what am I doing wrong?

[Apache]

Hi All,
I have a 30 gal hexagonal tank with 96 watt quad lighting. The tank is cycled (about 4 months old) with gravel substrate. All chem parameters are excellent (pH 7.2, nh3= 0, no2= 0 and according to one of those test strips, nitrate/ nitrites are within good levels, hardness is moderate, but alkalinity is low). My fish are doing very well. I try not to overfeed, and do 25% WC once a week.

My plants, however, aren't doing well. I have Amazon swords and a pygmy chain sword. The Amazon swords keep getting small holes in the leaves, then turns yellow and then the leaf eventually dies. I fertilize once a week, and feed every other week or so... And I now have a mild algae bloom (I think, the water is lightly cloudy green).

I thought with the better WPG everything would be OK. What am I doing wrong? How can I fix what's wrong? What's the best way to get rid of the algae bloom?Thanks in advance.

 

[purple_drazi]

Someone who knows more than I do about aquarium plants (Not Difficult!) may jump in with a better answer but ...

I know (for instance) that my indoor and outdoor plants all have fairly specific light needs. You would think that more sun would make a leaf greener and stronger but t'aint so. More isn't necessarily better. When a plant is getting too much sun you'll often see the leaves go yellow, die and drop off. That could be what is happening in your tank.

Best thing is to do some research on the actual light requirements of the plants you have and go from there.

 

[Discomafia]

What is the kelvin rating of your bulbs? Hex. tanks are hard to provide light for, so maybe that's a factor too. Or maybe you need to start adding CO2?

 

[kenneth_kpe]

did you suddenly just recently upgrade your lighting to the 96 W ? it might be that the boom was caused by the sudden increase in lighting.
http/www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm if you look at the chart there your problem might be potassium? i wouldnt recommend dosing your tank with potash or anything immediately lets wait for other people to reply
*this could be a cause to the leaf deaths, if you suddenly upgraded your lighting, the algae might have taken over your tank thus eating up all the nutrients in your water, outcompeting your slow growing plants horribly im not really sure but maybe im right, its really guesswork IMO unless you are a scientist or a really really good plant dude

 

[Yenko]

What sort of substrate do you have? If you have plain gravel that is probably the problem.

 

[Mr Miagi]

hmmm, interesting!

Do you have a plec or chinese algae eater in your aquarium, because in my experience, they have caused these small holes in your leaves you talk about. The leaves then turn yellow and die!

Gravel was not the best substrate in my past planted aquarium but i dont think this is what is causing your plants leaves to go yellow.

Hope i was of some assistance!

Benny

 

[Apache]

Yes, we did recently upgrade the lighting (from the single strip that comes with the tank), so that's what I think brought on the algae bloom. We do have BN plec, but I don't think he's the cause of the holes in the leaves, he has eaten all of the algae that accumulated on the leaves and fake mangrove, but also is eating the algae tabs.

The kelvin rating for the bulb is 6700K (is that what you mean?)

 

[George Farmer]

All Echinodorus species (Amazon Swords) are gross-feeders and require more nutrients through there roots than most plants. Your symptoms sound like a nutrient deficiency rather than a light deficiency. Try adding some root tabs or burying some laterite around the plant roots. Make sure the laterite doesn't enter the water colomn though as this will compound any algae problem.

 

[Apache]

Ok, so now I'm wondering, is my WPG too high? Is it burning the plants? And, should I add more plants to help with getting rid of the algae bloom? (would that even help?)...