What’s going on with the Anubias?

[CarloM12]

I’ve had two Anubias plants for a while, they both are beginning to lose color in their leaves and develop holes. I can’t tell if anything is wrong or if they are getting too much light. I do Seachem fertilizer, iron and root tabs. Light is a fluval LED 3.0 plant spectrum light on about 10 hours a day at varying intensities. 83 degrees, ph of 7.5, I have attached photos down below.

 

[mbsqw1d]

I’ve had two Anubias plants for a while, they both are beginning to lose color in their leaves and develop holes. I can’t tell if anything is wrong or if they are getting too much light. I do Seachem fertilizer, iron and root tabs. Light is a fluval LED 3.0 plant spectrum light on about 10 hours a day at varying intensities. 83 degrees, ph of 7.5, I have attached photos down below.

Can you post your lighting profile?

This is mine:

 

[CarloM12]

Can you post your lighting profile?

This is mine:
View attachment 119673

I’ve recently changed to that

 

[mbsqw1d]

I’ve recently changed to that

How often do you change it?
I get the ramping up/down in a bid to replicate natural day light/positioning of the sun, however in natural environments there is algae. If you're looking to not have algae, then you'll need to do something a bit different than mimicking the position of the sun.
My point is, plants need balance. A balance of light, co2 and nutrition. More light means you need more co2 and nutrition, more co2 means you need more light (and nutrition) etc...
If you are not injecting co2, then in your closed system that is your aquarium, you will have a fairly level amount of co2 available in the water column throughout the day, produced by fish and bacteria waste and gas exchange at the surface. Same goes for the amount of nutrients available. By ramping the lights up/down constantly throughout the day, you are creating inconsistency, and the three resources are never balanced. This is what algae thrives on. Being able to ramp the lights is great for the fish so they are not shocked/stunned by lights suddenly switching on/off. However the transition should only take 1hr at the most.
Also, I think you have the 'cold white' LEDs set as bright as 'Pure' and 'Warm'. Plants don't require as much blue light as they do red. So it's good to have the warm white quite high, however i would reduce the cold as that contains too much blue and can promote algae.
As it stands, in order to balance your current lighting profile, you would also need to ramp a rate of co2 injection throughout the day which I've never heard of anyone doing tbh. If you can keep the light consistent for the biggest part of the photoperiod, I'm certain you'll get better plant growth and less algae issues.
If you do change your lighting profile, I'd advise that you stick with the change for a couple of weeks and check for any improvement before tweaking. Plants are pretty slow to adapt to changes, whereas algae isn't.

 

[CarloM12]

How often do you change it?
I get the ramping up/down in a bid to replicate natural day light/positioning of the sun, however in natural environments there is algae. If you're looking to not have algae, then you'll need to do something a bit different than mimicking the position of the sun.
My point is, plants need balance. A balance of light, co2 and nutrition. More light means you need more co2 and nutrition, more co2 means you need more light (and nutrition) etc...
If you are not injecting co2, then in your closed system that is your aquarium, you will have a fairly level amount of co2 available in the water column throughout the day, produced by fish and bacteria waste and gas exchange at the surface. Same goes for the amount of nutrients available. By ramping the lights up/down constantly throughout the day, you are creating inconsistency, and the three resources are never balanced. This is what algae thrives on. Being able to ramp the lights is great for the fish so they are not shocked/stunned by lights suddenly switching on/off. However the transition should only take 1hr at the most.
Also, I think you have the 'cold white' LEDs set as bright as 'Pure' and 'Warm'. Plants don't require as much blue light as they do red. So it's good to have the warm white quite high, however i would reduce the cold as that contains too much blue and can promote algae.
As it stands, in order to balance your current lighting profile, you would also need to ramp a rate of co2 injection throughout the day which I've never heard of anyone doing tbh. If you can keep the light consistent for the biggest part of the photoperiod, I'm certain you'll get better plant growth and less algae issues.
If you do change your lighting profile, I'd advise that you stick with the change for a couple of weeks and check for any improvement before tweaking. Plants are pretty slow to adapt to changes, whereas algae isn't.

Ok, I appreciate your time to write all that and help me out, as I've been having a few issues lately with this tank. First of all, I have a ton of nerite snails and ottocinclus catfish, algae isn't an issue for me. I also don't do any Co2 injections, I want a basic setup but if I absolutely have to do it then I guess I will. I am also switching from seachem flourish to NA Thrive because it is a much better comprehensive fertilizer than Flourish. The percentages are much higher and I've read it actually makes an impact. Secondly, I don't know if you've seen my other thread but I've been having a problem with these two swords that will not grow upwards, but grow new leaves that stay low. They both started with many large leaves which they lost after getting to my tank. It has been half a year and they still haven't grown any height to rebound. I will attach a video of my tank below for you to see how it all looks, the two swords are right in the middle.

Also is it possible for me to find your lighting profile on the app and use it for my tank?


Video:

 

[mbsqw1d]

Ok, I appreciate your time to write all that and help me out, as I've been having a few issues lately with this tank. First of all, I have a ton of nerite snails and ottocinclus catfish, algae isn't an issue for me. I also don't do any Co2 injections, I want a basic setup but if I absolutely have to do it then I guess I will. I am also switching from seachem flourish to NA Thrive because it is a much better comprehensive fertilizer than Flourish. The percentages are much higher and I've read it actually makes an impact. Secondly, I don't know if you've seen my other thread but I've been having a problem with these two swords that will not grow upwards, but grow new leaves that stay low. They both started with many large leaves which they lost after getting to my tank. It has been half a year and they still haven't grown any height to rebound. I will attach a video of my tank below for you to see how it all looks, the two swords are right in the middle.

Also is it possible for me to find your lighting profile on the app and use it for my tank?


Video:

Looks like this doses nitrogen and phosphate too? You'll notice ferts like flourish and TNC lite dont contain nitrogen and phosphate as this is already present, created by the fish waste and fish food waste. Some plant fertilisers are designed for plant only tanks, like perhaps this one and TNC Complete.

I've never been able to figure out exporting the lighting profile on the app, hopefully its explanatory from the screen shot I showed earlier?
Basically just need a steady period of light that isnt being ramped, with more reds than blues

 

[AilyNC]

Can you post your lighting profile?

This is mine:
View attachment 119673

Oh wow. Really cool the way you can set the light like this.

 

[CarloM12]

Looks like this doses nitrogen and phosphate too? You'll notice ferts like flourish and TNC lite dont contain nitrogen and phosphate as this is already present, created by the fish waste and fish food waste. Some plant fertilisers are designed for plant only tanks, like perhaps this one and TNC Complete.

I've never been able to figure out exporting the lighting profile on the app, hopefully its explanatory from the screen shot I showed earlier?
Basically just need a steady period of light that isnt being ramped, with more reds than blues

Yeah, the one I'm getting is actually called Thrive C, which has fewer nitrates. I will try to replicate that as best as possible, but do you really think that is the root of all the problems? Do you take off leaves like the ones you see in the pictures or try to leave them on and fix them?

 

[Fishiemang]

Too many nutes will cause root lockout. Keep this in mind. When this happens, the plant will take nutes elsewhere...via foliage.

Removing the damaged foliage may look good short term, but, will only make the issue worse.

In a populated tank, there shouldn't be much, if any, need to add extra nutes. The fish, leftover food and water will provide most of what the plants need to grow. CO2 injection can help, but like said, the more of this you add, the more light is needed. And not just any light. You need to make sure to provide plenty PAR lighting. A lot of LED lights are specific to this, but can be spendy. The Fluval lights are made to provide balance to the plant life and others in the tank. I would stray away from CO2 injection unless you are trying to grow plants for resale. A simple air pump will provide enough to the water column from the atmosphere around the tank for the light provided. The air pump will also assist with gas exchange at the surface, which will allow CO2 into the water as well.

Don't remove the dying foliage. Snails feed on this like kids in a candy store.

Take a long look at lakes and streams. Depending on your fish, you want to recreate this eco system.

 

[CarloM12]

Too many nutes will cause root lockout. Keep this in mind. When this happens, the plant will take nutes elsewhere...via foliage.

Removing the damaged foliage may look good short term, but, will only make the issue worse.

In a populated tank, there shouldn't be much, if any, need to add extra nutes. The fish, leftover food and water will provide most of what the plants need to grow. CO2 injection can help, but like said, the more of this you add, the more light is needed. And not just any light. You need to make sure to provide plenty PAR lighting. A lot of LED lights are specific to this, but can be spendy. The Fluval lights are made to provide balance to the plant life and others in the tank. I would stray away from CO2 injection unless you are trying to grow plants for resale. A simple air pump will provide enough to the water column from the atmosphere around the tank for the light provided. The air pump will also assist with gas exchange at the surface, which will allow CO2 into the water as well.

Don't remove the dying foliage. Snails feed on this like kids in a candy store.

Take a long look at lakes and streams. Depending on your fish, you want to recreate this eco system.

Ok got it. I don't know if you saw the video but what do you think of the two amazon sword plants I have in there that are short but have a lot of leaves? How can I get them to grow upwards?

 

[CarloM12]

Also, what do you guys think of an order I am going to make for new plants from aquariumplants.com. I really wanna fill the whole back of the tank and I think these can do that.

 

[Retired Viking]

I would stay away from duckweed it tends to take over a tank and block out light for your plants. It is also hard to get rid of once it is in the tank. I have used salvinia and some frog bite as floaters. With the number of fish you have they should keep the plants well supplied with what they need. I add 1/2 dose of flourish comp a week just to make sure I have what my plants need.

 

[CarloM12]

I would stay away from duckweed it tends to take over a tank and block out light for your plants. It is also hard to get rid of once it is in the tank. I have used salvinia and some frog bite as floaters. With the number of fish you have they should keep the plants well supplied with what they need. I add 1/2 dose of flourish comp a week just to make sure I have what my plants need.

Ok any other suggestions to get?

 

[Retired Viking]

All the plants you list except duckweed look good. I had issues with jungle val melting but other members have had good experiences with it. Anubias and swords I have had very good experience with. I am changing much of my Java ferns over to anubias plants in my 55 gallon tank. Java ferns are good but like anubias you need to attach them to wood or rocks. In the photo you can see both Crested Java Ferns and Anubias on the tree stump. In the back ground is some Java Ferns.

 

[CarloM12]

All the plants you list except duckweed look good. I had issues with jungle val melting but other members have had good experiences with it. Anubias and swords I have had very good experience with. I am changing much of my Java ferns over to anubias plants in my 55 gallon tank. Java ferns are good but like anubias you need to attach them to wood or rocks. In the photo you can see both Crested Java Ferns and Anubias on the tree stump. In the back ground is some Java Ferns.

Yeah, I like what you got there. So based on the pictures above what do you think is wrong with the anubias that is discolored? Also if you see the video I have two swords that won't grow tall, any ideas on that?