Help on... melting / translucent leave edges of polysperma

[inthemood]

Hello there,

My 90l tank with mostly discus and corys has experienced some minimal bubbling activity(usually only after 3 hours during the 2nd evening lightup time slot) and noticed the hygrophila polysperma suffering at the edge of its leaves. Hope to hear from those who have solved such a problem before or who knows what's brewing.... All help would be much appreciated
(enc is a photograph of the h. polysperma)

Thank you...

My list:
Tank Dimensions (LxWxH, specify units): 29.5cm(d) x 40cm(ht) x 76cm(w)
Lighting Intensity(No of Watts): Three PL tubes of 36W each
Number and type of Lighting (FL/PL/MH) :
Age of light bulbs : 17 – 30 days
No. of hours your lights are on : From 7 – 9am; break; 7pm to 1am

CO2 Injection Rate (bps) : 0.9 bubble / second
Type of CO2 (DIY/Liquid/Tank) : Tank
Method of Injection (e.g. Diffusor/Reactor) : Reactor

Liquid fertilisers Used (Product name. E.g. Seachem Flourish) : Lushgro Micros & Lushgro Micros and Lushgro Aqua
Fertilization regime (Frequency and amount per dose) :
3 drops of Micros every week
12 drops of Aqua every week
4 drops of BioPlast liquid Fe every day

Thickness of gravel : 5.5cm
Grain size of gravel :
Thickness of base fert :1.5cm
Type/brand of base fert (Product name. E.g. JBL Aquabasis) :JBL
Age of base fert: 15 months

Type of Filter (overhead/internal/canister, Product name/model if possible) : canister
When was the filter last washed : 3 weeks ago
Filter media used :bio-rings, sponge and peat
When was the media last changed : a fortnight ago
What was changed :sponge to another new sponge

Age of setup (i.e. since initial setup or last major re-do ) : 3 months

Water change frequency : once every week
Amount changed : 50%

Water surface movement (None/gentle/turbulent) : gentle
Circulation (None/gentle/turbulent) :gentle

Tank Temperature : 27-28 degree Celsius

Chemical Properties (Fill what you can)
-------------------------------------
KH (dKH):
GH (dGH):
pH : 7
NH4 (ppm):
NO2 (ppm):
NO3 (ppm): 10
PO4 (ppm): 1
Fe (ppm): 0.05
CO2: 10ppm

Bioload (Number and type of fish and plants): 1 Heckel discus, two brown discus, 2 emperor tetras, 12 corys, 1 SAE and two OTOs.
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Describe your problem : The hygrophila polysperma seem to have shrivelling leaves with translucent 'melted and curled up' edges. There are some lower leaves who didn’t get affected but those on top are… Bubbling activity is observed as minimal (only 3 hours after lightup time during evening timeslot. Have turned up the CO2 from 8ppm at 0.7 bps to 0.9 bps. Have also added Potassium sulphate (5g x 2times per week).

[PeterGwee]

That is a lot of light you have there~! You simply do not need that much light to grow plants well. The more light you add, the more demand its on the CO2 (you don't have much from the look of things) and nutrients (probably under dosing as well.). Critter loading is heavy with 3 discus in it! You would need to get a bigger tank for those fishes..they are not going to be happy in such a small tank. All in all, work on the CO2. Remove the peat from the filter and get a reading on the KH...bet it is less than 1 or worst 0. Raise it up to 2-3 or so and make sure it is stable. Add CO2 and drop it to 6.4 for a KH of 3 and keep it there (add some riccia tied to a rock or wood and see if it pearls well 1/2 way through the day with those readings). Oh, do the full photoperiod without the break in between.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[inthemood]

Hello Peter,

Added in sodium bicarbonate last night and dose in more of iron, bubbling went quite well tonight

The break was intended for breakfast time for the fish so I kept it short and thrown in slightly longer period for the tank.

The polysperma though still has its shrunken leaves... do you think the polysperma was reacting to the strong lighting? I have got glosso too, so am not sure if I were to reduce my lighting, can other plants take it..

The critters added onto their own population discus lay eggs (a pair of siblings and 1 outsider in my tank). Corys too and I can't bear to give all away... figure they should be quite happy but probably lack the exercise. Would have to get rid of the smaller tank first and get this tank right before buying new home for them...

Thanks for your advice