Plant Problems during Set Up & Cycle

[Vivienne]

I just got the tank set up two days ago to start a fishless cycle and added the following plants
Echinodorus Barthii
Echinodorus Rose
Crinum Calaminstratum
Bacopa Caroliniana
Anubias Barteri nana
Ludwigia Repens "Rubin"

It's a Juwel Rekord 120 tank with all the standard Juwel equipment - no lighting upgrade yet although I suspect that will be on the cards soon. Added dechlorinator & ammonia to take the tank to 5ppm. Left the tank overnight to find that the temperature was way too high in the morning (90 degrees Farenheit 32 degrees celcius). Unfortunately I had misjudged where to set the Juwel heater-stat because the control moves through two complete 360 degree turns). I did a partial water change - about 25% to bring the temperature down (remembering to condition it etc) and hoped I might have got away without too many ill effects. That was yesterday. Yesterday afternoon I added some seeded gravel from my lfs.

This morning when i looked at the tank, the temperature was down to 80 degrees farenheit/27 degrees celcius, which I understand is good for growing bacteria but some of the plants were looking decidedly sorry for itself. See photos - in fact the ludwigia was so bad I've had to remove it.

At first I though my homemade cement background might be to blame - that it was still elevating the ph substantially (9.5 at the moment). Then I realised of course that that is happening as a consequence of the ammonia used to cycle the tank.

Can anyone help ? Is it just that I've cooked my plants and the results have taken a couple of days to show. What can I do ? If I remove all leaves showing signs of damage there will be nothing else. The tank now has a slightly earthy smell (which I assume is signs of the decay). If I do need to take these plants out and start again I want to make sure I know what's happened so I don't do the same thing again ! Thank You.

 

[Vivienne]

Other photo.

 

[Vivienne]

Anyone ? - I'm noticing a slight cloudiness to the water now and my husband says that the slight smell when you lift the lid can best be described as lettuce that's been left in the fridge too long ?

I think I'm gonna have to remove the other obviously affected plants - the echinodorus and the bacopa.

 

[George Farmer]

Sorry to hear of your problems.

32C for a short period should be fine. Mine has been at 30 to 31C for a few days during a heatwave with no ill effect, in fact the warmth boosted my CO2 output and the plants were pearling more than usual. Even the fish seemed fine.

It's possible that your ammonia may have caused some damage. Plants do use ammonia as a source of nitrogen but high levels like yours say may have been too much. It's worth noting that ammonia is a very good algae trigger too.

However, I would assume the biggest factor to your plant's demise is the extremely high pH. It seems to have caused a meltdown of sorts, no plant I know of can withstand pH>9. I have never heard of a homemade cement background before, are you sure it is safe and is not leeching compounds into your water.

I would make sure your background is safe before re-planting and (definitely) before adding any fish.

Hope this helps.
PS How's the G8?

 

[Vivienne]

Thanks for your help. Staying right out of Edinburgh at the moment - the whole area is crawling with police. Keep passing massive convoys of transits full of coppers like sardines in tins. Although the concert tonight looks excellent.

I just did a 100% water change and took out the plants that were worst affected. So that leaves me with the thicker leaved plants - the anubias and the crinum. It's killed the smell and brought the temp down further so I'll wait and see what tomorrow morning brings.

Instructions for the polystyrene covered cement background I followed from several posts on the web. It cured for about three weeks before I put substrate in and planted up. It could be an issue - although it's definitely the Ammonia that's sending the ph sky high. I tested it in the bucket before I added it to the tank.

My reason for putting in the plants now was to try to introduce some bacteria while cycling. Hopefully the worst is over and I'll wait now until towards the end of the cycle before adding anything else when the ph has dropped and I'm confident that the concrete isn't having any effect.