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hey there profilers just looking for some advice on whats up with the swords i recently planted. when they arrived they were a little bit brown and blotchy, i thought maybe once planted they would start to improve, however a few leaves have got worse so i thought i would post a picture and see what you guys think.

i am running 2x54W T5s and it on a 50 gallon- do you think its a light issue? heres the picture as you can see the foreground leaves are dying. the blotchy leaves in the background are what the majority of the swords are looking like.

cheers for having a look!

Attached Image:

I will skip the light strength issue.
Lights length of time on?
Type of lights and how old are they? PLant or daylight?
What is the substrate and how deep is it?
Light length of time lights on?
Do you use any plant ferts what type and how much and how often?
Another thing did you float the plants at all before planting?

Finally a full water peramiters will help to determine if there is something wrong with your water.

Now saying all that you can see it is not just the size lights.

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Keith

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okey dokey mate, no worries!

50 gallon with JBL aqua plus substrate (about 3 inchs at back and 1.5 at front) capped with an inch+ of 3mm gravel.

the light fixture is a lightmaster 2000 which i purchased new a couple of months ago, the bulbs are 6700K purchased 2 weeks ago. i have them on for 12 hour each day.

temp 23.6C
nitrates 0
nitrites 0
ammonia 0
gh 9
ph 6.8

as for floating this was my first time planting and i basically put them straight in! didnt think of acclimatising them.

as for ferts i have put in 4ml of flourish, 15 of flourish xl and about 3 of flourish iron. the flourish on friday and the xl+iron yesterday.

i planted everything on tues day the 10th

yeah thats all the parameters i can think of any ideas? the plants have had that blotched effect on them since i got them and if anything have gotten worse rather then better.

all the other plants look healthy, its just the swords.

Thus far all the swords I've planted (not many, I think 5) have lost almost all their leaves after planting. Either slowly over a period of a month or two or more quickly in a few weeks. Many swords that you buy have been grown at least partially emersed and they will lose those leaves and replace them with underwater leaves of a slightly different shape. Whether that is your issue or not, a sickly leaf will not heal itself, it will only pollute your tank. Trim the yucky leaves off to keep them from rotting or growing algae. Your plants will soon grow more.

As to ferts... Your Flourish dose is on the light side but could be ok if you don't have a heavy plant load. Excel should be dosed daily to keep a steady supply to the plants, otherwise it is not really useful. Your nitrAte is 0. That is not good for your plants! They need the nitrogen, it is a macro nutrient, very essential. Consider getting some dry KNO3 to dose with. If you don't know of a local chem supplier it can be bought at hardware stores as powdered stump remover (Green Light is a common brand here). Also check aquariumfertilizer.com for this and your other macros. Flourish is just traces.

Your lights sound fine. Good luck with your plants!

thanks for that lioness- your right about the growing emersed thing as most of the swords have new leaves growing. a couple of the larger ones dont seem to have new leaves but they arent getting any worse or better so im just keeping an eye on them too see what happens.

wow i didnt know that about the nitrogen infact i havent done much research on ferts yet- im going to check that website link now- thanks.