Frogbit dying off:

F

FL CommunityFan

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Mar 14, 2008
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Ordered some frogbit off of AB last week. Got it aroudn the middle of the week. It came from Connecticut during some pretty frigid weather. Heatpack didn't seem to make it all the way and there were ice crystals inside the bag when I got it at 11am on delivery day. After a bunch of yellow/brown leaves were picked out I thought they were doing good. Some nice long shoots sprawling out down in to the hank with the little hairs on them soaking up the nutrients. Anyhow, over the last few days a lot of it has started to die off. I'm unable to figure out why.

Is this because portions of it likely froze?

Is my light too much or not enough? T5HO fixture with a 6700K life-glo bulb and 18000K power glo bulb.

The shipper said she will ship me more if this doesn't do well, but I'd really like to make the best of it if I can. I know there is SOME growth going on as the little sleaves are multiplying.. well were.. and had mini shoots coming off them. I don't know if they are going to die off as well though.
 
It may be a combination of the freezing temps and different water chemistry in your tank. Is the tank covered? Do the plants get any air circulation over the leaves?
 
toddnbecka said:
It may be a combination of the freezing temps and different water chemistry in your tank. Is the tank covered? Do the plants get any air circulation over the leaves?
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Yes the tank is covered. The glass canopy just came in yesterday actually. I don't know if they are getting air flow over them or not? The eheim spray bar is located on the side of the tank they have gravitated to but other than I don't guess so? Should I take the canopy off and leave it bare open? The tank is in a chilled room so I had ordered the canopy to try to keep the tank from fluctuating temps... which is actually posing a new problem that I posted a different thread for. The light is heating the tank up to 82* so says the therm. yet the heater still comes on to warm it up at 80* so I'm not sure what's going on there.


this is a whole lot of newbie trial and error going on as this is my first time dealing with live plants.
 
The tank is 75gallons, the wattage on the bulbs each are 54watts. I added Flourish Excel for teh first time yesterday (it came in yesterday with the canopy). 7.5 capfuls as directed.
 
Bk828 said:
whats your fish stock??
You dont add any actual ferts?
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Like I said, I'm just getting in to this and learning as I go. The tank currently has 10 danios and 4 various L-cats.I got some regular Flourish w/ the excel as well but I hadn't planned on using ferts to keep the plants healthy. I was told frogbit would do fine as long as it had good light. Is this not true?

I plan on keeping anubias and java ferms and was recommended frogbit as a good cover. I plan to add 8 botia striata and 2 ebjd's in a few more weeks. the planting needs to be done prior to introducing the eb's.
 
Bk828 said:
Floaters love calm waters and will actually spread like weeds if thats provided, along with good light (which you have somewhat, not sure about the powerglo bulb being okay for plants)
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maybe that's my problem? w/ an emp 400 on one side and the eheim spray bar on the other? the spray bar is pointed down though away from the plants.
 
FL CommunityFan said:
Like I said, I'm just getting in to this and learning as I go. The tank currently has 10 danios and 4 various L-cats.I got some regular Flourish w/ the excel as well but I hadn't planned on using ferts to keep the plants healthy. I was told frogbit would do fine as long as it had good light. Is this not true?

I plan on keeping anubias and java ferms and was recommended frogbit as a good cover. I plan to add 8 botia striata and 2 ebjd's in a few more weeks. the planting needs to be done prior to introducing the eb's.
Click to expand...

All plants need more than light. Frogbit is a nutrient hog and when its not getting any it may/will also die off and or lose color.
I would add a weekly dose of flourish into the tank (7mls) and see how that goes.

maybe that's my problem? w/ an emp 400 on one side and the eheim spray bar on the other? the spray bar is pointed down though away from the plants.
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As long as the plants have a corner of the tank to stay put thats all that matters. Give them some more time to adjust, floaters usually can melt off after shipping but once they get adapted to the tank, they turn into a weed.
 
Bk828 said:
All plants need more than light. Frogbit is a nutrient hog and when its not getting any it may/will also die off and or lose color.
I would add a weekly dose of flourish into the tank (7mls) and see how that goes.


As long as the plants have a corner of the tank to stay put thats all that matters. Give them some more time to adjust, floaters usually can melt off after shipping but once they get adapted to the tank, they turn into a weed.
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Gotcha. As far as the plant dying off, how hard hit do you think it could have been by the freezing over it occurred during transit?
 
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