[mathew]

Hi all

after keeping a fish tank for about 3 years with artificial plants i decided to change to live plants. I also replaced my gravel with a Tetraplant substrate covered in aquarium sand.

Reading the tetraplant substrate it said to put in the tank, cover with sand or gravel and then put the water in. importunately i couldn't store more then 25L of water so i took out about 50% and then another 25L stored in a container. I then pored the substrate in and well my water went all muddy! Big mistake im guessing but after letting it settle and netting/filtering out what wouldn't settle my tank started to clear up. I covered it with the washed aquarium sand and the water is now as clear as it was before i started.

Over the past few weeks the plants have started getting holes in the leaves, the leaves are turning brown or in worse case the leaves are getting stripped to what i can only describe as fine nylon strands making up the shape of the leaves.

Does anyone have any idea what could be the problem? I thought it be the plants had no food as i had messed up the substrate and so it was not doing what it should be. I have since got some liquid food for them and put some in the other day.

my water levels are what they should be.

I have got a 200L tank and have got a new bulb to promote plant growth.

i dont know what plants i have so have attached photos of my tank. sorry some plants are floating but i have not had time to replant them yet

the fish i have are

neon tetra
serpae tetra
cherry barb
blackwidow tetra
danio
mollie
silver tip tetra
penguen tetra
cherry shrimp
amano shrimp
silver angel fish
columbian tetra
killifish

please any advice is appreciated

 

[150EH]

I think one of your problems may be that some of the plants are not aquatic, like the up-rooted variagated plant in the last photo.

It's hard to tell from the photos but the one behind it in the corner may be another non-aquatic.

Do you know your plant list?? The grassy plant in the left front??? it may be ok or it could be Mondo grass a common landscape plant.

Other than that I'm not familiar with your substrate but someone will let you know.

BTW welcome to the forum.

 

[mathew]

thanks for the reply.

unfortunatly i just got plants i liked the look of so dont know what there called.

i will get some pics of each plants uploaded to make it easyier to id them

 

[150EH]

The rest of them look ok but the very red one in the left corner might be in question as well.

Thing that that we need to know, lighting, photo period, CO2, fertilizers, water change schedule and amount, water temp., and filtration. All these thing can play a role in plant stress but other than the non aquatic plants, your problem could be fertilizer, or new tank melt. The Vals on the right side tend to melt in a new tank but almost always recover and grow nicely and are fairly undemanding, good luck.

If you ask about your plants in that section of the forum the response will be much faster.

 

[Jadelin]

Hello,

I agree with 150EH that some of your plants aren't aquatic; the variegated uprooted one is a Dracaena, and the grassy plant on the left definitely looks like Mondo Grass. I think he's right about the fern-looking one in the back right not being aquatic either (is that even a real plant? It looks very flat).

Don't feel bad about having non-aquatic plants; I did the exact same thing when I first started out, and a lot of people make the same mistake. You can leave those plants in until you find something to replace them, but they should come out as soon as (or before) they start disintegrating so they don't affect your water quality. Pet stores are notorious for selling non-aquatic plants to people. If you don't want to keep them, you could see if the pet store would take them back. The Drecanea makes a good houseplant if you plant it in soil, but the best place for the Mondo Grass would be outside (they actually prefer really well drained soil). The Mondo Grass is not a true grass and will have sprays of light purple flowers that turn into blue or black berries if you plant it outside.

If you like the grassy look, I suggest looking up Dwarf Sag (Sagittaria subulata) or Pygmy Chain Sword (Echinodorus tenellus). The Swap n Shop on this forum is a great resource for plants.

As for your original question, I would say that your plants are exhibiting classic signs of nutrient deficiency. Despite what substrates say, a lot of aquatic plants absorb most of their nutrients from the water column rather than their roots, so you need to dose the water itself. You can keep using your liquid fertilizer; what type is it, and what nutrients does it provide? Once that is used up (or before if it doesn't have everything your plants need) you should look into dry fertilizers; they are quite cheap and it's easy to add them to your tank. If you want more info about that, just ask.

 

[150EH]

I made a link to let some of the plant guru's here see your selection http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/plants/145318-plant-gurus-needed.html#post1479880 hope you don't mind.

 

[mathew]

thanks for your posts guys.

here are the first set of photos, i done them as one type of plant per photo apart from in one photo as i only had 1 or 2 of the plant types.

more photos to follow

 

[mathew]

more photos of my plants

 

[mathew]

last photo of plants

 

[JasonG75]

last photo of plants

HAHA, yea I had these as well...They are dwarf onion and not aquatic AND wow just smell the base UGH.

Get yourself that plant book at petco/petsmart. It helped me determine aquatic and non aquatic.

 

[mathew]

Thanks for the link 150EH, anything that will help im happy with

My tank is a Fluval Roma 200 (200L) and has 2 30W bulbs, 1 aqua glow and 1 power glow. The aqua glow is new when i changed to live plants and the power glow is old (over a year so needs replacing when i got the money)

Photo period? im not 100% sure what you mean by this, the photos on the trays were taken in the evening. If you mean how long the lights are on, there on from 2pm to 10pm.

CO2.... erm lol

fertilizers. I have got tetraplant complete substrate under the sand and once a fortnight i add the correct amount for 200L of King British Aqua Plant Food. All i can see on the bottle about what it contains is "trace elements"

Water change schedule. I generally keep a eye on my nitrate level and do a water change when it gets high. When i do a change i do about 50L. I add seachem prime as a water conditioner.


My temp is 24 deg C / 54.5 deg F

My filter is a Fluval 205 external filter with sponge and noodles in.



what is new tank melt? my tank is not a new setup it has been running since the start of 2009

what are "the Vals"?


The plant in the back right was labeled as something like "umbrella tree" or something like that.

I have only had the plants a couple of weeks and they are already slimy and the leaves look like they are rotting so am happy to take them out if they are not aquatic plants. Im more then happy to throw them away and put it down to a lesson learned.

What are the dry fertilizers?

Im in england so i dont know if the swap shop on here would be any good to me.


If you can, can you ID all of the aquatic plants and let me know what are non aquatic so i can pull them out of my tank and bin them

thanks

 

[mathew]

Would a mod be able to move my topic to

The Planted Tank Forum > Specific Aspects of a Planted Tank > Plants

please.
thanks

 

[mathew]

also while i think of it, would a air pump/stone help at all?

 

[DeChaoOrdo]

the first(dracaena), second(looks like peacock fern), fourth('lucky bamboo' another dracaena) and last(mondo grass) photo are all non-aquatic. There are a few others that look a bit suspect to me(first and last photo in second group) and the rest seem to be aquatic. Take the anchors off of the wisteria and bacopa and plant the stems individually. The vals are the plants in the 3rd photo.

The aquatics are:
Vals(2nd picture)
looks like cardamine(5th)
uncertain on the 2nd picture in group 2
amazon swords(they'll probably lose all their leaves and regrow new ones)(8th picture)
water wisteria(left) and bacopa(right)(9th picture)

10th picture looks like it could be a type of sword plants but its hard for me to tell what it is or even if its aquatic(leaning to yes for that one, no for the first picture in 1st group)

 

[JasonG75]

Photo period? im not 100% sure what you mean by this
thanks

How long do you keep the lights on? That what a photo period is.

 

[JasonG75]

My temp is 24 deg C / 54.5 deg F

what is new tank melt? my tank is not a new setup it has been running since the start of 2009

what are "the Vals"?

What are the dry fertilizers?

thanks

54.5F are you sure? Most tropical tanks stay around 78.9 - 80.0 F

Some plants suffer MELT. When plants are at the nursery they are grown Emersed (above water) with the roots in the water. Crypts are well known for this. Its called Crypt Melt. When you put a new plant into a tank SOME plants have a transision period where they have to adapt to being FULLY submerged.

Vals are a flat rope like plant.

There are a few varietys, these are Itailian...my fav

Dry ferts are fertilizers in their Powder form instead of liquid (like you by at the store) I am sure there is someone selling dry ferts in England or in the surrounding areas.

 

[kamikazi]

54 degrees F? wow thats chilly, surprised the fish are ok.

I highly recommend Encyclopedia of Aquatic Plants by Peter Hiscock, very informative book.

 

[JasonG75]

The aquatics are:
Vals(2nd picture)
looks like cardamine(5th)
uncertain on the 2nd picture in group 2
amazon swords(they'll probably lose all their leaves and regrow new ones)(8th picture)
water wisteria(left) and bacopa(right)(9th picture)

For these Amazons get yourself from RootTabs. They are DryFerts that can be bought at most Big Box stores. They look like little pills and what you do is place them in the sand (substrate) below or near the plants roots. Amazons are HEAVY root feeders.

 

[JasonG75]

54 degrees F? wow thats chilly, surprised the fish are ok.

I highly recommend Encyclopedia of Aquatic Plants by Peter Hiscock, very informative book.

THAT or

101 of the Best Aquatic plants and 31 to avoid (at petco/petsmart)

 

[mathew]

ill double check the temp but i do know its spot on in the middle of the green zone on the thermometer.

I have got a few books that my parents gave me so ill dig them out and see if it says much about plants.