Plants Are Failing To Grow Well, Ideas?

[Kelly-Jo]

I've recently redone my tank; in fact probably no more than 3-4 weeks ago. I got a variety of new plants and planted them when I changed over from gravel to sand. The Java fern is doing really well but the amazon sword is really suffering. The big leaves towards the top of the water column have turned into skeleton like leaves with only the outline and the veins left. Some of my other plants are also going very thin and brown and literally crumble when touched.

I know that I probably need to set up some sort of CO2 system or change my lighting/ferts etc. But I really don't know where to start on this, so if someone could tell me in the most basic of steps what I need to do, that would be appreciated.

I currently have a timer for my tank and the light comes on at 9am-12pm then off from 12-4pm and back on from 4pm-9pm. Which gives the tank 8 hours of light each day. I currently do not add any ferts. I used to add JBL ferropol fertilizer, but stopped as I found that it gave me an awful algae bloom every time I used it.

 

[lilfishie]

Older leaves on swords generally do die off the newer leaves should be fine though

 

[Kelly-Jo]

I've read that swords do that too, so maybe they're just old leaves that are dying like you said.

The others aren't doing great either though which leads me to wonder what I can do to make it better. The ends of the strands on my vallis are brown too.

 

[stu40]

what other plants are suffering? any pics?what lighting do you have?

 

[Kelly-Jo]

I don't have any close up pics, I know some of the names though.

Vallisneria Natans (has gone flimsy and weak)
Echinodorus "Ozelot Green" (has gone brown on the lower leaves, the floating leaf is still beautiful though)
Also another type of Vallisneria but i'm not sure what it is, but its very light green and thick leaved. That's going slightly brown in places.

It's a 70 litre juwel tank with the standard juwel 15w day light.

 

[kyleb2003]

Sometimes the plants do take a while to get going. I have had an amazon sword in mine for about 5 months but for the first 2-3 it did literally nothing and only recently has started to look really good, some plants will develop a good root structure before starting on the leaves.

Just keep pruning off the old leaves, they wont repair and it'll help kick start the plant into growing new leaves.

 

[stu40]

you named 2 types of val.have you grown them before? they don't tend to do well in soft water, if thats what you've got.

 

[Kelly-Jo]

Really? I've not heard that before. I've attempted to grow them in the past but they didn't do well after 6 months or so. However they're doing less well far more quickly this time. I have relatively hard water though, I live in the east of england.

 

[Rickzayne]

Maybe have a constant 8 hours instead of a 4 hour break?

 

[Kelly-Jo]

I thought of doing that, but the break seems to help keep the algae at bay. When I've changed back, it's grown like wild fire.

 

[RadaR]

Sturctural failures in plants points towards a lack of CO2. However you've only got 15W t8 over 70litres which isnt alot to warrent the use of CO2.
Discolouration points towards lack of nutrients and given time can cause the plants to fall apart.
Breaks in the lighting, also called siestas, is an old method used by folks many years ago when we didn't have good, consistent ways of adding CO2 to our tanks. Overnight the gas would begin to build up to good levels but over the next few hours of the lights being on, the CO2 would be used up. So folks used to turn the lights off again so the CO2 could return to higher levels. Few hours later the lights would come on for the rest of the day. This method is no longer needed or advised anymore. Why? Because we have reliable ways of adding CO2 or carbon to our tanks. Algae is far more adaptable to change than plants are. Lets face it, they've been on this planet a lot longer. So the constant lights on, lights off is stressful for them (the plants) and they can't adapt to change that quickly.
It's also strange that you would observe an algae bloom after dosing a trace element mix. Time and time again it's been proven that excess nutrients do not cause algae. An environment of poor plant health will give rise to algae. Plants rot, they leach ammonia. Algae spores already in the water will use the ammonia and light to bloom. Once bloomed then yes, the algae can use nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates however they are not responsible for the algae blooming.

Have a good read of this thread.
It should high light the majority of things required for a healthy planted system.

Out of interest, what algae were you seeing? Is there always some present in the tank?

 

[Kelly-Jo]

I'm not sure what sort of algae it was, but it was a thick brown slimey coating on the leaves and background of my tank. It was easily wiped off and sometimes it looked black.