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New plant health

2K views 14 replies 6 participants last post by  AquaticGuy 
#1 ·
Hello,
I currently have a 36 gallon planted tank that I am having a few issues with. I have recently added two new plants (see images) that I cannot remember the names of, that seem to not be doing so well. The needles on the plants turned brown a few days after adding them. The tank has been cycled for over a month. 0 PPM Ammonia, 0 PPM Nitrites, and 20PPM Nitrates, and my PH is 7.8 with weekly 30% water changes. The only fertilizer that I have been adding is Seachem Flourish and their root tabs. The Flourish is dosed twice a week per the instructions. Just wondering if the plants are acclimating to my water or if there may be another issue. My equipment set up is as follows:
36 Gallon Bowfront
Fluval 150W heater (kept at 80)
Eheim Pro4+ 350 Canister Filter
Fluval Plant 3.0 36W LED light
 

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#6 ·
I actually just tested the PH in my tank and it is up to 8.2. I did just do the 30% water change yesterday. I also have a 3 gallon nano tank and tested that for reference and it tested the same. Any recommendations as to what my course of action should be? The fish in both tanks are acting normal. I don’t want to do anything to swing the PH rapidly to stress the fish. This alkaline PH may be my issue with the new plants it seems.
 
#7 ·
Does the nano tank have the same substrate by any chance?

Your substrate appears to be pea gravel which is too big for plants to live in comfortably. Its also a regional product, meaning a bag of pea gravel sold near you could contain very different rocks then one sold a few states away. The issue being that if the pea gravel contains a rock that is not aquarium safe you will get results exactly like what we are seeing with your ph going up and probably your GH as well once you test it. It is unlikely that new plants would raise your ph. If anything they would lower it since if they die or contain dead plant matter this will make a tank more acidic (though even then only by a very very small amount likely undetectable with our tests).

To be sure do the following. Take water out of your tap and put it in a cup by itself. Take another cup and put in some gravel, then fill with fresh tap water. Wait 24-72 hours and test ph in each. If the one with gravel is higher you know its your gravel. In which case.. you need to get it all out of there and put in aquarium safe substrate. This could be sand like pool filter sand, or aquarium gravel sold at fish stores, etc etc.

It sucks to remove a substrate for this reason, I had to do it a few months ago when I rescaped with patio paver base only to find it to be extremely alkaline.
 
#8 ·
The gravel in the nano tank is a coated aquarium gravel of completely different composition. The gravel in the 36 gallon was purchased from a local pet store so I was hoping that it was aquarium safe. I will do the test you recommended either way just to be sure and post the results.
 
#9 ·
If that plant is Hornwort...it's famous for making an obnoxious mess with dropped needles! If you're able to wait it out, it will often eventually recover as it acclimates to its new home. I have no idea if the gravel makeup has anything to do with it though, so I wouldn't stop pursuing that avenue as well!
 
#10 ·
I believe it is hornwort or a type thereof. I will give it some time to recover and see. I did let the water from my tap sit out and it did rise from about 7.4 to about 8.0 on its own once it off gassed. So that may be the high ph issue. Both tanks have the identical 8.2 PH yet having totally different substrates, plants, fish etc. So I’m thinking it is a water supply issue. The ph remains stable and all of the fish in both tanks are happy and energetic so as long as it remains stable, I don’t think chasing a specific ph would be necessary at this point.
 
#13 ·
Sounds good! I actually went last night and bought the EcoComplete substrate. I took all of the old gravel substrate out and re did the entire tank. Same fish of course though. I did get rid of the hornwort. I will post pictures of the new set up tonight when I get home. I would like some recommendations on some new plants to put in there. Hopefully with this new substrate it will work out better for the plants. It is at the recommended depth of 3” throughout the entire tank.
 
#14 · (Edited)
I'm so sorry, that I haven't possibility to go at this place and to look at this masterpiece personally. Frankly speaking, I am the aquarium owner and I have healthy competition toward people, who can stop and to enjoy swimming of fish at Downtown. I am very pleased, that organizers have used live rocks, like decoration for aquarium, because it's very good organic filter, that isn't known by great number of people. I knew about them reading ARC Reef's article after which I decided to try to put them into my fish tank and was really surprised, maybe it was just my imagination, but fish began to swim more forcefully and ate better.
 
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