Swords yellowing

[mumrah]

In my 10g planted cichlid tank, my swords are not doing well.

I fertilize weekly with LeafZone and do frequent water changes.

I have a incandecent hood with two 15W clear bulbs.

Why are these plants not doing well? Am i at a point where i need to get flourescent lighting and/or CO2? I'm determined to make this a nice enviroment for my Rams.

Oh, total stock in the tank: 2 rams, 1 angel, melon sword, amazon sword, some annubis, many java ferns. I also plan on adding some duckweed (for shade) and some java moss.

Water params: 7.6ph and hard water (not sure of exact kh)

 

[czcz]

Which sword? What wpg? Assuming proper light and CO2 if needed, yellow leaves are commonly associated with NO3 or Fe deficiency: http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm

*Sorry, brain fart. You may be able to get by with +20w screw-in flourescents (cheap!) -- I have a large sword doing well with one in a desklamp with ambient sunlight. I believe your swords will outgrow your tank, but if you're trying to grow them emersed, I have pics that may help (I'm failing with emersed but doing well with submerged). DIY CO2 will only help for submerged plants, and is so easy and cheap there's no reason not to do it, I think. HTH

 

[mumrah]

multiple leaves on the melon sword are fading and one leaf on the amazon sword. Maybe the plants arent getting enough nitrates due to the light fish load. Should i look into dosing the water with nitrates?

 

[greenmaji]

thought I would share a link..
http://www.aquariaplants.com/plantdeficiencies.htm

 

[czcz]

I think you should address lighting before worrying about nutrients -- the asterisk marked an edit (I replied to your post and clearly forgot what I had just read ). Incandescent is practically useless to your plants, while screw in flourescents are effective and inexpensive. When using screw ins you can toss out labelled wpg as you lose much of their light to restrike and likely poor reflector, but again, they work when you meet the plant's light threshold. Your plants will respond but its possible the dying leaves are too far gone.

If yellow continues, test NO3 before dosing. If needed, KNO3 can be bought as Grant's or Greenlight stump remover.

 

[mumrah]

i will look into two CF screw-ins

thanks

 

[malkore]

And 2 CF screw-ins still may not be enough light. sure it might be 30 watts, but there's still a minimum thresh hold of light that has to be attained before the whole 'watts per gallon' guideline comes into play.

Also, 1 sword plant will overfill a 10gallon tank, so be prepared to remove them at some stage.