Plants yellowing

[kaym]

Can bros here point out the problem of 'hardy' plants like windelov / frogbits / salvinias yellowing and dying? Frogbits yellow and disintegrate in the water fastest followed by salvinias. The windelovs sprout new leaves but still have some leaves that look 'dried up'. The US fissidens instead of looking green, have started to look brownish.

I dose once a week fert after water change with half cap seachem flourish / 1 cap excel for my 3 footer. Was advised to dose less than usual because i have CRS in the tank. Less is more they say. Lighting is 2x39W T5 lights 6 hrs daily with no injected CO2 (low tech). I notice when i previously run at 7hrs, some leaf tips of windelovs have black 'burn' marks. Water is chilled at 26 degrees.

The other flora doing ok is subwassertang, needle leaf fern and moss balls. Nana petite has a few leaves dying off but still doing fairly ok.

Any recommendations on getting to root of problem? Are the plants lacking some essential fert elements or is my lighting too strong?

[barmby]

I believe NPK is not sufficient. For this reason, frogbits turn yellow. Or first u try placing the frogbits directly under the light.

Try to isolate the problem. I don't think too much light is a problem. If light is too much, means fertilizer is not sufficient.

1)Light
2)CO2
3)Macro
4)Micro

[weiquan]

im also in the same situation as you as stated " The windelovs sprout new leaves but still have some leaves that look 'dried up ".

im also using the same lighitng in my 3 footer. i currently just removed one 39W T5 blub, i hope by reducing my lighitng would slove the problem.

Cheers.

[kaym]

Chendol: Any visible improvements so far?

Barmby: Any recommended shrimp-safe NPK supplements?

[barmby]

I feel that your system is running lean on fertilizers which make sense as shrimps are the main attractions. Ultimately some plants may not do well in such system because some plants may out complete another plant. For this reason, some folks here practised EI method where everything goes to the max.

Your system can only do well with a few types of plants. Lets try to focus on those that u will do well and concentrate on the CRS instead.

[o2bubble]

Actually, if plants does well, so will your fishes/shrimps but not the reverse.

[alechim]

even fissiden is browning? Might be lack of nutrients. Usually fissiden survive in low tech. I think the only way to it is get some nutrients calculator and see if all or at least the NPK are dosed enough?

[kaym]

Any good all-in-one ferts in a bottle to recommend?

Lushgro macro and micros ? Are they safe for crs?

[alechim]

I am using lushgro, shrimps are alive and kicking

[torque6]

browning of leaves usually refer to either insufficient light or potassium, K helps with browning, I would suggest increasing each of this variable to pinpoint the exact solution.

By the way, i never had luck dosing ferts with shrimps, most of them become either less active and die a couple of weeks later.

[rwalker]

In low tech approach, with minimal dosing, plants (except heavy rooted plant) get nutrient mainly from the waste generated by the fauna. Shrimp only tank may not generate enough waste, thus lack of nutrient in the water. I doubt lights is an issues as frogbits are floater and thus they are closer to the light source, unless yours is obscured at a corner.

Frogbits in my low tech tank turn brown initially but grow much better after the tank is cycled and with enough fishes.

You may try hornwort rather than frogbits if you can't find a 'safe' fertilizer for the shrimp. I think shrimp like them.

[noblespirit]

check your cabonate hardness(kh)reading on your tank water.without run in on co2.sort of on the high side to me, that has this result of yellowing and fading if i am not wrong .if kh is within the spec ,then it could be short of k.(potassium).cheers.

[torque6]

I still remember a small branch of hortwort died and leach nitrite back into the water, killing most of my shrimps. They are fast growers, but less resilient.

[rwalker]

I still remember a small branch of hortwort died and leach nitrite back into the water, killing most of my shrimps. They are fast growers, but less resilient.

. I have Cherry Shrimps in a full of hornwort tank and do not have problem. They always graze on it and breed like no tomorrow. Probably they are more hardy than CRS. One thing about hornwort is that it is very sensitive to chlorine and more brittle.

I always put some fast grower (eg horwnwort, frogbits, etc) in my tank to complement slow grower for example moss or fern for algae control. Just my personal preference and 2 cents.