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It's been about 2 weeks since I added live plants to my first planted tank and for the past week some of the smaller leaves of my Anubias (on driftwood) and crypts are starting to turn yellow. Can someone tell me what this yellowing could indicate? I leave the light (1.2 wpg) on for 10 hours/day. I don't have any fertilizer in the substrate and have just added 1mL of Seachem Flourish today. Do I need to add anything else (like iron source)?

Also, while the ludwigias and hygrophila polysperma are visibly growing (I need to trim the top off the hygrophila every week as they break the surface), a few of their bottom leaves have turned yellowish and/or died off. Is this normal since the bottom leaves don't get as much light? Sorry if my questions are too obvious - I just don't have any experience with aquatic plants (and only bad ones with non-aquatic ones! ).

Thanks!

-P

I'd say that it is probably your low wpg.

Yellowing leaves can be a number of things. [link=This site]http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link] is a great one to have bookmarked for plant issues. If you're going for more than low light plants I'd suggest looking into getting a CO2 unit running. If the tank is small enough a DIY model will work just fine.

^_^[hr width='40%']"Has someone taken your faith? It's real, the [link=pain]http://babelfish.qwertydigital.com/" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link] you feel.
The life, the love, You die to heal.
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I thought anubias and crypts are low-light plants?

Thanks for the site. I'm not really sure whether it's lack of Iron or Nitrogen or something else that's causing the yellowing. Nitrate is around 10ppm so I think that would be enough as a nitrogen source. I might try the Flourish Iron.
Would something like Flourish Excel be adequate for a CO2 source instead of a CO2 unit?

-P

If it's between the light, iron, or co2 I'd probably guess iron for the crypts and anubias. The faster growing plants could have a different problem, For a low light tank excel should be a sufficient carbon source.

I'd also agree on the iron in this case. I've had that show up in my crypts right after they'd been planted.
Best suggestion I have is to look for root tabs at your LFS rather than adding liquid ferts to the water directly. I've heard of people doing DIY root tabs but I've never tried it myself.
If you absolutly cant get root tabs you can try liquid, I've been injecting some under the substrate rather than right into the water. If this is a good idea or not I cant say for sure, nor am I sure if it's more effective.

^_^[hr width='40%']"Has someone taken your faith? It's real, the [link=pain]http://babelfish.qwertydigital.com/" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link] you feel.
The life, the love, You die to heal.
The hope that starts, The broken hearts...
I’ve got another confession my friend, I’m no fool.
I’m getting tired of starting again, Somewhere new."