Hornwort Help Please

[kcharley]

Hi,

I'm a newb especially where plants are concerned but would like to learn.

I have a 20 gal long, 30 x 12 x 12 and a 22 gal, 24 x 12 x18, that both have hornwort.

Lighting on the 20 gal is a standard strip T8, 15 watts and the 22 is retrofitted with a 36 watt compact flourescent.

In both tanks the "leaves" of the hornwort are turning tan. I'm assuming they are about to go brown. It floats in the 20 gallon and is planted in the 22. No fertilizer added to the 20 and Seachem roottabs added to the 22.

Any help appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Greg

 

[Amerce]

Hi,

I'm a newb especially where plants are concerned but would like to learn.

I have a 20 gal long, 30 x 12 x 12 and a 22 gal, 24 x 12 x18, that both have hornwort.

Lighting on the 20 gal is a standard strip T8, 15 watts and the 22 is retrofitted with a 36 watt compact flourescent.

In both tanks the "leaves" of the hornwort are turning tan. I'm assuming they are about to go brown. It floats in the 20 gallon and is planted in the 22. No fertilizer added to the 20 and Seachem roottabs added to the 22.

Any help appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Greg

I have hornwort in my tanks but they are cool tanks and I don't plant it, I leave it to float and they are all doing well, the one with the least amount of light seems to grow better than the tanks with higher lighting times.

PS : no ferts apart from when Ifirst put them into the tank and then only a quick squirt of liquid ferts and then good old fish poo to keep them going.

 

[aaronnorth]

How long have you had the plants?

the one with the least amount of light seems to grow better than the tanks with higher lighting times.

probably because higher light means more demand for nutrients & sometimes CO2, if these are limited it will grow slower.

 

[kcharley]

How long have you had the plants?

the one with the least amount of light seems to grow better than the tanks with higher lighting times.

probably because higher light means more demand for nutrients & sometimes CO2, if these are limited it will grow slower.

In the 20 gal about 3 weeks, in the 22 gal about 1 week.

Could this be a nutrient deficiency? I switched to RO water for water changes about a month ago (because my tap water PH changed drastically). The 20 gal tank has been up about three months now. The 22 gal is newly setup and had a 95% water change right before adding the plants. The LFS said they add some minerals, etc to the water but they weren't specific.

 

[aaronnorth]

It could well be a deficiency, because RO water doesnt contain any metals (trace elements) which plants use, i am not sure exactly what you add into the water though?

 

[hogan53]

Hello There

I have found horn-wort like lots of water changes to grow well.Also the edges of the worrells will go brown to reddish with high lighting if left in the same place for a few weeks.
Could be lack of nutrient's if your using RO.
Cut back on the RO and add tap water. I found when i added a certain plant food it melted the horn-wort are you using any?

 

[kcharley]

It could well be a deficiency, because RO water doesnt contain any metals (trace elements) which plants use, i am not sure exactly what you add into the water though?

My immediate thought is a liquid fertilizer, but I hate to add without knowing what the problem really is.

The other plants are either thriving or ok. In the 20 gal there are a couple of java fern, an anubia, a bunch of pennywort and bunch of anachris that seem fine. The anachris has thrived. Some strands go from the bottom to the top and if I stretched it out it would go most or the way across the tank. There were some other plants in the 20 that I later learned were marsh plants. I don't remember what they were put I pulled them out when they started to yellow. The 22 has a crypt, an amazon sword and some water sprite. They are just kind of there and could certainly look better.

 

[aaronnorth]

All the other plants you have are slow growers, they do not need as many nutrients to keep up with their growth needs, however, hornwort is fast growing so it needs extra nutrients to make sure it grows ok.

 

[kcharley]

Hi Hogan, Hi Aaron,

Thank you for the help. I'll pick up some liquid fertilizer tonight and give it a try.

I switched to RO because I didn't want to shock my fish from a sudden change in my tap water ph (it had been 7.6 but shot to 8.8). I mix a little tap with the RO to match the aquarium PH.

I consider the RO to be a temporary until I found a better solution.

In my research I noticed that CO2 can bring PH down by as much as 1.0 but I have a feeling it is more complicated than just adding a CO2 system. I've read the pinned article on CO2 but where can I learn more?

Thanks.

 

[aaronnorth]

I have a feeling it is more complicated than just adding a CO2 system.

I am not sure what you mean by this? Are you reffering to the ph drop? It is true that ph drops in general by about 1 degree.

 

[kcharley]

I have a feeling it is more complicated than just adding a CO2 system.

I am not sure what you mean by this? Are you reffering to the ph drop? It is true that ph drops in general by about 1 degree.

What I mean is how does one know how much of what to add. For example, I could put a CO2 system, either a DIY or fully automatic unit, but how how do I measure the CO2 levels in the tank. Maybe there isn't a definite rule as each tank is different with different plants, circulation and aeration. Or am I making this too complicated?

Aaron,

I think I found an "answer" by following the link in your sig to the aquatic plant society. Thank you for including it.

Apparently the level of carbonate hardness can affect the absorption level. George's article on the drop checker is what I've read so far. I'm going to have to re-read it, probably several times, to come close to fully grasping what is happening and how one change affects another factor. As a plant newb, I try to remember I really don't know what I'm doing. I'll lurk and read a bunch and try to ask intelligent questions.

I do look forward to having and maintaining a planted tank.

Thank you very much for the help

 

[aaronnorth]

I have a feeling it is more complicated than just adding a CO2 system.

I am not sure what you mean by this? Are you reffering to the ph drop? It is true that ph drops in general by about 1 degree.

What I mean is how does one know how much of what to add. For example, I could put a CO2 system, either a DIY or fully automatic unit, but how how do I measure the CO2 levels in the tank. Maybe there isn't a definite rule as each tank is different with different plants, circulation and aeration. Or am I making this too complicated?

Aaron,

I think I found an "answer" by following the link in your sig to the aquatic plant society. Thank you for including it.

Apparently the level of carbonate hardness can affect the absorption level. George's article on the drop checker is what I've read so far. I'm going to have to re-read it, probably several times, to come close to fully grasping what is happening and how one change affects another factor. As a plant newb, I try to remember I really don't know what I'm doing. I'll lurk and read a bunch and try to ask intelligent questions.

I do look forward to having and maintaining a planted tank.

Thank you very much for the help

Glad you found the answer, however, to measure CO2 levels, you use a Drop Checker which you add 3 drops of bromothol blue (supplied with the drop checker in the link) then you fill half the ball with 4dkh solution
This way, we know that with a kh of 4, and a ph of 6.6, we will have around 30ppm of CO2 dissolved in our water. This is how we measure levels of CO2. The colour of the solution in the ball changes colour accordingly:

blue - <25ppm - too low
green - 25-35ppm - Ok
yellow - >35ppm - too high

Try to aim for a limeade colour, you can be assured that the plkants will have enough CO2, but you wont gas your fish.
It is in more detail at the article you was looking at.

We aim for 25-35ppm of CO2