7Enigma
Aquarium Advice Addict
Hello all,
I've had pretty good success with the plants in my tank so far, but recently its been going downhill a bit. Here's the prologue:
Started with java fern, wisteria, and penny/moneywort (looks like lilypads). The wort got seethrough and the edges turned brown and I removed them. The wisteria grew wonderfully, and still does to this day. The java ferns were in bad shape from the LFS but have seen been slowly pruned to look very nice.
About 2 weeks ago I recieved a batch of clippings from czcz. These were all in pretty good shape and I proceded to plant most of the larger ones in my PFS substrate. Now I have no plant substrate or fert tabs in this, but was assurred that they should grow fine without. For a week or so everything was great. The plants began growing really well, new sprouts showed up that looked very healthy, and I thought everything was great.
Then about a week ago things took a turn for the worst. The one large plant that has very long, thin, needle-like leaves began to develop a wonderful red/orange tint on the leaves. But then they began to curl, the leaves turned brown, and the lower leaves have develop holes throughout, and the ones near the bottom have all but dissapeared (cleaned pieces out of my filter intake).
I have 2-3 other same species plants that are growing at 90degree angles. I assume this is due to my 65w CF hood light not spreading the light evenly (plants are growing sideways to get the most light?). While it looked kind of odd I actually liked the look. The plants seemed very healthy as well with the tops (1" or so of the 5" clippings) turning pink-red. They were beautiful. Now those same spots that were pink-red have turned almost white/see-through, and the edges are turning brown.
The penny/money wort that czcz supplied I held down with small stones and has grown amazingly well. The original 1/4" size lilypads have grown to about an inch in diameter, but they are now yellowing from the outside in. Of all the plants I got from czcz, these were the only ones that were not planted in the substrate.
Here are my tank perameters:
76F temp
5-7 degrees KH (tap water very low so I dose baking soda to reach this level)
9-10 degrees GH
~1-1.5ppm phosphate
I dose a good amount of K in the form of KCl (previously), and now with KCO2. (No way I have less than 5-10ppm at any given time)
~10-15ppm nitrAte
Flourish comprehensive 2-3 times per week (1-2ml or so per addition)
15-30ppm DIY CO2 (this has been acting up recently and caused some algae problems, but I don't think would cause the problems I'm seeing)
I plan to get a bottle of Flourish Excel to suppliment my DIY CO2 (I'll have to check to see whether all species of plants are compatible)
I have Mg and Ca but have stopped adding since my tap water seems to be ~5-8 degrees GH.
I have a large fish load in my tank and feed a variety of foods (krill, flake food, tubifex worms, shrimp pellets, algae wafers) so would assume that the iron (Fe) is acceptable (though some of the symptoms seem to be iron deficiency).
All testing is done with AP liquid tests.
I took several pictures but my camera is not so great (colorwise it will make the plants look healthier than they are really). They should be taken in context with the above descriptions on the plants. I'll have to see if I can find the exact species to further help diagnose. (I'll get these posted later today when my battery charges).
So in summary, I believe my tank has good levels of macro and micro nutrients through both natural tap water (25% PWC per week minimum) and ferts used. My wisteria which I would assume would show any deficiency FIRST due to its extreme growing looks extremely healthy, and they ARE planted in the substrate. The plants that appear to be doing badly are also planted in the substrate but maybe they can't absorb the same nutrients from the water column that wisteria can?
Thank you all in advance for your advice. As you can see I've done a good deal of research on this and am stumped.
justin
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I've had pretty good success with the plants in my tank so far, but recently its been going downhill a bit. Here's the prologue:
Started with java fern, wisteria, and penny/moneywort (looks like lilypads). The wort got seethrough and the edges turned brown and I removed them. The wisteria grew wonderfully, and still does to this day. The java ferns were in bad shape from the LFS but have seen been slowly pruned to look very nice.
About 2 weeks ago I recieved a batch of clippings from czcz. These were all in pretty good shape and I proceded to plant most of the larger ones in my PFS substrate. Now I have no plant substrate or fert tabs in this, but was assurred that they should grow fine without. For a week or so everything was great. The plants began growing really well, new sprouts showed up that looked very healthy, and I thought everything was great.
Then about a week ago things took a turn for the worst. The one large plant that has very long, thin, needle-like leaves began to develop a wonderful red/orange tint on the leaves. But then they began to curl, the leaves turned brown, and the lower leaves have develop holes throughout, and the ones near the bottom have all but dissapeared (cleaned pieces out of my filter intake).
I have 2-3 other same species plants that are growing at 90degree angles. I assume this is due to my 65w CF hood light not spreading the light evenly (plants are growing sideways to get the most light?). While it looked kind of odd I actually liked the look. The plants seemed very healthy as well with the tops (1" or so of the 5" clippings) turning pink-red. They were beautiful. Now those same spots that were pink-red have turned almost white/see-through, and the edges are turning brown.
The penny/money wort that czcz supplied I held down with small stones and has grown amazingly well. The original 1/4" size lilypads have grown to about an inch in diameter, but they are now yellowing from the outside in. Of all the plants I got from czcz, these were the only ones that were not planted in the substrate.
Here are my tank perameters:
76F temp
5-7 degrees KH (tap water very low so I dose baking soda to reach this level)
9-10 degrees GH
~1-1.5ppm phosphate
I dose a good amount of K in the form of KCl (previously), and now with KCO2. (No way I have less than 5-10ppm at any given time)
~10-15ppm nitrAte
Flourish comprehensive 2-3 times per week (1-2ml or so per addition)
15-30ppm DIY CO2 (this has been acting up recently and caused some algae problems, but I don't think would cause the problems I'm seeing)
I plan to get a bottle of Flourish Excel to suppliment my DIY CO2 (I'll have to check to see whether all species of plants are compatible)
I have Mg and Ca but have stopped adding since my tap water seems to be ~5-8 degrees GH.
I have a large fish load in my tank and feed a variety of foods (krill, flake food, tubifex worms, shrimp pellets, algae wafers) so would assume that the iron (Fe) is acceptable (though some of the symptoms seem to be iron deficiency).
All testing is done with AP liquid tests.
I took several pictures but my camera is not so great (colorwise it will make the plants look healthier than they are really). They should be taken in context with the above descriptions on the plants. I'll have to see if I can find the exact species to further help diagnose. (I'll get these posted later today when my battery charges).
So in summary, I believe my tank has good levels of macro and micro nutrients through both natural tap water (25% PWC per week minimum) and ferts used. My wisteria which I would assume would show any deficiency FIRST due to its extreme growing looks extremely healthy, and they ARE planted in the substrate. The plants that appear to be doing badly are also planted in the substrate but maybe they can't absorb the same nutrients from the water column that wisteria can?
Thank you all in advance for your advice. As you can see I've done a good deal of research on this and am stumped.
justin