Dead Plants

[Link119]

So ive had an aquarium for about a year and a quarter with 5 zebra danios and 2 flame (or von rio) tetras. Basically, first i added some java ferns and those have been slowly growing well.
I also have some anacharis which at first grew, but then as the plant got bigger, the lower leaves on a long stalk would start to die. When some stalks of my anacharis would grow new buds, the lower end of the stalk would be full of dead leaves. The "dead" leaves look like a leaf which a fish just took a bite out of, but my fish dont eat it. Also the "dead" leaves are transparent.
Recently i also got hornwort, and it came partially brown and it only got worse. Also, i cut off the brownish parts from the green parts and the green part has been starting to brown slightly.
My tank conditions are 79f temp, 10 gallon, no ferts, no CO2, 30 watt spiral daylight cfl, and no known parameters because i dont own a test kit. I only have 2 6in hornwort stalks, 2 3in anacharis stalks, and a baby java fern (2in) and a 4in java fern.
Do these symptoms match up with any deficiencies such as CO2 or nutrients? Do i have too much light?

 

[Chiroptera]

Why don't you try Flourish and Flourish Excel?

 

[Link119]

I will give it a try once i can get hands on it. I think i will try flourish first due to a small budget.

 

[fort384]

Excel and anacharis don't work well together. Glutaraldehyde can cause melting in plants like anacharis and other plants that lack stomata on the leaves.

This sounds like a lighting deficiency to me. 30W of spiral cfl on a 10 sounds like it ought to be enough light, but maybe it isn't being reflected well, is the wrong color temp, or is not on the proper amount of time per day. Can you tell us a little more about your lighting?

 

[Link119]

Well, i do have reflectors, they look like a trapezoid. The cfls are 2 14 watt 5000k bulbs. I can polish the reflectors or make ones from coke cans...

 

[fort384]

Hmmm. I would say 2 14 watt bulbs a 30watt does not make. The penetrating power of a 14W bulb would be low and this sounds like lighting to me.

 

[aqua_chem]

By 30w, do you mean 15x2 oriented anti-parallel?

Here are my thoughts so far. I've had tetras wreck certain plants before (lemons in that case), so I wouldn't rule them out. The transparent leaves could be from a number of causes, including micronutrient deficiency, nitrogen deficiency, and light deficiency.

 

[aqua_chem]

Freaking ninjas.

 

[fort384]

I would just find it hard to swallow an N deficiency with that stock and such low lighting.

Can you tell us what your nitrates are testing at?

Trace elements I would find more likely given the age of the tank.

 

[Link119]

I dont have a test kit... As for my guess, i was originally doing water changes weekly with full gravel vacs (i know... I know) so i started to only vac up the poop from the surface.
I messed up with the whole lighting thing in the first post, it is 28w total (the fixture is parallel).
What does dosing fluorish give in terms of elements? Does it give the trace elements along with the macro nutrients?

 

[Link119]

So i decided to change my lighting from 10 to 12 hours a day. Would that help give me healthier plants or does that only give a longer time for healthy plants to grow?
I also forgot to mention that i have been fighting algae. My planting is extremely light as of right now.

 

[fort384]

I don't think increasing the photoperiod will help much at all in this case. Based on the algae concerns you might consider actually reducing it to 8 hours.

 

[jondamon]

Increasing the photoperiod would only put more demand for nutrients.

In most planted tanks lighting is generally between 7-10hours during 24hours.

It really sounds like you need some micro nutrients. As plants grow within your tank their demand for nutrients gets greater the larger they become. If you aren't dosing with any ferts at all this is most likely the cause of your problem plants and also why algae is beginning to be seen.

More nutrients for your plants = better plant growth, which means nice healthy well growing plants that outcompete problem algae.



Jon

 

[Link119]

So should fluorish cover the micronutrients without giving excess of macros that the algae would grow off of?

And i also heard that hornwort can be grown in almost all light, so why is mine dying? Is it the lack of nutrients due to high light? My mom works for a lab and she will test my nitrate tomorrow.

 

[Link119]

Ok, so i have 10 ppm of Nitrate. Would fluorish be good for recovering my micronutrients?

 

[jondamon]

I use EASYLIFE PROFITO.

http://www.easylife.nl/en/freshwater-products/plant-nutrition/profito

Jon