Plants Going Brown

[Ivan Sloshed]

Hi
I Bought some plants on the 19th of January but have noticed that they are going brown I think they are Amazon swords or Thailand Stricta and my floating plant salvinia natans. Could this be the lighting the tank size is 36" X 18" X 12" Just re-planted, Lighting 1 (Arcadia) 24" tropical 18w neon tube I’m using a Pro aqua Plant Fertilizer bags. I also have a common Pleco that likes to uproot plants here is a few photos of the plants

Thanks in advance Ivor

 

[zig]

Your lighting is to low for growing plants, I would say this is contributing to the plants going brown, your tank is approx 34 US gallons and you only have an 18 watt tube over the tank, this only gives you approx 1/2 watt per gallon which is to low to have success in growing most plants (nearly all plants) Also your tank is 36 inches long whereas your lighting tube is only 24 inches long.

I would suggest you increase your lighting to 1-1 1/2 WPG and make sure you have adquate lighting coverage the length of the area you wish to plant.

The plants look like some sort of swords which are root feeders, so you need to supply the roots with fertiliser which is usually done in the form or root tabs which you push into the gravel underneath each plant, but i would say the main problem is lack of light.

Have a look at the pinned article on lighting at the top of this section to get an idea of what you need.

 

[Ivan Sloshed]

Hi Zig Much appreciated, so if I get a tube of 30-40 watts I should be alright then. I don’t think a 3ft tube would fit in the lid but I was going to make a new one soon anyway, also the floating plants are brownish purple would this be because of light, my lights are on for 12 hours but i like the sound of a break in the middle
Thanks Ivor

 

[Ivan Sloshed]

Would i also need to remove the Pro aqua Plant Fertilizer bag before i started to add root tabs or would it be safe to leave it in
Ivor

 

[zig]

Your tank is 34 US gallons approx, what you really need is about 1.5 WPG, so 2x25 watt 30" inch tubes would do perfectly for this size tank.

With just one tube of 25 watts the plants may survive or they may not survive, they definatly will not thrive anyway thats for sure, so you might have to upgrade the hood to accomodate the 2 tubes.

If you have a reasonable fish load in your tank these will provide most of the nutrients that plants will need at this amount of light, you may just have to add a trace fertiliser now and again, good ones would include Kent Botanic Grow, Seachem flourish, API Leafzone, any of these will do and should be available in most good lfs, just follow the instructions on the label for dosing. But you would also need the root tabs for the sword type plants as well.

Edit: sorry mate you could leave the bag in for the moment but the ferts listed may be better in the longrun.

 

[Ivan Sloshed]

Hi Zig thanks for replying have just been reading this Posting started By nodding_dino and looking down saw the a reply by gf225 was most informative I have just ordered a Nutrafin CO2 units and some root tabs (a bit surprised there’s only 10 tabs for £3 pound something) from the company he mentions I have used them before and know they are good. The Lighting I found the box the controller was in it’s a arcadia standard 18w 24”x1”dia type c3 so I might have to change it I have a small 2ftx1ftx1ft tank I’m starting I will use this in that, , I wish I had joined the forum last year when I started my tank the lfs must have seen me coming selling me stuff that is no good for the tank
Ivor

 

[Ivan Sloshed]

Hi Would i need more gravel i have only about 3/4 of an inch and how would i put it in a populated tank?
Thanls Ivor