first plant not doing well... need advice.

[Mrduna01]

Hey everyone... I love the planted, aquascaped tanks and decided to try my hand at it with just one plant to get going. I got a small amazon sword. It has two good sized healthy looking leaves that are growing and doing well and over the past couple weeks I have four leaves very small sprouting up at the bottom of the plant. These new leaves however have a couple tiny holes in them and almost look transparent. I heard this may be potassium lacking but I have been dosing flourish and have api root tabs so I though that should be sufficient. No?

My setup is a 28 gallon bowfront with a aquaclear 50 and another 30 gallon filter.. name escapes me at the moment. Parameters are all good. Stocked with 6 tiger barbs and one clown loach. Lighting is one 3 year old flourecent bulb.

I know my lighting sucks. Upgrading to a 75 gallon with a dual t5 ho fixture and fluval fx5 in two months.

Also dosing with api liquid co2. I hope I have covered everything. Thank you for any help you can give.

 

[BBradbury]

Your Planted Tank

Good morning Mr...

You're just getting started, so there are some things that need to be changed. I keep large, low light, low tech (no CO2) tanks. So, here's what I suggest.

With so much filtration, you have a lot of oxygen going into the tank. Plants give off oxygen as a waste product, so they won't do well in a high oxygen environment. If you change half the water in your tank weekly, your AquaClear 50 is plenty.

Your three year old bulb needs to be replaced. I prefer GE, 6500 K, aquarium plant bulbs. You can get them at the local hardware store for just a few dollars. If you keep low light plants, then this bulb will be sufficient. Most swords however, will require a little stronger lighting.

These are some things I noticed from your post.

B

 

[Mrduna01]

Good morning Mr...

You're just getting started, so there are some things that need to be changed. I keep large, low light, low tech (no CO2) tanks. So, here's what I suggest.

With so much filtration, you have a lot of oxygen going into the tank. Plants give off oxygen as a waste product, so they won't do well in a high oxygen environment. If you change half the water in your tank weekly, your AquaClear 50 is plenty.

Your three year old bulb needs to be replaced. I prefer GE, 6500 K, aquarium plant bulbs. You can get them at the local hardware store for just a few dollars. If you keep low light plants, then this bulb will be sufficient. Most swords however, will require a little stronger lighting.

These are some things I noticed from your post.

B

Yeah I put the extra filter on because I prefer to over filter and wasn't sure if I was overstocked to begin with. I also wanted the back up incase one quit working and to provide support when changing media. Should I top off the water to reduce surface agitation? I want to hold off on changing the bulb due to upgrading my system in just two months. Getting the new setup for Christmas and won't be using this fixture. Any other pointers?

 

[FastFly67]

I'm gonna have to agree with BB. I suspect your lack of proper light is the culprit. It's not but a few dollar to pick up a new fluorescent bulb. You can even check Lowes or Wal mart for that matter. I don't buy the bulbs labeled "grow light" or "aquarium". Those words automatically triple the price. Bring your old bulb with you to the store to match up the proper length and pins and find the bulb that says "day light 6700k"

 

[Mrduna01]

I'm gonna have to agree with BB. I suspect your lack of proper light is the culprit. It's not but a few dollar to pick up a new fluorescent bulb. You can even check Lowes or Wal mart for that matter. I don't buy the bulbs labeled "grow light" or "aquarium". Those words automatically triple the price. Bring your old bulb with you to the store to match up the proper length and pins and find the bulb that says "day light 6700k"

I suppose your right... A few bucks won't hurt. I was thinking when I got the sword that they were hardy enough to not need a new bulb. Live and learn.

 

[Mrduna01]

Lol... Oh sheesh. I went and got a new bulb from the lfs. It's a ZooMed ultra sun super daylight bulb. I didn't look at the price and it rang up at 18 bucks for an 18 inch bulb. Ugh! I went back and looked and they were all similiar price. Should I take this thing back? It's 6500 k... Highest they had except for 10000k which I thought was a little much.

 

[BigJim]

I still doubt you'd have enough light with just one 18" bulb, regardless of the type. I would take it back. Amazon swords hang on for a long time, even in dim light. If your tank upgrade is coming soon, I'd just wait. If not, I'd look at adding a different light fixture.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

If you've got a spare desk lamp you can get a CFL (the curly ones) and put it over you tank too. Just make sure its the proper day light spectrum. That's what I did when I was looking for some extra light over a tank. You can spotlight it over your plant. There's a pic in my profile.

 

[Mrduna01]

I think ill keep the bulb I bought and leave it like that. The sword should be fine for two months I suppose.