Need help with nutrient deficiencies?

[mrfishybetta]

Hi! I'm looking for some pointers on my plants and what deficiencies may be causing my problems.

Tank specs:
- 5 gallon for betta, established for several months
- Heated to 80F
- Sponge filter
- 7.7 pH
- 0/0/~10 water params
- kH...I used a color strip and it read about 60? 80? I have "semi hard" water
- Light is Finnex Stingray 16" (just added this new like 5 days ago, previous light was semi-ambient combined with crappy tank stock light)
- Daily .5mL of Excel, twice/week .4mL Flourish, and I was doing Potassium twice/week but stopped as an experiment
- Anubias, java fern, banana plant, and very recently hygrophila


My plants all seem unhappy. I have several issues with them:

- Java fern, several months old, is starting to turn brown at the tip and slowly die towards the base. Is this nitrogen deficiency? My nitrate is always at about 10ppm though. The fern has grown 2 new leaves, but they are stunted and much smaller than the original leaves. The new leaves also seem to be wavy? curved? And they grow that way. They just aren't totally flat.


- Anubias, most are 1 year+, some are several months old. The leave seem to be turning yellow from the outside in, but the veins are slightly greener, which made me think magnesium deficiency? But I dose Flourish twice per week. The anubias also put out new leaves, but again, they are stunted and never grow to the large size of the original leaves.


- All the plants just seem kinda more yellow than they should. Not tragically so, but enough to notice. So far I don't have a ton of die-off. My anubias, the year old ones, are just now dropping the oldest leaves. The java fern has lost 2 for the 2 it grew. The banana plant has grown 4 new leaves but drops an older one for each new one. The hygrophila is brand new so I'm not used to it yet. Any new leaves that grow on any plant start out kinda pale, but come up to the same color as the rest of the leaves.


Sorry for the wall of text! But I'm concerned all my plants are headed for disaster! What am I lacking here - iron, magnesium, calcium, more Excel (I'm scared to overdo this one), nitrogen?

Is my light too bright? My tank is ~ 8.5" high, plus the 1" or so of the light legs. I found some PAR values for it at this depth and it seems to be on the high end of low, or the low end of medium light.

Greatly appreciate any advice!

 

[Caliban07]

I'd look in to feeding these plants at their roots. That means removing the pebbles and placing a fertile substrate of your choice down. You can still tie the plants to rocks etc but allow the roots to enter the substrate.

Soil would be my choice. I have Anubis in my dirtied tank that has 3 flowers on it at the moment. No other ferts than what is in the substrate and no additional co2. I also have Java fern doing well.


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[Exigenn]

Root tabs also, You can buy 100 pre-made osmocote on ebay for like $7 free shipping.

 

[mrfishybetta]

Oh. I was under the impression that anubias, java, and hygrometer all water column feeders? Is there any difference between liquid fert dosing and it being in the substrate with a root tab? Unfortunately right now I am out of money for a substrate upgrade :-/ It's my next purchase. Would you suggest perhaps a liquid iron fert (isn't that a big part of root tabs)?

 

[Cold Canadian]

All plants eat from their roots. You do not have to use the fancy 30$ per bag dirt from the pet shops. You can use organic potting soil, organic is key you do not want chemicals in the dirt. Most people put down dirt with some sand gravel or pebble overtop. "Dustin's fish tanks"on YouTube is great for everything plants. Just go to his channel and search for videos about dirtied tanks.


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[Caliban07]

All plants eat from their roots. You do not have to use the fancy 30$ per bag dirt from the pet shops. You can use organic potting soil, organic is key you do not want chemicals in the dirt. Most people put down dirt with some sand gravel or pebble overtop. "Dustin's fish tanks"on YouTube is great for everything plants. Just go to his channel and search for videos about dirtied tanks.


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+1 a bag of organic top soil costs next to nothing and will provide rooted plants with all their nutrient requirements. If you are interested checked 'the soil substrate explained' thread on here so you know what to expect when using soil.




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