FishProfiles.com Message Forums

All of a sudden, my plants seems to losing their leaves! I weekly dose my plants with Sera's Floria, root tablets and co2.

The lighting is 3 X 15watt fluros over a 33gal tank (50cm cubed). I dont know if its the lighting, but my lfs said its lack in iron. But, isnt the liquid fert suppose to have iron in it?

The Java Fern, elodia, milfoil, red and green ozelots and red tiger lotus is growing well. But the Cambomba, Sunset Hygro and Green Hygro are losing their leaves. Each day I have to scoop the leaves out with a net... I dont think my Bristlenoses are doing it...

Can anyone help me out?
Mango [/font][/font][/font]

Last edited by mangor34 at 30-Jun-2005 08:08[/font]

I would safely assume that the issue is your light.

You have less than 1.4 watts per gallon and some of your plants (i.e. Cabomba) require more light in order to grow strongly. Your additional CO2 and Nutrients cannot be utilized as you would need to elevate all 3 aspects for stronger plant growth, namely CO2, Nutrients, and Light.

Your light situation is even worse than in a normal tank because your tank is rather high. I would strongly suggest that you upgrade your lighting. You will see what difference this will make.

Hope this helps,

Ingo

PS: I love your smilies


Last edited by Little_Fish at 30-Jun-2005 10:18

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I agree with Ingo. Probably light.Certainly on the Cambomba and Sunset.

Also agree that the Co2 and ferts aren't much help with the amount of light. Co2 and ferts are the fuel and light is the engine. You're not going to use much nutrients if the engine is only idling.

Also as the plants grow the bottoms become more shaded and leaf loss increases.

---

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.

Sera florena contains ferric chloride 0.89000%, ethylene diamine tetraacetate 0.83100%, manganous chloride 0.00400%, magnesium chloride 0.00020%, boric acid 0.00020%, sulphuric acid 0.00016 %, aqua purificata 98.27444%. Since the product contains iron, we can eliminate iron deficiency as a cause of your problem.

Your cabomba and Hygro should do poorly due to the light levels in your tank. A good sign of poor lighting is leaf loss. If you do not want to upgrade your fixture, then replace the cabomba and hygro with plants that are amenable to low lighting.

Low light is less than 2 watts per gallon (wpg) with medium light from 2 to less than 3 wpg. Although this is a handy way to look at light levels, remember that light intensity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance. Therefore, if you have a tank that is two feet deep, the light intensity at the substrate is 75% less than the light intensity one foot from the surface. So the deeper the tank, the more watts you need to grow plants. Boost the bulbs!

Last edited by Bob Wesolowski at 30-Jun-2005 09:19

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

What type of lighting would be best? The tank is quite hard to get some good lighting.

I am not an expert in lighting, but given that your tank has a footprint of a little less than 20 X 20 (in inches) I would assume that you would have trouble finding a Power Compact Fluorescent light that would fit and have enough wattage.

If you really want to upgrade your lighting (and not downgrade your plants), I would say that you should look into metal Halide Pendants, they are initially not cheap and generate quite some heat, but one bulb over your tank can generate enough wattage to achieve 3WPG easily.

But maybe a more experienced FP member can give us both more information on what would be the right thing to do.

Ingo

AND -- Still loving these smilies (how do you do that?)


Last edited by Little_Fish at 30-Jun-2005 10:31

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

You might be able to squeeze 2 36 watt power compacts over it Fighting a fitting with that set up might be difficult though.

MH is a solution but not a very cost effective one. Pricey

Other option is to go with plants better suited to the light available.

---

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.