help please-planted tank going downhill

N

novav

AC Members
Mar 17, 2008
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hey everybody, newbie question
i have a cycled 10 gal betta tank w/ anacharis, java fern, swords and modo grass.(recently discovered mondo grass is not truely aquatic). over past two weeks, noticed both sword plants turning yellow and brown. anacharis slightly yellow. i use 25 wpg cfls, 8 hrs/day. temp is 78f. no co2. 5ml iron liquid fert/week. 5ml stress zyme/week. flourite substrate. params; gh-180ppm, kh-40-80ppm, ph-7.0, nitrites and nitrates at 0. please respond, need advice.

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Your nitrates are too low. You should look to maintain your nitrates around 5-10. In a planted aquarium, when nitrates are 0 it means that the plants are using up all available nitrates, and then they just starve after that.

Your tank is slightly out of balance. 25w over a 10g isn't exactly what I would call high light, but your plants need food. However, when you start giving them food they are going to need co2 as well...balance balance balance. I'd look into a DIY CO2 system and then start dosin NPK and traces
 
jmhart- what do you mean by NPK and traces?
also-cory keeper- do you think i should just get rid of the swords alltogether and start with something else?
 
There are some varieties of smaller sword. I have them in my 16 gallon and they have been there forever. They have not outgrown the tank and look nice. However, they are not the easiest thing to find.

Marinemom
 
By NPK and traces I mean fertilizers: Nitorgen, Phosphorous, Potassium, and traces. In Seachem terms this is Flourish Nitrogen, Flourish Phosphorous, Flourish Potassium, and good ole' Flourish(for traces).

You can also look into dry dosing to save money.

Looking at those plants, it screams of nitrogen deficiency, but, because it's all about balance, if you up your nitrogen there will be another deficiency...it takes work to get it all in balance.
 
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