My plants need help.

**geoffrey** · 15th Aug 2002, 22:57

Can anyone tell me where I went wrong. I started a planted aquarium a week ago and some of my plants are turning brown/black. The peculiar thing is only those plants that have grass-blade like leaves are browning and particularly bad on it's underside. However, roots and new shoots are sprouting.

I have a 30"(w)x18"(h)x15"(d) tank with 1 cm of JBL fertiliser base between river sand gravel. A DIY CO2 that produces a bubble every 3 seconds. 2 twin-tube 36 watt, 10,000K flourescent light that I leave on 11 hours a day. My temperature is about 28-29 deg C. On the first day, I added a tablet of Dennerle A15 (iron) and daily for the past week, 4 drops of Dennerle A1 (trace element).

My latest water chemistry test turns out with pH at 6.8; KH at 3dH; GH at 6dH; NO2 at <5mg/l; NO3 at 50mg/l.

Please help.

Geoffrey

**Simon** · 15th Aug 2002, 23:12

it will be good if u can ID the plants

could be the Cyperus helferi..

Cyperus species are widespread all over the tropics, but only a few of them are good underwater plants. Cyperus helferi is the first Cyperus species used in aquariums. It requires a relatively large amount of light, and CO2 addition is recommended to promote growth. In aquariums with good water flow the plant sways beautifully in the current.

**vinz** · 15th Aug 2002, 23:59

If new shoots and roots are growing, then dun worry too much. Just trim away the dying leaves so they don't pollute the tank. Keep observing though and post here if you have more questions.

Don't worry about the nitrites/nitrates/ammonia for now. Your tank should still be cyclying. You are going to get a ammonia peak, followed by a nitrite peak and then a nitrate peak. Looks like you're already at the nitrate peak. Your tank will take about a month or more to complete cycling. Avoid adding fishes for now.

Normally I would recommend on average 2 inches of base fert. But don't bother re-doing yours. Should be ok, but do consider using substrate fert balls/sticks/tabs to supplement your substrate.

Your tank is about 35 gallons. Your lighting is only 2 W/Gal. Not so good for high light plants. You may want to consider adding another 36 watt tube. By the way, you only need 6,500K lights for planted tank. Not too sure about the effects of 10,000K lights though.

**benetay** · 16th Aug 2002, 00:16

do not over fertilize yr tank, the E15 is suppose to be use once every 15 days.not everyday.

**hwchoy** · 16th Aug 2002, 00:18

with so little CO2 and 11 hours of light I fear you will soon have an aquarium thriving with algae. suggest to reduce lights to 9 hours and try to get more CO2, at least 1 bubble per second would be good.

**bclee** · 16th Aug 2002, 08:38

I see that your NO2 is not 0. New tank?

I think your plants may be a case of emerse form adapting to submerse growth. But a plant ID will confirm that. Many of the plants sold in the LFS are emersed form. Many of them will shed the old emersed leaves and growth new submersed ones.

Your 10,000K lights are more suited for reef tank. IMO, there may be not enough red in the spectrum. But you can wait and see the response of the plants. The wattage is just sufficient, but depends on the plants selection.

Dennerle fertilisers are great. The basic fertilisers are E15 and V30. A1 to me is a supplement. Personally, I felt that there are very expensive and don't like to fact that they do not tell me the composition.

Everything else seems ok. pH can still go slightly lower to 6.5 for 3dKH. NO3 will drop as your tank matures.

BC

**juggler** · 16th Aug 2002, 09:29

Geoffrey: [It's me, koah fong]
Your water parameters sounds OK to me. Go slow on the trace elements. &quot;Trace&quot; means &quot;small amounts&quot;.
What plants do you have? Some plants need time to adjust in a new tank, be patient.
Do you have any easy and fast growing plants like Hygrophila difformis, Hygrophila polysperma? Planting those would probably give you more satisfaction for a start. But since you mentioned there are growing shoots and roots, it's a good sign already.
If there's too much light, you can cut down the lighting hours or put in some small floating plants such as FrogBits and Salvinia for shade.
It's common for first timers to planted tanks to want to see results very soon and very easily frustrated if things don't go according to plan. I have had my share of failed plants and series of algae plagues.

Good luck.