Try And Try Again - Plants 'rotting'

[Masami]

I just cut all my java fern back completely and trimmed my plants a second time after all the older leaves we're rotting away from the center outwards. I have a fluval Roma 200 with 2 x t5's plus the original 2x t8's plus a solenoid controlled jbl co2 system. I also have a 305 filter and just installed an hydro pico 750lh pump to improve flow.

I am not sure if my plecs are eating all the goodness out of the leaves at night,

I would like advice on the following:

Which fertilizer to use (I have some jbl root tabs left and a tiny amount of nutrafin plant fertilize)

Lighting schedule for both lights, this can be independent but ideally I would like lights on in the morning before I got o work for an hour and all evening when I return home.

I'll start posting some picture tomorrow.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Some pictures of your tank would help a lot more.

 

[dave840f1]

I don't pull the leaves off mine unless they have plantlets on them. Java ferns don't need CO2 what other plants do you have?. I don't add fert's to my Java Fern tank and they grow very well, I started off with 3/4 plants and now have over 30. Just a thought but you don't have the tubers buried as this is a big no no. Java seem to do best when on wood or rocks.  

 

[Masami]

Pictures attached.

 

[Masami]

I've added some close ups to show the type of problems I'm having, I would really like to get my lighting schedule sorted, I have two independent systems, 2xt8 power and aqua glow and 2xt5 life and power glow, both are the 3ft versions.

 

[Primous]

I'm not sure if you're using both sets of light but after reading your post there are a few things I would suggest that could help. The first would be your light cycle. There's an article I stumbled across many moons ago on TPT but to summarize, in short, having your lights on for an hour here and a few hours more there makes your plants work extra hard to adjust. So having your lights on for a single photo period whether that be 5/6/7/8 hours could turn things around. Secondly your pump, 750L in a 300L tank I think the strength of the flow (and possibly the direction of the flow) may not be Ideally suited. Ideally you want as gentle flow to the point where from a distance they look still but up close they sway gently aka gentle breezes affect. Anything above that is over kill. Thirdly your lights, my apologies in advance if the following assumption is wrong but if you're using both sets at the same time then that's pretty much overkill. From your post it's not exactly clear to me so dismiss the latter if I got that part wrong. Lastly, if you leave a dying leaf on a plant the plant wastes resources in trying to keep that leaf alive so my advice would be to trim away the dead weight so to speak and with those adjustments mentioned you could quickly see your plants response.
 
Out of interest what is you co2 bps?

 

[dave840f1]

Just a thought do you have any snails in your tank?

 

[SO19Firearms]

Nutrient deficiency IMO - Lots of light, CO2 and not enough Nitrate + Phosphate etc to support the growth.....

IMO

 

[TwoTankAmin]

If you have bn (or other algae eating) plecos they are known for rasping on leaves to get off algae (often algae we don't even see). With certain swords, especially, they are not after the plant itself but because the leaves are of a less thick/substantial variety, the plecos damage the leaves.

 

[Masami]

I've reduced my lighting to a single period using the t5s for the first five hours and the t8s for the remaining four hours, my flow is not directly close to the plants - I only introduced the hydro pico at Xmas to improve the flow around the tanks to all the plants and pit up a bit more of the floor detritus,

I've topped up the root tabs and increased my fertilizer dose slightly, I still need to order some new fertilizer as I am nearly out and I'm going to rehome a couple of the bristle nose plecs to reduce the stress on the plants.

Oh, btw the co2 injection is on very low since my plant stocks are quite depleted and it's gassed off at night with an air stone. The bps is around 1/3rd