Plants Dieing.

[DJC1]

It's been eleven days since I planted my tank while waiting for it to cycle.

Over the past six days some of my plants had started to turn brown and are disintegrating when I try to remove them.

The ones I am specifically talking about are the ones in the middle of the tank near the bogwood (see picture below) - this is when they were healthy (the browish plants).

They turned brown and no longer stayed upright, when I went to remove them they just fall apart in the water.

Could it be the tanins from the bogwood causing this and sticking to the plants - the plants were already quite fragile anway.

Because I am fishless cycling at the moment, I haven't yet done a water change, so the water was getting quite dirty. The other plants don't seem to really be affected, but the ones which were, the browness was more prominent near the bottom (around the bogwood area), and slightly less so the higher up the plant.

I went into my lfs and he said that for the size of my tank (65ltr), I wouldn't really need any co2 put into the water, he just told me to use stress coat (API).

I bought some, but it was way too late for the plants by that time anyway.

Thoughts?

 

[nry]

Not entirely sure on this but I think those plants are rotala wallichi? If so these do prefer high light and CO2. Stress Coat has nothing to do with CO2 and is, as far as I can tell, a dechlorinator you add to new water before putting the water in the tank - I'd be highly curious of any LFS who suggested using it for plants or instead of CO2? Bogwood tannin should not affect plants in any way at all. Do you add any liquid fertiliser and what wattage are your lights and how long are they on for each day?

CO2 is also not dependent upon tank size, it is as much related to lighting levels - high light needs CO2 in most cases otherwise the tank is an algae magnet.

 

[DJC1]

Not entirely sure on this but I think those plants are rotala wallichi? If so these do prefer high light and CO2. Stress Coat has nothing to do with CO2 and is, as far as I can tell, a dechlorinator you add to new water before putting the water in the tank - I'd be highly curious of any LFS who suggested using it for plants or instead of CO2? Bogwood tannin should not affect plants in any way at all. Do you add any liquid fertiliser and what wattage are your lights and how long are they on for each day?

CO2 is also not dependent upon tank size, it is as much related to lighting levels - high light needs CO2 in most cases otherwise the tank is an algae magnet.

Just looked up the picture for that plant type, and I think you are right. The fact that the very tops are still showing some sign of life would tie in with them needing more light - ovbiously the tops are nearly getting enough and are just holding off of dieing completely.

I told the lfs that the plants were looking a bit 'weepy', and he suggested API Stress Coat - it has a picture of a leaf on the front with a 'drip' falling from one of the leaves, so I think he though it would be good for plants. It was one of the staff, he's a nice enough bloke and always comes up to me when I'm in there to help out/advise. I was out of dechlorinator anyway, so knew I could do with some.

Lights - 2 double bulbs (11 watt - I don't know if that is combined or single) - one bulb is slightly pinky, the other one is more white, this is the same for both double bulbs.

Not using any fertiliser at present - might it screw up my cycling readings?

Because I'm still cycling, I sort of neglect (not on purpose), the fact that I need to keep the lights on for the plants. I generally switch them on when I got home around 17:00 until around midnight. I remembered to switch them on this morning though before I went to work.

I would like to plant it out a LOT more than it currently is, and although my lfs is very good for fish, they have a limited selection of plants.

Can plants be successfully ordered online?

Would love to have a good selection of front/middle/back plants that can survive with my lighting conditions.

 

[nry]

8 hours solid is a good start for lights, stick them on a cheapy timer switch, you get them for well under £5 in many DIY stores.

Fertiliser will not screw up the cycling aside from it helping the plants grow and they will then take up some ammonia/nitrIte/nitrAte so, like me, you may not see an ammonia spike or much of a nitrIte spike when you monitor the water parameters during the cycling. API StressCoat has aloe-vera in I think, hence the drop froma plant leaf - could be wrong though!

For online plants I would recommend Greenline - www.aquaticplants.eu.com. I've never had a bad batch and they send the plants well plastic sealed in boxes, no jiffy bags, so no squished plants. You may be as well to try one of their starter bundles which has a decent selection in for not much money - how many gallons is your tank?

 

[DJC1]

8 hours solid is a good start for lights, stick them on a cheapy timer switch, you get them for well under £5 in many DIY stores.

Fertiliser will not screw up the cycling aside from it helping the plants grow and they will then take up some ammonia/nitrIte/nitrAte so, like me, you may not see an ammonia spike or much of a nitrIte spike when you monitor the water parameters during the cycling. API StressCoat has aloe-vera in I think, hence the drop froma plant leaf - could be wrong though!

For online plants I would recommend Greenline - www.aquaticplants.eu.com. I've never had a bad batch and they send the plants well plastic sealed in boxes, no jiffy bags, so no squished plants. You may be as well to try one of their starter bundles which has a decent selection in for not much money - how many gallons is your tank?

Tank is 65ltr (around 14 gallons).

Would many plants survive with my lighting conditions, and would you advise adding co2/fertiliser/both?

 

[nry]

22w is not too bad for your tank (around 1.3wpg if you use US gallons which you should for this calculation), it should be enough to grow a fair few things - CO2 is not essential but a decent liquid fertiliser is a good idea, something like Tropica Plant Nutrition, perhaps Nutrition Plus if you have a low fish load. They can appear quite expensive but you don't need much in your tank and a small 250ml bottle will last ages and ages.