Transparent Leaves on Sunset Hyrgo - Causes?

[LindaC]

Can anyone tell me what diffciency causes leaves to turn clear, this is happening with my Sunset Hygro.

Thanks!
Linda

[ringfinger]

What exactly are you dosing? I have read somewhere that a lack of iron can cause "glassy" leaves in fast growing plants like your Hygro. I could be wrong, but info on your dosing schedule would be helpful in other people answering your question.

[An t-iasg]

What type of lighting do you have? I have seen hygro listed as a low-light plant, but it never did well in my low-light tank. Once I took a bunch out of the med-high light tank and put it in a bowl for a few days until I could put it in the other tank. After being in the bowl for less than a day, the leaves turned transparent, and I thought it was due to the fact that it had only room lighting. It was fine when I took it out of the tank.

[LindaC]

Okay, the lighting on my 29 gallon tank is 1x55 watt retro fit from AH Supply w/6700K, just short of 2 wpg. The hygro was growing very well for a while, would it just quite growing well do to the lighting?

I am currently dosing approx. 1/4 tsp of K2SO4, 2-4 drops of Fleet and usually letting the fish and food take care of the Nitrates, every other night and on alternate nights, I am dosing 2 ml of Flourish. I do have CSM+B but am finishing up the Flourish first. I also add 1 tsp of Epsom Salts to my tank once a week. I have soft water, GH 40. CO2 is maintained at 30 ppms. I also add 1/2 tsp of baking soda with every water change to bring my KH up to 70. PH is usually around 6.6. Hope this helps. I am still currently in the experimenting faze, trying my best to stablize my tank but I'm still having lots of problems.

I am seriously thinking of upgrading my lights to 2x55 watts after my vacation. I've been thinking that if I cannot stablize my tank now with medium lighting, will I have an even harder time with high lighting?

Any help is so greatly appreciated. Many thanks!

Linda

[Purrbox]

If the leaves are turning transparent it could be a Nitrate and or Phosphate difficiency. Have you tested the levels for the two nutrients to ensure that neither is bottoming out?

[czcz]

Also, is it on old or new growth? Both?

The hygro was growing very well for a while, would it just quite growing well do to the lighting?

As saiid, it is much more likely the transparent leaves are due to something bottoming out or insufficient levels of a nutrient. Tom Barr has said melting/transparent leaves are usually a CO2 or NO3 thing, fwiw.

I've been thinking that if I cannot stablize my tank now with medium lighting, will I have an even harder time with high lighting?

Depends on your mindset. With a full fert schedule higher light can be easier since you can feel confident that missing a day of dosing will bottom out something. Balancing a medium light tank is certainly less trouble though and allows much more error room with dosing (many take advantage of this by dosing medium-low light tanks once a week, even).

If you are doing water changes, you should dose your ferts a little higher and observe. Starting with N and P is good. Personally I would start with CO2 and N since I am a Tom Barr fanboy Adding Zezmo's KNO3 recommendation from your other thread to the Fleet solution seems perfect to me.

[LindaC]

I am going to start dosing more KNO3. This is the one fert that I have been afraid to add much of if at all, but this could very well be my problem. I doubt it's the CO2, I'm pretty sure that I'm getting a decent amount of CO2 now.

I took Zezmo's advice and mixed up a solution of diluted Phosphates, but I'm still having a hard time adding the amount equivalent to the phosphate solution, i.ea., 3/4 tsp of of fleet solution plus 3/4 tsp of KNO3, isn't that a lot of nitrate for a medium light tank? My light is 1x55 watts over a 29 gallon. I was always under the impression that lower light tanks didn't need as much fertilizer as high lighted tanks, although I am adding pressurized CO2 and do have a decent size plant load. Should I take these facts into consideration?

I am so close, I've come so far in my knowledge of the planted tank in these past 6 months, I only hope that it won't be too much longer. I'd like to get to the point where I can dose a few times a week and feel confident.