Green Hygro not doing well

[gmh]

I have had green hygro for several months and it has always grown like crazy until recently. Now days the plants are very leggy and only the upper leaves look good. I pull out the bad looking plants and replant the tops but the new plants grow slowly and never look good anymore. Lower leaves always full of holes.
They did fine untill I decided to dose Flourish Excell. After a week of normal dosing the leaves started to melt and even after discontinuing the Excell the hygro looks like crap.
I blame the Excell but maybe i am missing something?

 

[Bk718]

what is your lighting like? dose any ferts?
Excel has nothing to do with plants getting leggy. Lighting and ferts play with that.

 

[gmh]

I have 84 watts of T5 lighting over a 40 gallon tank. No C02, no ferts except some Flourish root tabs. Never any problems untill I dosed the Excell.

 

[Bk718]

with that lighting you should dose ferts as well. And if you dose excel you might want to add another co2 source as well, be it diy or pressurized.

 

[gmh]

I have given up on Excell. It has melted my vals twice (which is not unusual I know) but also definately harmed the hygro and some crypts. I have been thinking about DYI CO2. Would one 2 liter bottle provide enough CO2 to benefit?
I guess I could dose some Flourish (or Leaf Zone?) but never had any need to do this in the past.

 

[Bk718]

I have given up on Excell. It has melted my vals twice (which is not unusual I know) but also definately harmed the hygro and some crypts. I have been thinking about DYI CO2. Would one 2 liter bottle provide enough CO2 to benefit?
I guess I could dose some Flourish (or Leaf Zone?) but never had any need to do this in the past.

flourish is just trace, you would need npk as well.
2L is a good start but make sure you diffuse it properly (canister filter diffusion would be best)

 

[gmh]

npk?

 

[Bk718]

nitrogen phosphorus potassium. At that light and with those ferts/co2 you can get the maximum out of your plants.

 

[gmh]

Thanks for your help BK. Not sure I want to go with dry ferts and the rest. May just get rid of the hygro instead since most other plants are doing pretty well. I will ponder whether to go to the next level...
Interesting though that the problem started with the Excell. I wonder if it weakened the plants somehow. Maybe new hygro would do fine.

 

[Bk718]

you dont have to go dry. You can get the Seachem line of ferts. Though dry would last you longer and in the end cost you less.

Try looking up a diy co2 setup and see how hygro and other plants respond