Plants can melt when put into a new invironment with differences in water, or when they are grown above water, and then put fully submerged.
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I just started a new 3ft planted tank. It's been 4-5 days and the leaf of my plants are melting. My tank do seems to be slightly greenish colour when view from far and I notice BBA growing on my driftwood. Can anyone advise me on what to do ? The previous tank I had was invested with BBA too which is why I decided to start a new tank and I do not want the same thing to happen again.
Plants can melt when put into a new invironment with differences in water, or when they are grown above water, and then put fully submerged.
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Hi there BangWalldie! It is perfectly normal to see plants melt in your aquarium after putting them in. it is also very common to see algae growing after the first few weeks of your aquarium. What I can suggest you to do is to go to your LFS and get a Nitrate test kit so that you can see how high your nitrates are. You should also conduct daily or bi-daily water changes to ensure that water is kept fresh and no pollutants can build up in your water column.
Does this make sense: ~Imperfect Past equals future tense~
To help the plants grow better, I suggest using some fast growing plants that are often hardier as like "Guinea Pigs" to help stabilize your water parameters before adding the more delicate plants in. You see, these fast-growing plants absorb Phosphates like crazy, leaving the algae with nothing substantial to feed on and multiply and therefore will be stunted and won't give you any more trouble. Some fast growing plants include Hygrophila difformis and other quick growing plants.
Does this make sense: ~Imperfect Past equals future tense~
I didn't know that there's a need to change water bi-daily, I just changed my water yesterday. The plants I used are those common plants like water wisteria(which is melting), hair grass etc I'm afraid that the BBA will spread and out complete the plants, my tank water do seem kinda greenish (which I'm afraid that my tank will have green water) So do I have to solve the algae issue ? Or do I leave it there and wait for the plants to grow
If the plants were only recently added and you already see algae and BBA growing in the tank, then it most likely they hitchhiked in with the plants.
Manually remove as much of the algae as possible, then do spot dosing on the algae with H2O2 or Excel, and perhaps also dose anti-algae treatments like AlgExit. Those will combine to help inhibit and kill the algae.
In the future, it'll be best to quarantine and treat all new plants that you get from LFS, that will greatly reduce the chances of pest algae popping up in your main tank and the hassle of trying to solve it after the aquascape is done.
Maybe you should post a photo...easier for the experts here (not me) to give advice.
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Plants can melt when put into a new invironment with differences in water, or when they are grown above water, and then put fully submerged.
Im not an expert, but looks like your tank has nutrients deficiency, please dose potassium and phosphate as most aquasoils do not contain them.
Water perimeters especially the balance in nutrients can be challenging for a new tank. Yours may be a case of too little plants with too much nutrients flowing around. There must be enough pants to digest the amount of nutrients from your soil if not algae will strive from the excess nutrients. Also avoid turning on strong lights for too long. CO2 inject helps in photosynthesis and will promote your plants to suck up the nutrients as they grow faster.
Some pple make use of the algae as part of their scape, those growing on driftwood may look nice. Alternatively use shrimps and snails to eat up the algae.
Actually, such algae attacks can be quite normal for a new aquarium since the balance between Nutrients and plants hasn't been struck yet. When I first started my 200l tank, I had the Exact same problem as you are experiencing with your driftwood. Algae would start growing on it and even using Excel and other Algaecides, they refused to budge. I guess over time the nutrients will begin to decrease as the aquarium stabilizes and then the Algae will naturally go away. However if you want it to speed up you may consider getting Algaecides to speed up the process. I personally have not tried using Algaexit becasue I'm not a huge fan of Algaecides. But since UA recommends it and I've also heard a lot about it, then why not give it a shot?
Does this make sense: ~Imperfect Past equals future tense~
Yes. Actually it's quite common to have bi-daily or even daily water changes when starting a new tank. Perhaps it's because I'm paranoid but I will change my water really regularly during the first few weeks of starting my aquarium. I guess it keeps Ammonia and Nitrite in check while preventing excess nutrients from causing massive Algae Growth.
Does this make sense: ~Imperfect Past equals future tense~
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