Plant Problem

[connor_09]

Hi there,

My dad has recently bought a tank, he has a substrate fert, small gravel substrate and some hardwood in there for now. Iv'e explained the cycle process and he is gonna go through with that soon, but he recently put some plants in and they have started turning a little brown and look to be dying so i was wondering if anyone would be able to give me some advice on what to do?

any help much appreciated
thanks again!

 

[Myuu]

Are you adding any liquid ferts? Yellowing/browning of the leaves could mean a lot of things. Can you measure the nitrate levels in the tank? In a heavily planted tank the plants can use up all the nitrate that the fish produce and it may need to be added to the water. My amazon swords had yellowing leaves and I figured out that it was an iron deficiency and bought a fertilizer for that. Be careful when buying ferts, always read the labels so you know what you're putting in your water. And lastly, are you dosing CO2 at all? I'm pretty sure that CO2 wouldn't help with nutrient deficiencies, but when you have your liquid ferts in order, CO2 will help with growth (or you can use flourish excel in place of CO2).

Oh, what plants are they anyway? If they are crypts, they will melt when stressed (moved to different water conditions), but they'll grow back eventually.

 

[Katty]

Ontop of what Myuu said, lighting could also be a problem. You didn't say what kind of lighting or plants you have, but some species of plants just need really strong light or they'll do poorly.

 

[waterdrop]

Agree, plants in an empty new tank is like fish with no food. The right conditions need to be created. Besides the tank and water, plants need proper strength and duration of light, carbon in the form of CO2 or a liquid carbon product, macronutrients and micronutrients.

The members are correct that it's important first to have feedback from you as that will allow them to advise correctly and further.

Many beginners find that about 1 to 2 watts per US gallon of fluorescent light, a liquid carbon product such as EasyCarbo or Flourish Excel and an under-dosed mix of nutrients will work during fishless cycling. Light hours must be minimal (possibly starting as low as 4 hours and working slowly up unless algae appears.) In the UK, the perfect mix is TPN+ (Tropical Plant Nutrition Plus,) whereas in the US, either find and mix dry ferts or work with a set of Flourish nutrients.

~~waterdrop~~