PRUNING AMAZON SWORDS HELP PLEASE

[Bert B]

I bought 4 amazon swords for my 100 Gallon. I changed the lighting from the zoo med ocean sun 10000K ( to bright white and brown coating over everything ) to zoo med tropic sun. dimmer, yellowish looking but no brown algea caoting. My amazon swords were 18-20 inches when i bought them, a lot of the leaves feel limp, torn small holes, and brown spots. ( my 2 onion plants are thriving ) How do i trim off the stems of the swords ? i was told to cut at the base diagonally. how many stems can i cut at one time to get new growth,? I have added the liquid iron fertilizer dosed to the 100 Gallon. how soon should i add another full dose ? Here is another question, I run a Magnum 350 with carbon & filter sleeve, will the carbon filter out the liquid fertilizer ? I installed the micron cartridge 2 days ago, no carbon, should i refertilize the tank with a full dose of the iron supplement while running the micron cartridge ( no carbon with that ) ?

 

[Purrbox]

I'd recommend using a good trace supplement instead of the iron by itself. Dose enough to achieve 0.1-0.2ppm of iron. This will ensure that you have enough of the other Trace nutrients at the same time. From your description it sounds like they've been shorted one or more of the macro nutrients as well. If the levels in your aquarium are good the swords should start looking better after being in your aquarium 2-3 weeks. I'd remove upto half (try to keep at least 3-5 leaves if it's a smaller plant) of the leaves as close to the base as possible. Remove the most damaged leaves first and then give the plant some time to grow new leaves before removing more of the damaged leaves.

The general consensus these days seems to be moving toward the idea that the carbon probably won't remove any of the nutrients but there's really not a need for it unless you've had to medicate your aquarium. A good water change schedule will take care of everything else that the carbon would normally remove.

 

[TwoHobbies]

I would also add root tabs..Sword plants are heavy root feeders

 

[Zezmo]

To trim a sword, you peel away the outer leaves like eating an artichoke. Just remove all of the old leaves until only nice healthy ones are left. As long as the roots are well established, and you do not disturb them, you can peel away almost all of the leaves and the sword will snap back.