dwarf sag dying

[wildroseofky]

I planted my tank around 5 weeks ago. All the plants died back but are making a come back. The dwarf sag died back to the roots but then started putting out new leaves. Now these leaves are turning brownish yellow and dying. I don't know if it is my light or something else I am doing wrong. I only have a 4 foot T8 shoplight with two 32 watt 6500k bulbs for now. I have it mounted 4 inches above the water line. I use root tabs in the substrate and Seachem Flourish Comprehensive ever 7 days. I will be adding a diy CO2 tomorrow. My pennywort, ludwigia, moneywort, christmas moss, and java fern are starting to grow. The christmas moss is really growing. It has a half inch of new growth this week alone. Here are the pictures

 

[jbueno]

I'm pulling all my sand out of my 55 bc I can't grow anything in it some say substrate don't mater but I have two different tanks established a month apart same lighting same amount of fertilizers but one has sand the other has gravel...took dying plants from sand put in gravel now they are green and healthy...i think sand is compacted for roots to grow through...if there is inch or so of fertilizer soil under sand then there might be a chance for root growth

 

[jbueno]

My pic for my portfolio pic is the 55 im pulling the sand out of...its sad I realy like the look but this new gravel im getting friday promotes plant growth bc it natural gravel...

 

[Rivercats]

Do you know your nitrate and phosphate readings? You mostly dosing micro nutrients and could have macro nutrient deficiencies.

 

[Fresh2o]

From the pics is looks like they might be planted a little too deep. You could try gently lifting them up some, or better, remove some of the sand near the plant base. A gentle jet of water from a syringe or pipette might do the job.

All my dwarf sag lost their original leaves (actually they turned brown) and new growth has been slow and steady. Using EcoComplete and same ferts.

 

[98kshooter]

I was gonna say that as well you may need a more full spectrum fert. Mine did the same til I got micro/macro fert (From Aquariumfertilizer.com) and everything regreened up and began growing! Just have to watch for algal blooms and watch parameters. Important to strictly follow the dosing on ferts for your tank if you go liquid or things can get out of hand.

 

[Rivercats]

The only problem with the all in one micro/macro mix from AquariumPlant.com is the mix doesn't contain phosphate which is a needed macro nutrient. Just something to be aware of.

 

[aqua_chem]

It could be a light issue, or a fert issue. Sag isn't necessarily what I would consider a 'low light plant', so it might be having issues with that. The other species you have tend to either be more low light tolerant or grow closer to the light, which may explain why they're doing better.

 

[wildroseofky]

I do daily water tests and my results are
PH 7.6
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20
I had a spike in Nitrate of 80 a couple of weeks ago from over feeding fish. Was doing a lot of pwc to get it down. I also have been having a problem with algae and diatoms. I cut my light on time from 10-12 hours a day to 8 hours a day. The diatoms are clearing up and the algae is receding. I still have some green algae that grows on the glass and some hair algae on the plants. Plus the plants are covered in diatoms. I cleaned off a lot of it. I fertilize with the Seachem Flourish Comprehensive every 7 days. Should I use it more often? I put double the amount of root tabs in as the package said too. I will pull them out of the sand more. I have done that a couple of times but one of my mollies keeps digging around in the sand. I think she is part goldfish. She is constantly pulling at the plants and has up rooted the ludwigia several times. She also pulled the leaves off of the penny wort. The bottom part of my ludwigia turned black and mush a couple of weeks after I planted it. I pulled it out and trimmed it and replanted. It has been doing much better. Some of the red came back in it but not much.

What other supplements should I order? I am going to order some API CO2 booster. Tomorrow I will put in the diy CO2.

 

[jbueno]

do you ever stir your sand?
Do you have any algee eaters, plecos otos?

 

[Rivercats]

Dwarf Sag might not be considered to be low light tolerant but we have alittle of it growing and doing well in a Fluval Edge 6g with stock LED's that are incredibly dim. It doesn't grow very fast, which is good in that size tank, but it is nice and green.

 

[jbueno]

Possibly bc the lights arent that far away from the sag...in bigger taller tanks it would be a different story

 

[Rivercats]

It is still a very dim light, no different than dim lighting in a deeper tank. It's not uncommon for plants to grow differently in a wide variety of tank situations since all tanks have their own individual chemistry making them unique. I believe in my instance the liquid carbon dosed at 1.5ml in the 6g tank is what allows growth even with such dim lighting. What works in one tank may not work in another tank. I also grow it in a dimmer lit 55g tank with equal results.

 

[wildroseofky]

I do use a plastic rod to stir the sand frequently. I had some pockets of gas build up from dying roots before so I try to keep the sand moved around. That is another reason my sag gets covered with sand. I try to swish it off of them but it settles around them again. I don't have anything but mollies and ghost shrimp right now. I am planning on getting some black khuli loaches but was giving my tank time to age. I have been looking for a few otto but so far no luck in my area. I am going to order some nerite snails so maybe I should order some of the ottos too? Not much around me to buy stock. we do have a small pet store but she keeps mostly saltwater fish and just a few common freshwater fish like guppies, mollies, and such. I thought about checking to see if she could order the snails and stuff but she is really expensive. A bottle of cheap water conditioner cost me $12. I can buy it at Walmart for a little over $2. One of my mollies is constantly stirring the sand up. She picks at everything.

 

[Fresh2o]

I just switched from a Coralife Aqualight Dual T5 NO to a Finnex FugeRay on 20g long. Going to keep an eye on growth, especially the dwarf sag, and see which plants respond to this change.