Plants in new aquarium

[davidtcb1]

Hello:

We have a three week old 75 gallon freshwater. Have three bunches of Anacharis that have doubled in size in that time. In the past few days, sections of the plants have started to brown. Any suggestions on what this means or what needs to be done? Still new to the hobby and need some advice. Don't think cycling has begun yet as Ammonia has been at 0 and nitrites at around 0 since we started the tank. pH currently at around 7.5. Tank has one flourescent tube.

Thanks!

 

[31337]

do you have tropical aquarium, if you do they require regular additions of fertilizer and a moderate amount of light(somthing like 2w per gallon). With the addition of CO2 fertilization. mabey a reason for the brown! ph is good for it(7.5)!

 

[davidtcb1]

yes, tropical. we plan for it to be community, with an eventual neutral pH, but are fine with the slightly high pH if it becomes too hard to regulate.

thanks for the advice

 

[31337]

7.5 is fine for most community fish. I think i said this in another post, but match the fish to the ph, makes it sooooo much easier!

 

[IndianaSam]

Tank has one flourescent tube.

My guess is that there's not enough light with one strip. You're going to need at least 1.5 watts per gallon (WPG) for most low light plants. I believe that anacharis needs even higher watts than that.

A pH of 7.5 should be just fine. Your issue is sufficient lighting.

 

[ChicoRaton]

Don't think cycling has begun yet as Ammonia has been at 0 and nitrites at around 0 since we started the tank.

as a side note, cycling will never begin if you don't add a source of ammonia like fish or pure ammonia.

 

[davidtcb1]

Yes, we have 6 red eye tetras and 6 longfin blue danios. Thinking maybe there needs to be a couple more larger fish to get things moving along cycle-wise.

Thanks