Need Advice --- dying plants

[LittleMossHead84]

I have had my planted tank for over 10 months. At first it was great, I had lots of plants, for months everything was cool. I used this website to start up my tank so I am confidient I followed the correct procedures. However now I am down to two amazon swords that get dark green spots on the older leaves, it looks like algae a little bit because it rubs off. My whole tank is semi covered with black moss on the rocks and walls along with green. I bought a gravel and substrate solution to put in with partial water changes, and full water changes. What else can I do??? Do I have to completely start over or is there someway to beat this stuff?

 

[BigJim]

Sounds like you've got major algae problems. Shut off all your lights and wrap the tank in a blanket for a couple days. That should take care of the algae. The trick is to keep it from coming back.

What kind of lighting do you have?
How long are your lights on in a 24 hour period?
Do you dose fertilizers?

If I had to guess, the lights are on for too long or you have a major nutrient imbalance. Possibly both. The black stuff you're seeing is black brush algae (BBA). It's usually caused by fluctuating levels of CO2 and improper lighting. It can be a real pain to deal with.

 

[LittleMossHead84]

I use a coralife plant bulb 15W
I admit I probably have left my lights on longer than 12 hours some days, when I am at work or what not, I know I should invest in a self timer.
I use Flourish fertilizer by SeaChem, Im not sure if this what you mean but I do not put any root tabs or anything like that. I only have 2 amazon sword, I know they are heavy eaters, should I be putting them in?
Did not mention this earlier but my tank is 10gals.
Someone told me this is normal and that the way everyone else keeps their tank clean is by vacumning excessively, I feel like this is false and there ahs to be some other way to maintain that beautiful underwater landscape.

 

[HN1]

I agree with BigJim that it's likely BBA. Not fun....

One of the major contributing factors may be that you are adding ferts into the water column. Swords do not get any nutrients from the water. They are an emersed plant naturally and absolute root feeders. The only thing that the Flourish (which is a great product IME) is doing is feeding the algae.

 

[BigJim]

I see several potential problems.

Is that bulb fluorescent or incandescent? If it's fluorescent, you have decent lighting for low, possibly up to medium light plants. If it's incandescent, switch to a spiral CFL bulb in the 6500K spectrum.

You said it yourself. Get a timer. A cheap timer from the hardware store will do. Twelve hours is the maximum time I'd leave your lights on.

Just so you know, amazon swords will get way too big for your tank. I have two that are busting out of my 29g at the moment. You're correct about them being heavy root feeders. I don't think they draw a lot of nutrition from the water. If they're all you have left, stick to the root tabs and stop the Flourish. You're just feeding the algae.

Proper nutrition is the way to maintain a planted tank. Light counts as a nutrient. My 29g has major algae problems, but that's because I have an ill-fitting hood, an AC70 that off-gases my inadequate DIY CO2 system, and low intensity light in the wrong spectrum that gets partially blocked by the mineral-etched glass in the hood. I have to scrape the glass once a month and BBA runs rampant. My swords love root tabs and I just started using Flourish, but it seems to accelerate the algae issues.

My 20L has a tightly fitting VersaTop with an AC30 and an AC50, a DIY CO2 system, 36W of CFLs and 36W of T5s. The only spot I have algae issues is directly under the CFLs. I'm going to switch from my "warm white" (I think 3900K) CFLS to some 6500K CFLs and see if it makes a difference. I also dose this tank with Flourish.

 

[eatsomepopcorn]

Try less light and RO water - test for phosphate, you want water with zero phosphates.

 

[timwag2001]

no co2?

test for phosphate, you want water with zero phosphates.

completely disagree

 

[BigJim]

She's already running DIY CO2.

 

[meegosh]

Sounds like a combination of things to me. Possible nutrient imbalance combined with long light period could definitely cause a major algae outbreak. I agree with what has been said, if you only have swords left then I would stop dosing the liquid fert since it will just feed the algae. I would suggest getting some root tabs for the swords, they will green up in no time.

You need some level of phosphates in a planted tank. Phosphates are part of the "big three".. N-P-K.... Nitrogen - Phosphorus - Potassium.

 

[JustOneMore20]

Besides doing the things that those guys suggested ^, you should also clear out what you can of the algae....if you haven't already. Do a water change and scrub the rocks and the walls with a toothbrush (new, unused on your teeth). If you have to change out 1/2 the water, do it....and if you can't get it out in 1 water change....do another one in a couple days.

Then, try to get more plants...fast growing ones like Hornwort, Anacharis, Wisteria, Hygro, Rotala rotundifolia....any or all of those will do. They will help suck up any extra nutrients in the water before the algae can use it.

How often are you doing water changes and how much each time?

Also how often are you changing out your DIY co2 mixture? Unsteady co2 levels can lead to BBA (the black algae) and unfortunately that is one thing you risk with diy co2. Changing the mixture often....about every 3 weeks is a way to help keep the levels steady....don't wait until it stops producing bubbles.

 

[timwag2001]

doing large water changes like 50% causes the co2 levels to fluctuate just from the co2 that comes from the tap. so too many and too large pwc's can cause bba too