Amazon Swards Dont Look Well

[da7thson]

Hi Guys,

I've start my new (and 1st) aquarium at the middle of July and i've just added my 1st lot of fish as all the nitrite / ammonia have all subsided. The tanks doing really well with all my plant at least doubling in size since i've had the tank established With one exception.

My amazon Swards dont look healthy and i've had a few of the leaves go brown and rot and there doesn't seem to be any real growth with them. I've got a JBL plant substrate at the bottom of the tank and then gravel on top of that. I've got a JBL CO2 system in the tank and i've been using JBL ferropol as directed once a week to feralise the Plants (picture of the tank can be linked to via my footer).

Things that i'm was worried about. I got a snail appear in the 1st week and when i came back from holiday last week there were about 10 fully grown with lots of snal eggs everywhere (the new Zebra Danio's have erradicated the snail eggs). The other thing is there like a furryness on the back wall of the tank and on some of the plants (the amazon sward being one) which i think is a type of alge (will be getting a pleco at weekend). Other than that, the tank looks fine, fish seem really happy, all other plants except the sward are growing like crazy.

Any Idea's would be greatfully received.

Cheers

Andy

 

[ian]

Hey Andy, the sword sounds like its going through it transition between being grow out of water (emersed) and now being flooded. Most swords (if not all) are grown out of water, when we sink them it takes a while for them to get used to there new surroundings and the old leaves tend to go brown and die. This is normal, what you need to do is remove the old leaves, by cutting them at the bottom near the crown. You should be seeing new growth from the bottom now.

I will just mention, that if you are using C02, your gonna need to think about dosing some nitrate and phosphates.

 

[da7thson]

Hey Andy, the sword sounds like its going through it transition between being grow out of water (emersed) and now being flooded. Most swords (if not all) are grown out of water, when we sink them it takes a while for them to get used to there new surroundings and the old leaves tend to go brown and die. This is normal, what you need to do is remove the old leaves, by cutting them at the bottom near the crown. You should be seeing new growth from the bottom now.

I will just mention, that if you are using C02, your gonna need to think about dosing some nitrate and phosphates.

Cool, no need to worry then. Thanks.

Can you recomend a fert for phospates as i've just looked at the content of ferropol and that says it doesn't contain Phospates. On the nitrate part, once i have a fully stocked thank, would the natural cycle produce enough nitrate or would i need to add more?

Cheers

Andy

 

[RadaR]

On the nitrate part, once i have a fully stocked thank, would the natural cycle produce enough nitrate

Nope. You'll need to add extra.
I havn't seen how big the tank is.
For small tanks I'd use this.
For larger tanks it would be more economical to use EI method.