ludwigia with pinkish white tips??

[misterc007]

Does anyone have any advice or know what I might need? I have both the round leaf and narrow leaf ludwigia and bot of them are starting to turn pinkish almost white at the tips. I also have some vals that just aren't growing at all. And a couple of swords that are putting out about 1 leaf a week. It's a new tank, the plants have been in there for about 4 weeks. I'm running T5HO lights for 10 hrs 6 with 1 bulb and 4 with 3. I'm not using any fert's. and I have Flourite substrate. No co2 yet but hope to get to that point soon.

Any help is greatly appreciated this is my first planted tank.

ph 7.6
temp 78
nitrate 20

Thanks!

 

[Bottomfeeder88]

Low CO2 makes mine auto-frag that might be your concern.

 

[Bottomfeeder88]

Your stems that is. Adding CO2 in one form or another can work miracles IME

 

[misterc007]

I'm not sure what auto frag means? lol

would just adding some flourish or something like that work? I assume it couldn't hurt.

 

[Bottomfeeder88]

Auto-fragmentation aka stem rot. And no supplements never hurt when dosed correctly.

 

[Coursair]

When a tank is new sometimes less photoperiod is better. 6-8 hours a day. I would at least add Flourish Comprehensive and root tabs.

 

[aqua_chem]

White new growth can indicate an issue with iron, or one or more other micro nutrients. Unlike macros, micro nutrients are created in sufficient quantities by your bioload.

 

[misterc007]

Thanks for the info. I have another question and I've been reading other posts on this but I'm a finance guy and some of this stuff is alot to take in for me. I have an Odyssea light t5ho 48 inch 3 bulbs. Currently I'm running 1 for 6hrs and 3 for 4 hrs for a total of 10 hrs the 3 bulbs come on in the middle. The swords seem to be growing good but some of the other plants not so good like spiral val and micro swords. I also have some algae starting to come into play red, brown and green. Could someone comment on how long the lights should be on? Also how would adding CO2 reduce algae?? Thanks!

The light is 4 inches above the tank and the tank is 18 inches tall (45 gallon)

 

[aqua_chem]

Well, without knowing more about what the plants look like, I can't give you any specific advice. But...

A healthy plant will outcompete healthy algae every time, all day long. The problem is that we generally dont supply plants with enough co2 to be healthy and take full advantage of the light provided.

Using a finance analogy (because I do so love analogies), imagine you have a great idea to start a business, but don't have the capital to start the business. You could probably hobble along, but if you had some investment capital, you could be very successful. If you replace your idea with light, investment capital with co2, and business success with plant growth, we more or less have a working analogy. The potential is there, but without co2, it's wasted. Worse yet, lets say you have a nice product but measly means to market and distribute it (due to lack of capital). Then one day much cheaper knockoffs start cropping up. Algae! It takes advantage of the situation to make an inferior product with lower investment cost. If you had the capital in the first case, you could have run them into the ground.

 

[misterc007]

I totally get it! Well said. I'm going to post some pictures later. I really apreciate your help!

 

[misterc007]

Here are some Pics

 

[misterc007]

You can see the pink white tips, The Algae of course and the corkscrews and micro swords just aren't doing anything. It's been 4 weeks and I guess with this being my first planted tank I was just trying to make sure I'm on the right track.

 

[Coursair]

You can see the pink white tips, The Algae of course and the corkscrews and micro swords just aren't doing anything. It's been 4 weeks and I guess with this being my first planted tank I was just trying to make sure I'm on the right track.

I still say root tabs of some sort for your stems and Swords ( both are heavy root feeders ) as well as at least a liquid Fert. CO2 will make a big difference with that much light.

Just high light and no ferts will grow a lovely Algae Farm
High Light, you gotta have CO2.

I'm lazy and patient. I'm a low/med light person. Ferts only. No CO2. Very little Algae

High Light and pressurized CO2 and ferts will grow plants FAST ! Or Algae if it's not balanced.

 

[misterc007]

I do have some root tabs and flourish arriving on monday so I will start that asap. So do you think I should go down to just 1 bulb for the duration untill I can get CO2 setup? I think I am going to try the CO2 I juust need to gather all the stuff. Thanks for your advice.

 

[Coursair]

I do have some root tabs and flourish arriving on monday so I will start that asap. So do you think I should go down to just 1 bulb for the duration untill I can get CO2 setup? I think I am going to try the CO2 I juust need to gather all the stuff. Thanks for your advice.

I'm still learning myself, but I'd say Yes. You need to reduce light till your plants can compete.

The ferts will help, but you'll need CO2 before you crank the lighting. My club member is Tom Barr, so I'm trying to learn from the best