Trying to stay on top of plants who seem to be going South

[kristap]

Apologies in advance for all of the pictures.

After too much lurking here - I decided to make the plunge and add live plants to my tank, a 48G bowfront. I'm really excited and anxious to keep them alive and an integral part of a pretty tank. Perhaps I should have been daunted by my lack of a green thumb but I was not, and purchased a nice selection of fauna from aquariumplants.com. Now that I have everything in the ground, so to speak, for about a week - I'm growing concerned about what I'm seeing in the tank. The fish seem happy and I only just this morning found my first casualty, after ~4mos - a new otto. The plants do not seem so happy and I am not sure where to go next. Do I need CO2 to help them out or perhaps more light? I've tried to pick low - mod light plants which I thought would be more appropriate for this 2 wpg setup.

Ok, here's what I got: 48G bowfront. There is ~19" from substrate to the hood. Filter is a penguin 330 hob. Light is Coral-life 96W 6700K and is on for 13hrs/day. I do 10% pwc 1x week. The low ph is a result of the malaysian driftwood and hasn't ever budged from 6.4 since it was added.

PH=6.4
NH3=0
NO2=0
NO3=40ppm
GH=75ppm/4.2d
KH=40ppm/2.25dk
Temp=80F
I don't know what to make of my phosphates as I've had a heck of a time, after learning about their influence on situations like mine, tracking down a local source for a test kit. Internet to the rescue and one is one the way.

My plant concerns:

I have 2 java ferns and while there is nice, green, new growth on them - they each have quite a few leaves which are turning black and rotting(?). The leaves which are not new or rotten seem to have attracted this algae and I'm not sure how to best address it. Leave it for my algae eaters? Increase water changes? Decrease hours of light?

These green temples are also starting to attract brown algae but at least the ottos seem to pick at it & eat it. (behind the anubias)

Dwarf sag, purchased from lfs (it looked ok in the store but turned ugly when I looked through my door) Initially, I thought that this was the dreaded black beard algae but the ottos seem to like it but not enough to clear it out. Should I prune the leaves back or should I just leave them as is? The plant is still new so I don't know if it will sprout any new growth.

These sags are in much better condition but am not sure what to do about these brown, slimy looking leaves

Corkscrew vals - they arrived from aquariumplants looking a little worse for the travel but they haven't picked up any. Ends of leaves are yellow and turning brown after about a week. Do they need longer to recover? Do they need more light? (2 wpg and they are directly under the hood)

(Down in the corner of the above picture, is the java moss which is slowly turning brown.)

Can I just cut these off? Will it help? Hurt?

I just increased the number of ottos from 1 to 4 and added the shrimp to help address the algae which is starting to grow.

Tank inhabitants:
1 gold nugget pleco
2 algae eating shrimp
4 otto
4 hatchets
4 lamp eye tetra
6 red minor tetra
5 leopard danio, longfin
5 zebra danio, longfin

 

[malkore]

well you have roughly 2wpg. CO2 injection would be good. If you do it, make sure the HOB doesn't disturb the surface too much. If it has a bio-wheel...ditch the bio-wheel or you'll be losing most of your CO2 before it ever hits the tank water.

Nitrates are high. Should let those go above 20ppm. Your 10% water change isn't nearly enough either. I'd aim for 25% minimum on any tank, but I recommend 50% weekly water changes, especially for planted tanks.

 

[gfink]

Nitrates are high. Should let those go above 20ppm. Your 10% water change isn't nearly enough either. I'd aim for 25% minimum on any tank, but I recommend 50% weekly water changes, especially for planted tanks.

I agree that the nitrates are high.

I think the 80° temp is a little high too.

Malkore, not to change the subject, but assuming one's nitrates were under control, why 50% water changes? What about the "natural aquarium"? I have found that my fish load and plant consuption to be pretty close, so I don't build up nitrates. I do change maybe 25% every week or so.

 

[kristap]

re: ditching the biowheel. Just curious, as I have now removed them, but aren't the wheels an integral part of the filtering?

Thanks for the help, am looking foward to keeping this thing green. Healthy green, not algae green

 

[Tiffi]

If you cut off the dead ends of the Valissneria, that won't harm them. In fact you will have to cut them every now and then anyway, before they float on to of your aquarium and take most light from the lower plants.

Do you have any fertilizer in the substrate or liquid ones you use?

 

[kristap]

Tiffi - I just bought some Flourish and fertilizer tabs from aquariumplants.com. I was planning on burying a couple of tabs tomorrow into the substrate under my plant clusters and then waiting to see about adding the flourish (wanted things to settle & let water chem results help me decide when)

 

[Hoovercat]

Krista, try this page for help on what you're missing nutrient-wise. http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm I think you'll find high phosphates as well when you get your test kit. The bio-wheel on your filter isn't necessary and will help CO2 outgass from your tank. Be sure to bury those root tabs well or you're likely to have a major algae bloom.

Malkore, not to change the subject, but assuming one's nitrates were under control, why 50% water changes

The answer to this is to replace undosed micro-nutrients and KH buffer. Malkore may have another view but I know it accomplishes this much.

 

[Zezmo]

You only wan't to ditch the Bio wheel if you add CO2 injection. Agitating the water drives CO2 out of the water if you are doing CO2 injection. But if you are not adding extra CO2 then this is not an issue.

 

[malkore]

Zezmo's right about the bio-wheel...and now that I look, I see you aren't injecting CO2 right now. You have just over 2wpg, so I do advise you start CO2 injection, at least some DIY for now.

As for 50% water changes, in addition to the trace and maintaining Kh levels (CO2 will slowly eat away Kh over the months)...you also have to export the DOC's that build up.

As for the 'natural aquarium' idea...our tropical fish live in lakes and rivers with new water being added constantly and old water exported away. the most natural way to run a tank would be several small w/c's all week long, like one a day. I'd rather do it once a week and just replace more water.
50% is a good number because it effectively 'resets' your nutrients so you can re-dose things properly...espeically stuff like iron and potassium which we don't measure.