I need some help

[Angelan]

My plants is losing it's pigment, instead of bright solid green, i becomes a dull translucent green. what happened?

[hwchoy]

do you have enough lighting? other factors would be CO2 injection and your fertilising regime.

[Angelan]

I have two lights for a 2 ft tank, both 36W but one is old and one is a newly bought.

By the way, what is CO2 injection and fertilising regime?

[vinz]

Angelan, we'll need to know more about the tank... copy the questionaire from here and fill in much as you can.

I'm guessing you have Java Fern?

[vinz]

Opps. Guess you're new to planted tanks. Have a read of this and this.

More questions? Ask back here.

[Angelan]

Tank Dimensions60x30x45)cm
Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) : 36W , got 2 lamps
Type of Lighting (FL/PL/MH) : PL
CO2 Injection Rate (bps) : 3 bubble per min
Type of CO2 (DIY/Liquid/Tank) : tank
Substrate Used : Gravels that is commonly found for plant tanks
Liquid Fertilizers Used : none
Frequency of fertilization : none
Tank Temperature : between 23-25 degree
Type of Filter (overhead/internal/canister) : canister
Filter media used : sponge, peat, the round bacteria thingy


Chemical Properties (Fill what you can)
---------------------------------------

Carbonate Hardness (kh): no idea
Total Hardness (gH): no idea
PH : no idea
NH4 (ppm): no idea
NO2 (ppm): no idea
NO3 (ppm): no idea
PO4 (ppm): no idea
Fe (ppm): no idea

Bioload (Your Fish and Plants)
------------------------------

Flora :
Java moss
pearl grass
hair grass
Ceratophyllum demersum
Rotala rotundifolia
Rotala spec. 'Green'
Limnophilla aromatica
Acorus gramineus var. pusillus

Fauna:
6 Corydoras trilineatus
2 Megalechis personata
4 Yamato prawn
10 tiny rainbow prawn
4 Siamese algae eater
7 baby fighting fish




Describe your problem :

Affected plants:
Ceratophyllum demersum
Rotala rotundifolia
Rotala spec. 'Green'
Limnophilla aromatica
Acorus gramineus var. pusillus

The newer leaves seems to lose it's brightness green, now they are pale green and looked a little translucent. Any cure for it?

Angel

[PeterGwee]

Ermmm..no base fertilizer which probably explains why your plants are dying off...(for plants that are rooted of course [] ) and liquid fertilizer for plants like moss.

What you need to do now is like what vinz mention...do read up more info need to run a planted tank. Stuff like enough lights, CO2, base fert..liquid fert, types of plants, temperature and etc are crucial to some plants. Post your questions after having an idea of what you need to run a planted tank would be better. []...Do feel free to post your doubts. []

[budak]

just glancing,
3 bubbles a minute seems a bit low. When CO2 is being injected, it's best to know your KH and pH (buy test kits) or you wouldn't know whether there's too little or too much CO2.

Also try some liquid fert (I think trace elements probably would help). If you can test your nitrate and find it's zero, then N could be needed.

[Angelan]

Really Thanks guys! by the way what's the recommended rate for CO2 bubbles?

i tried using Tetra Plant , Flora Pride and it caused a ALGAE BOOM!!! argh.... so i stopped using it

any recomendations on ferti.?

Angel

[bclee]

Angelan, you have pretty high light for a 2ft. Your plants are likely to be nutrient starved.

You will need to add liq fertilisers. You can skip the substrate fert for the time being until everything has settled. Tetra florapride is good.

With this high light, you will need CO2. This is to ensure full growth from your plants. Without this... you will get algae. Do a search in the AQ... you will find your answers of how much CO2 you need.

On top of that, to really get into the planted tank thingy, it is good to get a few test kits... pH, KH, NO3, PO4, NO2(for tank startup and N cycling only) & GH. You will find these parameters always being mentioned relating to the plant health and algae bloom. These are indicators of what is wrong with your tank.

BC

[juggler]

From the Warning signs of Nutrient Deficiency, it seems like Iron deficiency in the plant. I think you should continue using the liquid fertiliser you stopped using recently. Maybe dose half the recommended amount. A little algae boom, if only on the glass, is OK for a new tank. It takes some time for plants to take foothold and outcompete the algae for nutrients.

Also -- your tank could be lack of Calcium too if the leaf tips are smaller than normal and distorted. Can try adding a few pieces of coral/coral chips into your cannister filter, but not into the tank as it could be difficult to remove later. Most trace element fertilisers don't have Calcium.

Try feeding your fish more often so you get more nitrates and phosphates in you tank. With such high lighting and CO2 injection, growth rate would be accelerated so plants need lots of nutrients to grow.

Lastly, if you have carbon or any ammonia-removing media in your filter, please remove them as well as they will absorb away plant nutrients and fertilisers.

[Angelan]

Hey guys Thanks a lot.
after the above advise, i add some fertiliser stick and now my plant is growing beautifully. thanks thanks thanks!

Angelan

[sherchoo]

Judging from your temperature, you're not in Singapore (yes?) or it could be your office where it's constantly air conditioned.. With such low temperaure, plants growth tend to slowdown quite abit. Why not invest in a heater....

[Angelan]

Hiya, me from singapore. but all my fish and tanks are in my room. *mother will kill me if i keep in living room*

i only on my air con at night

Angel

[sherchoo]

Wow... and you can manage to keep the temperature at 23~25 deg....