The case of the disappearing plants....

lorindaleigh

lorindaleigh

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Jan 24, 2009
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I had some plants disappearing so I assumed that it was due to my filter. I then put a sponge in the intake and a stocking over it as well. I am still missing plants. This week alone I lost about 6 pieces of water lettuce (a couple were big), some hornwort, a huge stem of something (I forgot whats its called) and about 5 little plants (also forgot what they were called, they look like little trees with pinecones.) I can't figure out where they are going. Its driving me crazy.

Also, what would cause purple plants to turn green? Is it because I don't have a CO2 set up or is it too much light? Not enough light?

How do you keep floating plants floating? My filter pushes all of the hornwort and another plant that I have (it looks like 5 lily pads all attached to one stem) together and they get all tangle up and then sink and get stuck to the one fake plant that I have in the tank. I separate them all at least 3 times a day.

Sorry for all the questions and such a long post. Thanks for any help!

Thanks!
 
the lillypad thing looking one you have might be pennywort. I have some of the just tucked into the corner away from the current. My hornwort i wound around an airline suction cup thing so it stays at the top.
do you know what k rating your bulb has? that might be the reason why your purple plants are turning green. co2 can't hurt though ;)
i'm sure someone will post in here who knows much more than i do.
 
FastFly67 said:
the lillypad thing looking one you have might be pennywort. I have some of the just tucked into the corner away from the current. My hornwort i wound around an airline suction cup thing so it stays at the top.
do you know what k rating your bulb has? that might be the reason why your purple plants are turning green. co2 can't hurt though ;)
i'm sure someone will post in here who knows much more than i do.
Click to expand...
I have no idea what K rating the bulb is (or what a k rating is.) I bought the tank used but Im sure that its a stock bulb that came with a package. I do know that it is a 15 watt bulb and its 18 inches long.
 
Lorindaleigh.. I've been wondering about your missing plants since I saw your post earlier. There are only so many ways I can think of that would cause plants to disappear.. being eaten by something, decay, or melting. You might also find torn up bits of plants in your filter media, but you've already covered the intake. Is the tank you're asking about the same 20 gallon one that's noted in your sig?

Water lettuce leaves are rather fleshy and can sort of dissolve away when they die and get replaced by newer leaves. But those should be visibly yellowed before that happens, which you would have noticed, and this wouldn't be the case with whole plants all at once. When hornwort is disturbed, adjusting, or declines; it typically sheds all over that area of the tank - again, something you would plainly see happening.

For the other plants, we might have to actually identify what they are to help figure out what is going on. Is there any chance you could take photos of them? From your description, it sounds like FastFly came up with a pretty good ID of pennywort. If that's the case, it should like something like this photo.

https://www.pondmegastore.com/shop/image.php?type=T&id=16550

I can't imagine what kind of underwater plant would look like little trees with pinecones on them. So I'm hoping you could maybe help us figure out what that is. Most of the predominantly purple plants I've seen sold to us turn out to be non-aquatic forms of ivy... which will slowly die underwater and might, possibly, start losing their color.

Where did you buy the plants you're asking about?
 
Here's a link to my thread for a sort of surface divider which keeps the floating plants away from the filter output and also keeps one side of the tank surface a little more calm which the floaters seem to like.

My water lettuce (in a different tank) disappeared in a manner like you describe. I knew that it was getting pushed around and even under by my filter output, but at the time I didn't know what to do about that. It was pale green and had spots with yellow when I got it, so I didn't really notice much decline prior. I would see random leaves that had broken off floating about the tank. Then one day I realized that it had all disappeared. I think that it had gradually been disappearing, and I didn't notice for a while.
 
lorindaleigh said:
I have no idea what K rating the bulb is (or what a k rating is.) I bought the tank used but Im sure that its a stock bulb that came with a package. I do know that it is a 15 watt bulb and its 18 inches long.
Click to expand...
A light's K rating is the color temperature. Plants need a K rating from 5000k-10000k (i've also heard between 6500 and 10000 but i've read conflicting stories) Some bulbs have the k rating on the light bulb itself, others on the package, some don't have one at all. I know most CFL daylight bulbs are advertising 6500k. the bulb i had over my 10g tank was a 10000k rating and my red plants looked amazing. nice bright purple undersides too. For a planted tank a high k rating is just as important as the wattage. Hope that helps.
 
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