Plants Melting, Holes In The Leaves, Twisted Growth After Substrate Ch

[snazy]

Ok, so here I go again unfortunately.
I have this 30G tank running for a year and a half with river gravel substrate. Everything was going perfect, 0 algae, plants green and growing, etc.. I don't really fertilise it with anything, but have dropped on rare occassion some micro ferts(Easylife) About a month ago I decided to change to soil/sand combo to make the corys happy.
I put JBL Aquabasis Plus soil on the bottom and capped with JBL sansibar black sand. I poured back the tank water from the containers, put the plants and fish in and that's about it.

Well, plants are going downhill in the tank since. Why? If it's lacking something why is the a substrate that is supposed to be better for plants than the gravel causing it?
I've got hydrophila clarymbosa, amazon swords and anubias mainly. The hydrophila in every tank has been growing like weed even when I had major defficiency issues and algae in another tank, and my other 2 tanks are also getting overrun with it. Never seen this in a year time since I first bought this plant.

Not sure what is going on? All the new growth is wrong, holes, twisted growth and then leaves just fall off. Here are a couple of pictures:

 

[ColR1948]

Are you using CO2 by any chance?

 

[snazy]

Are you using CO2 by any chance?

Never used in this tank and it's an year and a half old with no problems with easy plants, not even algae in it. All I've changed is the substrate, nothing else.

 

[ColR1948]

I'm no expert on plants, I can kill plastic plants with no problem lol. It might be some nutrient deficiency or something I'm not sure.

 

[SO19Firearms]

If you're not adding CO2 you need to lower your lighting.

(or start adding CO2/Carbon)


Fertilising it would also be wise. IMO

 

[snazy]

If you're not adding CO2 you need to lower your lighting.

(or start adding CO2/Carbon)


Fertilising it would also be wise. IMO

No, never added CO2 and don't want to add to this tank either considering it did perfectly without for such a long time. Lights were always on for 8 hours. I guess I can try down to 6. I also thought it's CO2 from you mentioning it on my other thread once. Just can't understand why is there a lack of it now with the new substrate. Maybe the plants used organic carbon which is now gone with the established gravel? The other thing I forgot to mention is because I thought it's of little importance, is I removed the air pump too with the change. The tank always had it since setup and it made little difference to my plants before. I can't possibly thing that would have a negative effect on the CO2? It couldn't have affected the flow either. The tank has two filters making the turn over to about 16 times the tank volume an hour. It has always been like that though and the surface movement is the same from what I can see.

I am pretty much annoyed with this soild/sand thing so far.

 

[SO19Firearms]

One thing you can never say with a planted aquarium is that it's the same now as it was 6,12,18 months ago etc. We know this because what usually comes with that sentence is "My plants grew loads" or "I didn't have a problem before"
- What you're really seeing is a tank that's evolved further than it can sustain itself. If you've seen Liebig's law of the minimum I post sometimes you can imagine that as time has passed with no interferance some of the staves on the barrel have got lower and lower until something gives....

The exact reasons are too difficult to pinpoint as so much changes over time, but some examples would be -

Plant mass increases, needing more of the natural resources - You can no longer get away with not adding anything. This will happen as you see your plants grow, but may have been increased by adding a nutritious substrate, or removing the airstone may mean your CO2 levels were increased causing a growth spurt - or even iregular CO2 in terms of algae.....


TL;DR - The plants aren't getting enough CO2.

IMO.

 

[snazy]

Yes, you are right it seems not enought CO2 or CO2 issue but that came with the substrate change and the air pump removal and that's just a few weeks ago, not 6-12-18 months. Plant mass hasn't increased besides the new damaged growth. There's not one bit of algae in this tank.
I'll try your suggestion to decrease the light time for a start. I am not going with the effort and money on CO2 in this tank for now if I can avoid it. The next step which is overly stupid I agree, is putting the air pump back.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Something else to add to SO19's advice, did you check your PH before and after the new substrate? If what you have added is affecting PH you will get melt. Also it does look like CO2 issues too but both of those problems cause this look.

 

[snazy]

Good point. I tested it in the first couple of weeks but then stopped because it was the same. I just tested it again when you mentioned and it's the same as it was, same colours on the API and the same it's always been in my other tanks which is 7.4. But I was afraid it would change the Ph because it said the soil "will provide slightly acidic enviroment". I don't have a Kh or even Gh test but one of these may have changed I guess. The more acidic the water, the less organic carbon it can hold if that's what my plants were using for a year and a half considering there couldn't have been much normal dissolved CO2 with the air pump and all?
The other strange thing I noticed is that the TDS in the tank increased. Normally my tanks are hanging around the 270-280ppm mark but I can't get this one lower than 300ppm. It must be something from the soil?
No idea. The light is down to 6 hours from today.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Well that's neutral so must be CO2 then, also didn't you recently change lighting?

 

[snazy]

Well that's neutral so must be CO2 then, also didn't you recently change lighting?

No, that was in my other tank.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I think that you have upset the balance... The CO2 was in the right amount of balance as the other needs of the plants, but with the increased nutrients for the plants at the roots now, they have more access to these nutrients and the CO2 levels are lower compared to balancing the other nutrients.


Decreasing the lights would be a simple solution to cut off their search for more nutrients. A simple addition of Flourish excel one time and watching how the plants respond would be another option. Excel can be added either daily or every other day and still have a nice effect. Much less expensive than going with a CO2 injector of any kind.


TDS increasing is a sign that the new substrate is a source of nutrients that was previously unavailable before. You need to reestablish a balance in the tank.

 

[SO19Firearms]

IMO you're giving nutrients too much credit. Maybe a lack might cause problems. But an increase won't change balance (again, that word....grrr)

CO2 and light the key to everything.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I don't deny that my experience with aquatic plants is limited. I agree that light and CO2 needs to be in "balance", but I don't think that it is limited to that. I believe that the CO2 levels are being seen as low, because a) the larger plants need more than before, b) the balance between micronutrients, light and CO2 are out of whack now.

I'd certainly concede to anyone who can give me a reason as to why the nutrients being increased isn't causing the problem, or CO2 needs to be added. In my terrestrial growing experience, plant growth depends greatly on N-P-K and striking the proper balance. Too much N produces too much greenery without flowers or strength. In the terrestrial world though, CO2 is never a limiting reactant. In this case, I believe that CO2 is the limiting reactant in the chemical reaction. As long as the elements are in "balance", the growth will be uniform. In low nutrients, low CO2, low light, the growth is slow, but steady. If some of those elements are out of whack, you get problems.

I think adding Excel would be an easy fix.