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Hey Guys,

Can someone tell what could be wrong with my plants? My Amazon and chain-swords leaves are starting to go yellow. Not all of them at once, but l can see one leaf goes yellow every two weeks or so. Once the leaf goes yellow, within a week or so it looses all colours and goes a see-through brown (dead). When l see this l cut them off the main plant.

Also there is no other leaf that blocks the light from the leaves that go yellow.

My setup
48”14”x18”
4x 36w 48” 6500k day light tubes

PH 6.8 – 7.0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite:0
GH: 9-10deg
KH:8-9deg
C02: >30ppm (l cant get this down)

Thank you in advance for any feed back

Cheers
Wayne

may be u need some fertlizers cuz i think sowrds need a lot of food cuz u have good Lighting.. good co2
but if u dont want 2 add may be u should balance between those three light ...co2.. fert
figure it out
read more opinions please
hope u get it

Last edited by JIMMY319126 at 23-Jan-2006 18:23

I little more info.

So far l have placed Redsea Mineral Tablets (ferts) in the gravel around the plants.

Every week when l do a water change (40lt) l add 2mls of Redsea Flora Gro and every day l add 3 drops of Redsea Flora 24.

If l add more l start to grow alot of alge.

tank temp is around 26-27deg
Nitrate is around 7ppm

Last edited by sharkbait_whohaha at 23-Jan-2006 18:37

More info required please.

How old is the tank?
Type of substrate and its depth?
How old are the tubes and are they the good quality or the cheap variety?
The good quality ones require changing every two years and some of those cheaper varieties usually bought at a non aquariums can vary from months to one year if lucky. Yes they will give of light but not all the required correct type of light. (Frank help me here please)

What other plants are in the tank?
What other chemicals and ferts do you put in the tank?

Have a look in [link=My Profile]http://
www.fishprofiles.com/interactive/forums/profile.asp?userid=6741" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link] for my tank info

[link=Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos]http://photobucket.com/albums/b209/keithgh/Betta%20desktop%20tank/" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link]

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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My chain sword leaves are doing the same thing...all of them. I have like 7 Echinodorous tennellus in my 55g. They get light and I use ferts almost every day. I have a bad algae outbreak and I think that is killing all my plants. My chain sword plants are the worst though.

The ferts I use are Potassium, Flourish, Excel, Trace, Nitrogen and Iron. I have 2.4wpg.


Maybe you should add Nitrogen (Seachem product) to your tank since your nitrates are only 7ppm. Plants feed of the nitrates and you may need to add more. I don't know for sure that it will work...but its the only problem I see.

*Kristin*

may be ur substrat isnt deep enough what is its depth???

If l add more l start to grow alot of alge.

Because you are only adding micros. The problem is not too much fert rather a lack of some particular ones.

Your problem seems to be a lack of macros, in particular NO3. I'm guessing it's the older leaves that are doing this ? If so a pretty good sign on NO3 starvation. The plant moves what little nitrogen it has from the old leaves to new growth resulting in a die off of the old leaves.

If your Co2 reading is correct then you need to be adding Nitrate and Phosphate 2 or 3 times a week. Swords are very high nitrogen consumers. Keep Nitrate at 10 to 20 ppm, certainly don't let it go below 10. Chances are if your kit say 7ppm it's closer to zero.

How are you adding the CO2 ?

---

Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

bensaf... l think your right in saying l have no Phosphate.

Anyways.. here is more info others wanted.
Tubes are Philips LifeMax (TLD 36w/865 Cool Daylight)

Substrate is Iron Stone
Depth; rear:8.5cm, mid:7.5cm, front 6cm

Started tank on the 7/12/05
Cycle finished on the 31/12/05

Plants l have
Vals, Bacopa, Amazon sword, Punnet chain-sword, Elodea and Micro-swords

My canister has filter wool in the bottom tray, Biochem Zorb in the middle tray and top tray has Bio Max.

I use the biochem Zorb to remove the yellowness created from the driftwood.

Also l use 4 tablespoon heap of Aqua-Pic KH Powder +7.0 on water changes and Wednesdays.


Last edited by sharkbait_whohaha at 23-Jan-2006 21:26

Shark,

If I read your posts correctly, then you have:
o a 45 gallon tank,
o 128w of light,
o the tank was set up on December 7th,
o the tank completed its cycle on December 31st.

Many swords are grown emersed or as bog plants with their feet wet but their foliage dry. When these plants are planted in an aquarium, they need to shed their foliage to grow immersed leaves. I have a radican sword that is shedding the very last emersed leaf of 7 after three months in my aquarium. During that period it has grown 7 immersed leaves that are more elongated than the sturdier emersed leaves. If the chain swords and amazon sword are showing new foliage and healthy white roots, this may be your situation.

The second thought is whether your plants are properly rooted. Prior to planting, I will trim roots back to two inches or less. When I plant , I try to ensure that the substrate fills in completely around the roots and that the crown of the plant is high or above the substrate.

My last thought is substrate depth. The larger swords develop substantial root systems so the deeper the substrate, the better they grow. For an amazon sword, 3 inches is the minimum substrate depth with 4 inches being much better. Given the age of your set-up, I doubt that substrate depth is an issue at this time. However, I would look to position the amazon in the deeper parts of the substrate. Substrate depth is not an issue for the chain swords.


I defer to Bensaf on the fert recommendations...


Last edited by Bob Wesolowski at 23-Jan-2006 22:35

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Wow, every time l come back to read replies l get better answers.. Thank you so much guys for helping me out.

Bob, you have read my details correct

Yes your right.. l was told my plants (Amazon and Chain Sword) were emersed grown, just like my Bacopa. All roots on all plants a very health. When l moved the plants to new areas in the tank l was shocked to see how much the roots had grown. Within 4 weeks l could see the root have grown at least 3cm. And my Val’s are producing runners.

IMO l think l did a very good job of planting the plants. The crown is just above the gravel and all roots were cut back before planting.

And yes the plants are growing new foliage, but it still early to say if they are healthy or not.

So it look like l just have to wait a few months before l see all health looking foliage.