Help Please - Why are all my plants just dieing ????

thebigdog

thebigdog

AC Members
Mar 22, 2007
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1
Trumbull Connecticut
Help guys - I am totally at a loss.

A got a 55 gallon tank, well established for many years.
Running a 216 watt fluorescent light with 64K luminums
I also got a 10 gallon right at a bright window with plenty of direct sun.
I used to have plastic plants, and wanted to switch to live plants.
Everything just keeps dieing !!!!

I've tried Amazon Sword, Java Fern, Moss, and Anacharis.
I can't even seem to get algae in the tanks.
I've even added Seachem Plant Pack Fundementals

These are my water condition.
Tempature 76 degrees
PH - 7.0
KH - 0 dKH
GH - 71 dGH
Nitrite - 0
Nitrates - 160 (after adding Seachem Plant Pack Fundementals)
Phosphate - 10.000 mg
Ammonia - 0

In theory, I belive everything should grow.
But as I said - I don't even have algae in the 55 tank
The 10 gallon tank at the window only has minimal algae.

Can anyone PLEASE help me and tell me what I'm doing wrong???

:swear:
 
Carbon is not a necessity... we generally consider it a necessity with that much light- but not to make the plants grow- to make them grow fast enough to out compete the algae. If light is that high, you really want to provide everything else in high levels too- ferts and carbon- because if light is off the charts high and everything else is low, that excess light will cause you algae issues. Not because you need the carbon for plants to grow, but because you need it to make sure they can grow fast enough to use up all that available light before algae takes hold.

That being said- you CAN grow plants with that set up. Why have you been failing? The only thing I can think of is the plants you are receiving and your patience with them. Many swords for example are grown emersed, and the emersed leaves will die off before the plant begins throwing up submerged leaves. As for Java ferns, make sure you don't bury the rhizome, that will kill the plant. Perhaps the plants were damaged in shipping? There's no reason in the world you shouldn't be able to grow plants in that tank.

How many hours a day do you have the lights on?

Its probably about time for me to trim a lot of my plants (I have 11 planted tanks). Let me know if you want me to put together a box of stuff for you to try- swords, rotala, ferns, cabomba, etc. Get them from a good source and I am sure you will succeed. I'll send you a box, the plants are on me if you pay for priority shipping. PM me if you're game.
 
This may be a dumb question, but:

I have a question on this good source of carbon?
Are you talking Carbon as in Activated Charcoal for the filter system?
Or do you mean somethiing else as a trace element directly for the plants?

I will also setup a DIY CO2 later on today.

Thanks everyone, for all the help so far.


jmhart said:
216 watts over 55g is high light. In order for plants to grow at that level, you'll need a good source of carbon.

You can use Seachem Excel, but I recommend looking into CO2. You could use DIY CO2, but pressurized is your best bet.
Click to expand...
 
I'm sure jm was talking about CO2, or Excell as a substitute. The dyi you are setting up should help may not be enough with your high level of lighting. Could you remove a bulb and reduce the wattage a bit?
I'm clueless why you do not have algae in those tanks.
 
I agree with what has been said- your plants do not have the C02 or nutrient factors to grow properly in that lighting.

DIY CO2 will be very inefficient with this size tank. It will be hard to get a stable CO2 level within the tank which will lead to algae problems.
 
Give the DIY co2 a try. I have 2-2liter bottles with my diy set p on my 75 g and that works fine.

More importantly than the wattage of light you have over the tank is what type of light and what type of reflectors. How much light that actually gets into the tank and what type (PC< T5< reg fluor.) you are using.
 
With 216w over a 55g don't try DIY CO2, it's not going to work. You need a pressurized CO2 unit, there's no way around it. Either cut the wattage in half or invest in a pressurized CO2 system.
 
thebigdog said:
I've tried Amazon Sword, Java Fern, Moss, and Anacharis.
Click to expand...

Hey bigdog... you have ultra-super-high-bright lighting there on this tank, but the plants you list don't even need bright light. These are all in the low-med range.

If these are representative of the plants you intend to grow, you really should scale down the lighting a notch or two -- instead of trying to beef up CO2 levels and ferts to match lighting that isn't necessary in the first place. Keeping all things in balance according to plant requirements will make this a LOT simpler.

Good luck with the tank!
 
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