Plants dying

**RedPeasant** · 18th Jan 2009, 01:55

Something is happening to the plants in my 2 feet tank, the Anubias leaves are breaking off for no reason and the stem with the broke off leaf started to turn brown and die. Can my arrowhead puffer be biting them off? And the leaves of the Pygmy Chain Swords are also turning brown why?

I am using a 55 watt pl light set which is on 10 hours a day and no fertilizer is use.

Help needed urgently

**FishFan** · 23rd Jan 2009, 16:54

Light seems to be ok. Maybe it is the lack of CO2 or fertiliser?

**Shadow** · 23rd Jan 2009, 18:21

with 55W over 2ft tank, you need fertelizer and CO2. If you do not want to add fertelizer nor CO2, half the light wattage, ~24W.

**RedPeasant** · 24th Jan 2009, 02:26

If i shorten the light on time to 5 hours and adding some floating plants does it help?

**StanChung** · 24th Jan 2009, 04:08

Hi Red Peasant,
Plants need to eat too.
So give them what they need. Light, NPK, Traces, CO2.
I doubt the puffer is doing the damage but I won't discount it as they have pretty powerful bite. They can crush snail shells and snap small fishes in two.

**Shadow** · 24th Jan 2009, 09:39

Originally Posted by RedPeasant

If i shorten the light on time to 5 hours and adding some floating plants does it help?

it is not about the duration. It is about the intake rate. the higher the wattage, the more the intake and you don't have than in supply.

there are other that may cause leave turn born. for example new plant from lfs, they grown emerse and normal to turn brown when put submerse.

**RedPeasant** · 24th Jan 2009, 12:30

Originally Posted by StanChung

Hi Red Peasant,
Plants need to eat too.
So give them what they need. Light, NPK, Traces, CO2.

What is NPK?

My plants have been in submerse condition for a month now so they should have adapt to live underwater.

How do i inject co2 cheaply?

**Shadow** · 24th Jan 2009, 23:26

NPK = Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphorus

The cheapest CO2 is pressurize tank. The initial investment is expensive but it is cheaper in the long run. 5 liters tank can last for 1 year injected into 3 tanks with the rate of 12 bubble per second (total rom 3 tanks)