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HaveQuestions

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Nov 7, 2016
Messages
25
Hello,

We have had our aquarium for a little over a month now and I am trying to understand how to take care of the plants that we have.

Here are some details on the aquarium:
- 10 gallon tank
- 15 W T8 bulb, on a timer for 10hr a day
- three guppies
- two smallish Anubias, one of which sprouted something that the guppies pecked at until it fell off
- one relatively large Java Fern, which has some blackened leaves and a couple leaves with something growing off the tip
- substrate is some sort of black sand

We had some snails that started showing up on their own, so I was picking them out as I saw them. We weren't too bothered by them, I just didn't want things to get out of hand.

We picked up an API test kit and here are the test results I recorded so far:

Nov 21 (after a 20% water change)
pH low: 7.6
pH high: 7.4
Ammonia: <0.25 ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: <5ppm

Nov 23
Ammonia: <0.25ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: <5ppm

Nov 25
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: <5ppm

Dec 2
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: ~5ppm

Performed 20% water change this morning.

The Anubias seem to be growing week, I notice some new leaves and one seems to be growing it's roots. I am a bit worried about the fern as almost all of the leaves are blackened to some degree. We are not bothered by the cosmetics of some blackened leaves, I just want to do what I can keep the plants and fish healthy.

Thanks!
 

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Did you happen to remove the Java from the tank while doing maintenance? If the leaves dry at all I have seen blackened ones.
 
The Java has been in the tank since day one. I started another thread on the Java, as in addition to blackened leaves, it had several dots on it.
 
There might not be enough nutrients in the water for your java fern, maybe you can buy some root tabs for the ferns since they get their nutrients from the substrate
 
How does one go about "pruning" under water plants, even if to remove some leaves that look really brown?

Also, where do the plants get their nutrients? From the fish effluent?
 
There might not be enough nutrients in the water for your java fern, maybe you can buy some root tabs for the ferns since they get their nutrients from the substrate

"Tab fertilizers are useless with Java ferns, since they don’t have a proper root system to utilize them." from this article.
This allows java fern to be planted on rocks and driftwood, well away from any substrate.
 
How does one go about "pruning" under water plants, even if to remove some leaves that look really brown?



Also, where do the plants get their nutrients? From the fish effluent?

You can use scissors to remove all or part of the leaf.
Nutrient uptake depends on the plant. Floating, low light (such as java fern, anubias, mosses), and many stem plants get their nutrients from the water column. Swords, crypts, many grass like plants are typically heavy root feeders.
 
"Tab fertilizers are useless with Java ferns, since they don’t have a proper root system to utilize them." from this article.
This allows java fern to be planted on rocks and driftwood, well away from any substrate.

Our fern came in a straw type bed that the store told me was from a coconut tree or something. Since the roots were so intertwined, I spread it apart and used a piece of wood to weigh it down. So it is above the substrate.
 
Hi @HaveQuestions Your tank looks very nice. A few things you need to look at regarding the plants. The Anubia should not be planted in the substrate. If you have the riazome in the substrate it will rot and the plant will die. Best is to have it grow on driftwood, rocks or even the scull. If you want it growing on that spot rather pull it out slightly so that only the roots are in the substrate.
The substrate you have in the tank might be compacting as it is very fine graine size. Make sure you do a proper graval vac when you do wc as the substrate will trap and hold a lot of detris that will convert to ammonia very quickly and poison your tank.
The black leaves on the fern might just be older leaves dying off and can be removed easally.
The growth on the tips of the leaves might be new plantlets or black beard algae. If you can post a close up photo it will help with the id.
What ferts are you using?
 
Oops sorry I was thinking of amazon sword, anyways yes ^^ java ferns take in most of their nutrients from the water column so you could try dosing seachem flourish comprehensive. It might just be old leaves dying off and new leaves coming in. Use the tips above
 
Thank you Pierre for the detailed response.

That photo was from day one, and someone already educated us on the need for Anubias to be exposed a little. I will attach some photos of the roots to show you how we pulled them out of the substrate.

Thanks for the tip on vacuuming the substrate. I have no concept of this so I will have to consult Google haha.

I took some close ups of the fern for you. Based on what others are writing to us, I am not too concerned, just trying to be informed.

As for fertilizer, we don't use any (yet?)
 

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