Plants problem after filter change

[silver]

I need some help with the plants in my aquarium.
Plants are not growing and all leaves dropped off. As soon as a new leaf appears, it becomes brown and does not grow to normal size.

The plants were doing pretty well with my previous filter Fluval 101. The problem started after changing filter to Eheim 2213.
What can be a problem?

Aquarium 20 Gal,
light 30W,
KH=30
GH=200
PH=7.0
No CO2 injection
setup 4 years ago

 

[JDogg]

I need some help with the plants in my aquarium.
Plants are not growing and all leaves dropped off. As soon as a new leaf appears, it becomes brown and does not grow to normal size.

The plants were doing pretty well with my previous filter Fluval 101. The problem started after changing filter to Eheim 2213.
What can be a problem?

Aquarium 20 Gal,
light 30W,
KH=30
GH=200
PH=7.0
No CO2 injection
setup 4 years ago

i doubt it was the filter change, even if you had an ammonia spike the plants will not care.

did you add anything else new?

did you clean out the filter before hooking it up?

what are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels?

what species of plant is that, i can not tell from the picture, are you sure if is aquatic?

is that the only plant showing problems, if not can you show pictures of other affected plants.

any fish affected?

any algae blooms? if so what kind of algae?

just trying to get more info and narrow things down

 

[Purrbox]

Looks like the plant in question could be a crypt. If this is the case then this is a normal reaction to changes in water quality, even if the change is for the better. Give it some time and it should come back just fine. A root tab under the affect plant can help things along.

 

[silver]

Thanks, JDogg

did you add anything else new?

No, but the filter media in Eheim is diffeent from Fulval. I changed the media in Eheim since then with no effect.

did you clean out the filter before hooking it up?

I think so. I did everything according to the instructions.

what are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels?

Nitrite is 0.1 mg/l which is normal. I have not checked others. Is there other specific tests that I should do, such as iron or potassium?

what species of plant is that, i can not tell from the picture, are you sure if is aquatic?
is that the only plant showing problems, if not can you show pictures of other affected plants.

One on the background is Cabomba. Other I don't remember. But they are for sure aquatic as they grew well before for couple years.
Now all plant species I tried affected by this problem.

any fish affected?

Nope. There are angels in the aquarium and they are doing quite well

any algae blooms? if so what kind of algae?

Not much. Green on the glass and brown on the plants.

Looks like the plant in question could be a crypt. If this is the case then this is a normal reaction to changes in water quality, even if the change is for the better. Give it some time and it should come back just fine. A root tab under the affect plant can help things along.

It will not fix with time. It's like this for several months. And it's not plant specie specific. There are several kinds in the aquarium and all are affected.

 

[JDogg]

you should not have ANY Nitrite.
perhaps you are experiencing some cycle.

you should however have some Nitrate (say more then 10 ppm but less then 30 ppm) preferably closer to 10 then 30.

if you can test for iron do so as the plants need some of that, also make sure you have some phosphates. potassium i do not think you can test for.

how old are the light bulbs? you said the tank has been running for 4 years, if the bulb is that old it may have lost enough to not be much good to the plants anymore (fluorescent bulbs should be changed about once a year)

there may be some kind of contamination, but that would affect fish too :?

my advise:
put in brand new bulbs (something in the 6500 Kelvin to 10,000 kelvin range)
check nitrate, Phosphate and iron levels post those here. (you may need to buy ferts and dose accordingly, based on test results)

 

[silver]

Replaced the bulbs
Here is other measurements results:

Nitrate = 50 mg/l
Iron = 0
Phosphate = 5.0 mg/l