Weak Stems

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donkey

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• Mar 11, 2007

• #1

Hi guys
what causes weak stems in plants .i have noticed that some of my plants seem to be having a problem getting to the top of the tank .and some of the stems are bent .instead of growing up they seem to just lie there in a flat clumps

 

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nry

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• Mar 11, 2007

• #2

Depending on the location of the bulb(s) in your hood the plants can grow in all sorts of directions. My light is towards the front of the hood so my stem plants usually grow forwards and when they get close to the top of the water level they really bend towards the light.

 

George Farmer

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• Mar 11, 2007

• #3

What lighting, CO2, nutrients do you have? What species of plant are they?

 

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donkey

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• Mar 11, 2007

• #4

Hi . lighting is about 170 wats CO2 is at 30 the plants are Water Wisteria green cabomba and elodea densa . to be honest i dont use a lot of ferts as i was getting some Algae problems .so i backed off from using it .but i am now starting to think that maybe i should be starting to use more .is it possible that the Algae outbreaks could be down to using to little .

 

George Farmer

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• Mar 11, 2007

• #5

What size tank?

Suffering plants are an algae magnet. If you have med-high light and 30ppm CO2 then you will need plenty of nutrients to keep the plants well-fed. Nutrients can be supplied through the substrate or through the water column. Both is even better.

Consider EI if you do have plenty of light and plant bio-mass. JamesC's excellent article is a good start - http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=104737

 

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donkey

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• Mar 11, 2007

• #6

Hi there
the tank is 52 x 19 its running 2 T5s and 2 normal aquarium tubes .nitrates at about 60ppm and phosphates are about 5 . there are also some root tabs in there as well .but i have started to get this green stringy like algae that settles on the plants like a green mist . it looks like something out of the film the FOG

 

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donkey

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• Mar 11, 2007

• #7

some pictures of what it looks like



pic 2

pic 3

 

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donkey

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• Mar 12, 2007

• #8

anyone know what kind of algae this is

 

cheesy feet

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• Mar 12, 2007

• #9

Hair algae,pull it of .I got the exact same thing when i got lazy with my discus/planted tank.

 

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donkey

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• Mar 12, 2007

• #10

cheesy feet said:

Hair algae,pull it of .I got the exact same thing when i got lazy with my discus/planted tank.

Click to expand...

Hi there .funny you should say that this is a Discus tank as well .i do 50% water changes every week and i have been adding ferts but im beginning to think that i may need to add more ferts how did you cure yours ?

 

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donkey

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• Mar 13, 2007

• #11

This is a picture of my elodea densa can you see how thin the stems look

 

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