on me since.

[helpfulperson]

you can gorilla glue plants to small rocks and then they won't float. or to bits of wood etc. This has totally changed my fishkeeping life. I learnt about it from youtuber MD Fish Tanks

[Beneficialchampion2]

@Klex

Thanks @Beneficialchampion2 that's very helpful. It's a small 34l tank and the plan is to have tetra.
I've been adding Nite-out/starter bacteria to the water as recommended by our local aquatic store.
I also took out the charcoal filter and have had no more plays die on me since.

Most Tetras will be unsuitable as the tank is too small. Realistically it's probably really only suitable for a Betta or a few platies/guppies.

Starter bacteria are useless, another marketing tool from the aquatics companies that in reality don't work.

You can either fish in or fishless cycle, there's a third alternative which is obtaining some filter media from another aquarist but you will need to add a small number of fish straight after that.

As above you can glue, but ensure its cyanoacrylate super glue, all others except for aquarium silicone are not aquarium safe.