Amazon Swords

[qwikimpss]

Well, I planted my tank 2 weeks ago with some Cabomba, Anubias, Dwarf Sags, Java Moss, Hygrophilia and 2 Amazon Swords.

My problem is this. My swords looked AWESOME when I put them in. A couple days after I planted them i noticed one of the leaves began to turn translucent/transparent. I thought it'd be just shock from being in a new environment but that leaf died completely and it has happend to a few others. Any ideas? I have a DIY co2 system set up. My water params are as follows.

Ph 6.6
GH 4
Kh 4
Amonnia 0
Nitrite 0
NitrAte 10 ppm

All my other plants are starting to thrive! I don't get it, i know theyre heavy root feeders and I have a 50-50 mix of flourite and gravel. Do i need some fert tabs?

 

[KentBlokey]

Hi, you don't mention how much light you have. Though from what plants you have i assume it's fairly low? If that's the case, in my experience Swords require just that bit more lighting than what is recommended. That, as already said is just what I have found, someone else may have other ideas.
And yes, I've found using root fertilizer tablets help.

 

[qwikimpss]

Oh, my bad, i have one 65 watt coralife compact flourescent and a NO 20 watt flourescent on a 29 gallon, 85 watts total, a hair under 3wpg...I dunno how I forgot that. Oh yeah, I also have Vallis in there too. I also forgot to mention I dose with SeaChem Flourishone a week after water changes.

 

[qwikimpss]

No ideas anyone?

 

[zig]

Hi qwikimpss

Thats a hard one to answer, i can only really try and guess

Well for a start swords are root feeders which you allready know, with the tank setup being so newly setup it could take a while for the flourite to take effect it needs time to mature a little, people sometimes try and quicken this process by adding a handful of peat (not much just a sprinkle over the bottom of the tank) beneath the flourite when they set the tank up, and this seems to act as an activator and quickens the maturing process, but it can still take months so you can rule that out for a start.

Personally I would add some root tabs for a while and see how they get on, it could still be shock, some plants can take at least a couple of weeks to recover in a new tank enviroment.

It could also be an iron deficiency, do you dose iron? Iron deficiencys will usually show up on new leaves, the leaves will turn yellow and become glassy and disintegrate.

It might be some of the above but im not sure.

It sounds like you have the basis for a nice setup, do you know how much co2 you are getting into the water, do you have a KH test kit? 30ppm should be your target.

3 WPG is quite a lot of light, you have a highlight tank, and i dont think dosing ferts once a week is enough, you may get away with it for a while in a new setup but you will start to see more deficiencys shortly particularily if your co2 isnt up to speed, in highlight tanks co2 is one of the main nutrients plants use.

Also make sure you have enough fast growing stem plants in there at this time or you will soon begin to see algae, algae thrives in situations of highlight, if deficiencys begin to show up and the plants growth becomes stunted or stopped the algae will take advantage and start outcompeteing the plants for the available nutrients, this is a classic way algae takes control, so you may be threading on thin ice.

I am sorry for the bad news in my post but like i say you have the makings of a nice plant setup, you have enough light to probably grow any plant and you have co2, its maybe the fertiliseing you will have to look at.

 

[zig]

Hi me again how long are you running the lights for each day?

 

[qwikimpss]

Thanks a TON zig! It sounds like an iron deficiency then, the new leaves are coming up a bit yellow as you stated. My KH is 4 and my ph is 6.6 with my C02 up and running so that works out to....lets see...exactly 30 ppm (wither I'm good or just really lucky) I already have scraped the glass of the tank which had quite a bit of algae and cleaned off the leaves of as many plants as I could as they had a bit of algae too when I did my water change today.

 

[qwikimpss]

I havent gotten the lights on a set schedule yet as I haven't gotten my grimy lil paws on a timer yet. I'm shooting for 8-10 hours a day right now. Never exact because I have to do it manually and I'm forgetful sometimes.

 

[zig]

Ok it may be iron, 30ppm is real good

Has the algae just started to show up?

 

[qwikimpss]

Been growing for about the last week. I had planted my 29 gallon that had been set-up for about a year and a half...not caring too much about algae as long as I could see my fish so the algae already was established even tho I scraped and cleaned the tank extensively. I moved the swords today so they'd get a little more direct light and in doing so I had to move my cabomba and hygrophilia, bot of which have been doing extremely well and found firmly anchored with well developed root systems...exciting!

 

[zig]

Ok again its hard too tell, what you really need to do is invest in a phosphate test kit and check the phosphate level in the tank, you have enough nitrates at 10ppm but that is probably more from fish waste than nitrate you have added, you really need to be able to check your phosphate level, if you have 0 phosphate then you have a problem and will have endless problems with algae, phosphate kits are not usually widely available in the lfs, you may need to order one online, think of it as an investment, it something you need to find out at this stage or you will continue to have problems, idealially a level of 1-2ppm of phosphate is required.

I am writeing an article on fertiliseing planted tanks which will be posted here in the next few days, so maybe you should keep an eye out for that, its based on the "Estimative Index" its a method of fertiliseing planted tanks, which if followed should ensure an algae free tank, because you seem like a good candidate with the setup you are useing, its really aimed at people running highlight tanks, anyway as part of that you will need a phosphate kit also.

So maybe you should check it out.

 

[qwikimpss]

Thanks a TON for the info Zig. Greatly appreciated! The only problem is that in 2 weeks i wont be living here anymore. Movine into a dorm room and will only be home once a week. But if I get a good regimen and system going by then i feel i should be ok...I hope.

 

[zig]

Ok best of luck with it

 

[qwikimpss]

Thanks a bunch.

 

[nonot8946]

swords sometimes shed their emersed leaves and regrow aquatic ones. Aquatic leaves are the shape of a sword (duh), emersed leaves tend to be rounder with more of a thin stem between the base and leaf.