Plant Problems

[Meggie :)]

I just rescaped my planted 10 gallon tank...it's low tech with a T8 15 watt light and with sand substrate in the front, fluval plant substrate in the back. The plants were all growing like crazy a week ago, but after I rescaped four days ago they all started dying...the italian val leaves are going clear then rotting, the banana plant's leaves are losing color, and the java fern is going brown. I did take out some pieces of hornwart and elodea when I did the change and added one small anubia and a little more java fern. I am leaving on vacation for a week day after tomorrow so quick advice will be nice. We will be having a house sitter so she will be able to do anything necessary in my tank...

Please, any advice on what to do? As of right now I don't have CO2 or any extra ferts, save for the fluval plant substrate that I have in the back for the rooted plants. I will gladly buy these though if necessary, or a better light if necessary

Thanks,
Megan

 

[Meggie :)]

bump...

Please help it's getting worse...My italian val is pretty much dead and my java fern is on its way...I also have a spirally plant in the back, don't remember what it's called, but it too is dying pretty badly...

 

[Ps3Steveo]

To be honest it sounds like you need some ferts and maybe a little CO2 I'd get yourself some Flourish Excel and dose 1ml daily, buy some TPN+ make sure it's the + and dose 2ml daily, app Vallis doesn't like Excel but if yours is dead I wouldn't worry. You have effectivly 1.5 watts per gallon and I dose with 1.2 otherwise the same happens to me. How long is your lighting on for? If it's over 10 hours that could be your prob too as long photo period with nothing to help the plants photosynthesize will kill them too.

 

[Meggie :)]

my light is on for 6-8 hours a day...and any CO2 diffusers you suggest I can buy?

 

[Ps3Steveo]

What do you mean? The Excel is CO2 in liquid form basically.

 

[Meggie :)]

oh, oh liquid co2!!! gotcha.... aren't the diffusers more effective though? and what ferts do you suggest if you don't mind all of my silly questions...

Thanks so much!

 

[Ps3Steveo]

The two above for a little tank like yours, as your vallis is dead the excel won't kill it as vallis does not like it. Buy a 250ml bottle of Flourish Excel and a 500ml bottle of TPN+ they'll last ya nearly a year and are great all in one ferts and CO2 for a first timer. Make sure the TPN is the + version, dose 0.8ml Excel daily and 1.6ml TPN+ daily to start with and you'll see a difference. Look on eBay or if not aqua essentials.

 

[Meggie :)]

thanks so much! And I do have little italian val sprouts and a few leaves on the val still alive but I'm not worried about them if it means helping the other plants...I might trade them out for something else anyway...should I change my lighting? will it help?

And will the excel kill any of my other plants? I have a moss ball, elodea (which I don't really care about), ozelot, cabomba, banana plant, hornwort, java moss, java fern, anubias, and that spirally leafed plant I forgot the name of...

 

[Ps3Steveo]

No your light is fine and it won't kill any others. That's ok I hope it works out for you, just be very uniform with dosing, get it right and regular and you'll see a great difference. Oh and make sure you do your weekly water change after lights out every week and that you dose your new goodies before the lights come on.

 

[Meggie :)]

Just wondering, is the TPN+ in the US because I can't find it online...

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Are u from us then? I'm not sure if it's available there or not.

 

[Meggie :)]

yea...do you know of a kind that I can use that I can buy in the us? I think the excel is available, though. or maybe we do have TPN+ over here...what is the brand?

 

[Ps3Steveo]

You can get it shipped from here I believe but might take a while, aquaessentials.co.uk

 

[fleeing]

TPN+ is apparently not widely available in the US. Hardly surprising since it is made in Europe by Tropica. There are probably other US suppliers who produce something similar. The benefit of TPN+ is that it includes both 'trace' or 'micro' fertiliser elements and the 'macro' elements (nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus) that most fertilisers do not contain.

Seachem sells a 'micro' fertiliser under the name Flourish, but especially if you have alot of plants, higher light or CO2 your plants would benefit from 'macro' fertilisers too. Most plants would also benefit from 'macro' fertilisation anyway.
You could try with using Seachem's Flourish (micro) together with their Plant Pack:Enhancer NPK(macro), which is basically 3 separate extra bottles you would have to dose with. Now you see why TPN+ is popular Seachem, and other suppliers obviously benefit financially by marketing fertiliser this way, selling 4 different bottles instaed of just one.

The cheapest way to dose fertiliser which you can be reasonably sure meets your plants needs, is to go EI. http/www.theplantedtank.co.uk/EI.htm