Taelen
Aquarium Advice Freak
Well, I finished setting up my 44g last week and went out and purchased two java ferns and a stem plant that the LFS told me was very hardy. Today is day 6 and I do believe that the stem plant is dying off rather rapidly...almost disintegrating. I followed everything for a fishless cycle and added the plants at the start hoping they would help speed things along. The second pic is the day I bought the plants...the first is today. The plant basicially is wilted over, lifeless getting sucked into the powerhead of my AC70, I tried to move it away and pieces literally started to fall off. So I spent the morning cleaning up plant debris.
A few bits of information, I have been turning off the lights while away at work and leaving it on the rest of the time to try and avoid algae. I dosed the tank with Flourish, Excel and Iron (Seachem kit) as per the instructions. All water parameters are as expected at this stage, around 3-4ppm ammonia, pH 7, NO2 0ppm and NO3 0 ppm. I also tested the hardness and that might be a bit high, around 54ppm KH or so.
This is a tank that was pretty scummy and had a lot of deposits when got it from a friend, I did a lot to clean it with several products, but it was rinsed many, many times before I started this last weekend. The only thing I can think of as to why that plant is dying is perhaps there are still residual chemicals on the surface of the tank that are now in the water? Although as of right now, the java ferns look pretty much the same as when I got them.
A few bits of information, I have been turning off the lights while away at work and leaving it on the rest of the time to try and avoid algae. I dosed the tank with Flourish, Excel and Iron (Seachem kit) as per the instructions. All water parameters are as expected at this stage, around 3-4ppm ammonia, pH 7, NO2 0ppm and NO3 0 ppm. I also tested the hardness and that might be a bit high, around 54ppm KH or so.
This is a tank that was pretty scummy and had a lot of deposits when got it from a friend, I did a lot to clean it with several products, but it was rinsed many, many times before I started this last weekend. The only thing I can think of as to why that plant is dying is perhaps there are still residual chemicals on the surface of the tank that are now in the water? Although as of right now, the java ferns look pretty much the same as when I got them.