What is wrong with my 2 week old tank?

[hebi]

hi all. my 3ftx1ftx1ft planted tank is currently nearly 2weeks old but the plants seems to be dying one by one, especially the hairgrass(Eleocharis acicularis), they are browning slowly and dying, making it very unsightly.
Plants
tapegrass
1 plant that seems like water sprite
1 voilet stem plant that has leaves which looks like those of cai xin
1 plant that looks like Western Milfoil just that it doesnt have any hard stem and will flow around
hairgrass(Eleocharis acicularis)
1 mossball
Fauna
1 oto golden yellow in colour
4 amano shrimps
1 horned nerite

i use jbl base fert and gravel on top. CO2 is supplied by the Nisso 1200 electronic CO2 generator and i dial it to 3 everytime i use it( i know its not as good but my dad bought it and due to budget issue, i have to use that for now). for liquid fert, i use jbl ferropol daily 1 cap dose. currently, the situation in my tank is that the hairgrass are browning off and the tapegrass are slowly turning yellow too and slightly transparent, with holes on it. not sure whether the holes are caused by the shrimps, oto or nerite. the violet plant seems to be ok for now. the western milfoil like plant is slowly turning yellow but not dying yet. the water sprite like plant and moss ball are in the best condition for now.

i heard that using seachem flourish excel as a liquid CO2 fert can improve the plants growth alot, is that true? can anyone here enlighten me on whats the problem with my plants? is it due to lack of CO2 or any other nutrients? thanks in advance

*p/s: sorry for no pics because i cant find a cable to connect my handphone to the com. will upload it asap.

[Shadow]

did you happen to see new leaves grow? if so then probably just your plants adapting from emerse to submerse.

What is tape grass? is it Vallisneria family? if so then it is also normal to melt on the new tank, it will grow new leaves from the center.

Florish excell is good for small tank, not pratical for big tank though (it is not cheap).

Fertelizer wise, I'm not familiar with jbl ferropol. just make sure enough N, P and K as well as trace elements.

Still photo is the best to understand what happen.

[nys]

Everyday taking tonic will make you nose bleeding...

I do not understand your plant well.

But I know some of the plants, for instance, too much of Fe is bad for Cryptocoryne.

[Quixotic]

Isn't lighting an important component for plants as well? I see no mention of lighting. What are the specifications of your lighting? What is your photo period?

The plants are described in a vauge manner. It would really be better to include pictures of your tank so that better advice can be given.

Even though using Seachem Excel along with CO2 injection provides added benefit, good CO2 rate will ensure good growth, without the need for Seachem Excel. Just ensure that you provide good rate of CO2.

And I can't repeat this enough, no, Seachem Excel does not help plants grow a lot (compared with CO2 injection). Don't expect the growth to be the same as CO2 injection. Read the FAQ on Seachem Excel, http://www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/...Excel_faq.html

[hebi]

did you happen to see new leaves grow? if so then probably just your plants adapting from emerse to submerse.

What is tape grass? is it Vallisneria family? if so then it is also normal to melt on the new tank, it will grow new leaves from the center.

Florish excell is good for small tank, not pratical for big tank though (it is not cheap).

Fertelizer wise, I'm not familiar with jbl ferropol. just make sure enough N, P and K as well as trace elements.

Still photo is the best to understand what happen.

sorry. really not sure what my plant is, i check from aquahobby then see which looks like my plant. the tape grass looks like grass from those roadside with a thick blade, just that its much longer. regarding the dosing of liquid fert, i did as instructed on the bottle, so shouldnt be a problem. the 1 cap i am refering to is the outer cap. my plant didnt grow i think, did not see any significant changes.
is my tank considered too big to be cost effective to use the Flourish Excel?really tempted to buy and use it then i can see my plants bubble (hopefully) can tell me the cost of 1 bottle, normal size?
another question, anyone know average how long does it take the hairgrass of mine to root and spread? thanks
last question, what do u guys mean by adapting from emerse to submerse? i only know some of my hairgrass is given by Teo's farm for free, so its grown on dry land. ??

[richietay]

What is the specification of your lightings?

[Shadow]

Some of plant in the farm was grown in emerse (only the root underwater), so when you put them under the water the emerse leaves will melt and replace by new submerse leaves.

miss out about the lightings

[|squee|]

At this stage, your tank is establishing and it's not a wonder to have plants dying on you.

If you planted the hairgrass correctly, they should only be browning off due to the emersed leaves dying off and letting submersed leaves grow in their place. To check if your hairgrass is planted correctly, make sure that they aren't too deep in, and they are not planted in thick clumps. Seperate them out as much as you can, because they more they are seperated, the faster they take root.

The violet plant sounds like the plant that is commonly mistaken for a aquatic plant. It can't grow underwater. A pic will confirm that for you.

Remove the dying leaves as well as you can. Keep the tank clean of debris.

CO2 from the Co2 generator will most likely be insufficient (just in my opinion here), and you'd be better off if you can get money for a proper CO2 setup soon No harm done, just take things slowly and as far your money can take you. This was how I started my hobby too, with a 1.5ft tank and DIY CO2.

Seachem Excel will help, but only to a certain extent, and it's really expensive in the long run if you're going to dose it daily in a 3ft tank.

Also, JBL ferropol does not include all the nutrients plants need. Try reading up more on fertilisation. Lighting levels are not an issue if you can read a book easily by the light of your tank.

[hebi]

if im not wrong, the fluoroscent lamp should be a 20W. seems ok to me, not too bright but unable to bring out the green from the plant.about the reading of book using the light of my tank, i think its pretty dim but of course still can see the words. maybe you guys can recommend what brand of light to buy, hopefully not too expensive.
anw squee, u said to remove dying leaves. do u mean to cut them off or just pluck them out?
also i plant the hairgrass in roughly a bunch of 10 stalks for most of them and a bunch nearly 1cm thick. tried very hard to seperate them out as told by many planted tank hobbyist but still cant. dont know if i should just pull the roots apart of use a scissors to cut them off.

[Shadow]

20W for 3ft tank is way too low. you are curently at about 1W per US galon.

[Aeon]

Hmmm melting leaves but no new growth doesn't seem like conversion from emmersed. My hairgrass which is less than 2 weeks old is also melting but also putting out runners and new bright green leaves. I think this is more like a Potassium problem.

The CO2 provided by the generator will not be sufficient. Plants extract the C (carbon) from CO2 to make carbohydrates (food) for themselves. Without enough CO2, plants starve + not enough Potassium, leaves melt.

Try dosing fertilisers in proportion so your NPK levels are good. I don't like commercial premixed ferts because they usually don't tell you what's inside or what ratio. I prefer to dose Dr Mallick's LushGro powders and liquid so I'm more in control.

[hebi]

Hmmm melting leaves but no new growth doesn't seem like conversion from emmersed. My hairgrass which is less than 2 weeks old is also melting but also putting out runners and new bright green leaves. I think this is more like a Potassium problem.

The CO2 provided by the generator will not be sufficient. Plants extract the C (carbon) from CO2 to make carbohydrates (food) for themselves. Without enough CO2, plants starve + not enough Potassium, leaves melt.

Try dosing fertilisers in proportion so your NPK levels are good. I don't like commercial premixed ferts because they usually don't tell you what's inside or what ratio. I prefer to dose Dr Mallick's LushGro powders and liquid so I'm more in control.

thats what i thought of too when i saw the seachem website. regarding the CO2 generator, i saw in another forum that for nisso 1200, its quite strong so i dont dare to dial it too high. maybe i will try increasing it slowly. oh ya Aeon, may i know where you purchase the dr mallick's lushgro powder and its cost? think will try that.
regarding the lighting, i saw someone post that as long as i can read by the tank light, should be enough. i can read but im sitting about 30cm from the tank? hmmm. also, how should i seperate my hairgrass? do i just pull them apart of use a scissors to cut the roots?

[|squee|]

Lol, when I mentioned able to read by the tank light, I probably forgot about different people's perception of what light levels are good to read by. Anyway, 20W is way too low. You should be going around 100W and above if I'm not wrong, let the 3ft experienced people guide you.

Dr Mallick's stuff can be bought from www.singaporehydroponics.com, or LFSes like Nature Aquarium opposite Thomson Medical Centre, or Eco-Culture, but I don't know where that is.

For planting hairgrass, refer to this but plant them slightly more thinly than the picture shows.

[CK Yeo]

Not sure if you got it. You seriously don't have enough light for that tank.

If your don't have enough light, no magic potion will help your plants. You may get away by using low light plants, but even then, I think 20W may be just too low even for them to grow properly.

Look out for 2nd-hand lights. They tend to be cheaper.

ck

[hebi]

i am thinking of buying seachem flourish NPK liquid fert(as in seperate 3 ) from C328. anyone use it before? are they good? NA is abit far for me now.i am a student preparing for my A lvl btw. haha
*edit* if my calculation is correct and plants need around 3-4W per gallon, my tank will need a total of 85W for my tank right?

[zenscape]

hebi, i read your thread and made a count and at least 5 bros here mentioned to you about LIGHT, namely Quixotic, Squee, richie, Robert and CK. Why don't you address the light issue first? Like Robert had calculated, 1 w/gal will not help to get your plant anywhere. Also, we do not know whether the colour temp of your 20W is suitable for planted tank, assuming it is a FL single tube in view of your 3ft tank. Go for 6000k to 8000k.

It is a strange theory that if you can read your book with the light means that the light is fine with your aquatic plants. Most of us can read beside a candle but we don't think candle light will preserve your plants very long.

With the width of 1ft, there is not much space to double your 1 x 20W FL. Perhaps you should look into T5 HO 1x 39 w for 3 ft first. When there is life in your tank with the T5, then you consider fertilization. Simple. No life, no taking up of nutrient.

With your existing light condition, you can empty up a 5 L of the best trace in the market at one go and other macro and it still doesn't help your plants at all.

[hebi]

ok noted. i surf the net and read up on lightings.found out that mine is actually the standard kind of fluoroscent lamp they say that usually people will prefer 5700K to mimic the midday sun, so what will higher K value do? and shouldnt i get at least around 85W for my tank according to the calculation? also is it necessary to get a reflector for my tank or just hang them above because my tank has a sort of compartment to place the light in.

[|squee|]

Usually we choose 6500K or 8000K for our tanks.

A reflector will improve your lighting.

Regarding the Seachem NPK, that's fine too. It's exactly the same as Dr Mallick's , only dissolved in water and more expensive in the long run. You can try that out first, because that one is easy to dose.

[brianclaw]

39W would be a little too low for his set-up, I think. 72W(24W per sqft) would be just nice in my opinion, granted you won't be able to grow harder plants like Glosso(nicely), but you will be able to grow most plants fairly well with that amount of light(albeit a bit slower).
Plus, finding a 72W light set should be fairly easier to find and cheaper than a T5 set.

[Aeon]

LushGro can be bought at most reputable LFS. I bought mine at Crawford Court direct from APC. NA selling also.

Get your lights right once and then you can leave it. Light is permanent and don't need much maintenance except for changing bulbs every few months. NPK fertilisation is rather complicated for a beginner, so read up AQ. I learned how by reading and trying. It will help to have some test kits to monitor the water parameters if you are hardcore. I even keep a log of every water test I do so I can record the progress of the tank.

Save up for a CO2 kit. Your plants will thank you.