Amazon Sword

[leecara]

I have an 89 litre tank (20 gallons approx), i wanted some live plants that are easy to care for that make my tank look less plastic.

I am not ready for co2 and all the extra work for a fully planted tank, but eventually maybe.

So I added 2 x amazon sword plants, and 1 small piece of pre soaked bog wood with fern elastic banded to it.

If I keep my light on for 8 hours min a day, will they be okay, and not harm my fish.

 

[Dave Spencer]

You haven`t done anything that will hurt your fish, by the sounds of it.

For your sword to be successful it will benefit from fertilisers in the substrate. You may want to consider adding root tabs.

 

[Themuleous]

Ditto what Dave said

 

[leecara]

I have put those fertiliser sticks, 1 under each plant, they seem thought to have gone a slightly yellow colour though, is this okay?

 

[VidVid]

It might be a light deficency or maybe just an old leaf dying off... is the yellow only showing on one leaf??? Is any leaves turning black and how many? What is the watts per gallon in your tank???

 

[leecara]

The light is on for 8 hours a day, 1 x plant has only 1 x leaf that is yellowing, the other plant has 2 x leafs that are yellowing and has brown patches on it, the plant only has 5 leafs at the moment anyway.

The lamp is an arcadia 24" tropical lamp, it says on the lamp, "plant growth lamp" I have approx 20 gallons, don't know how to find out about watts per gallon.

On the arcadia website, the FO18 - which I have is 18 watts, what does that mean?

 

[Dubby]

The light is on for 8 hours a day, 1 x plant has only 1 x leaf that is yellowing, the other plant has 2 x leafs that are yellowing and has brown patches on it, the plant only has 5 leafs at the moment anyway.

The lamp is an arcadia 24" tropical lamp, it says on the lamp, "plant growth lamp" I have approx 20 gallons, don't know how to find out about watts per gallon.

On the arcadia website, the FO18 - which I have is 18 watts, what does that mean?

You have your answer right there 18W/20 gallons = around 1W/gallon which is considered low light. Most plants will grow with around 2W/gallon.

 

[Fillet 'O' Fish]

Yellowing or browning leaves on amazons normally indicate a difficiency in nutrients and probably Iron. Do you dose with Ferts? Adding root tabs as Dave said will help. I know it did with my gravel bed before I had a plant substrate.
Try adding something like Seachem Floursh to see if it helps.

 

[leecara]

ok, so do i need to upgrade my light for about a 36 watt, and do they make one that is 24", any recomendations.

I haven't dosed with ferts, as my LFS said that these underbed fertilisers would do the trick.

Should I add ferts any way, I will get some if that is the case, and some root tabs.

Sorry - another thought, having read the pinned article on lighting, it seem that if I wanted 2WPG than I would need to add CO2, I am not quite ready for all that, having taken ages on the ammonia nitrite, nitrate thing. I just want to keep these swords alive for a while. without any other fuss.