PLEASE HELP!!! PLANTS DYING!!

[ara35]

the bacopa carolinia is doing the worst already withering away!!!
i didnt get ferts and i need to today, what do i need??
the co2 isnt working as well as i hoped but that should also be fixed by friday at the latest. what do i need to do???? heres a picture of what i mean

PLEASE HELP!!

 

[petluvr]

What size tank is this and what type of lighting are you using?

 

[ara35]

2.6 w/.gallon from 2 HO t5 lights and its a 30 gallon tank

 

[Philosophos]

Flourish excel is very popular with high end tanks. What's your lighting and substrate? Planting density? More pics from the side would help. Is your water soft or hard? Bacopa sp. in general go down from lack of light before lack of nutrients in my own experience. Even what gets in through hard water can be enough nutrients for them.

 

[mr.key]

That is probably not enough light for that plant. I have similar light levels and have not had good luck with bacopa caroliana. While very hard to tell it looks like you planted pretty densely which may be having a negative effect.

 

[Philosophos]

2.6wpg should at least keep the upper leaves alive. WPG fails as a rule; it's mostly about lumens and spectrum. Unfortunately most of us don't keep a lumen reader handy. A picture of the tank would be the best way to tell (density). Also, if your tank lid or splash guard for the light is dirty, give it a good wash. What does the reflector look like behind the light? Even tinfoil is better than dull plastic. How old are your bulbs? They can lose spectrum after a while, even though they still put off light. Try replacing them if they're old.

 

[Squawkbert]

1) Thin it out

2) If that doesn't help, buy some new, good bulbs

 

[phanmc]

That's more than enough light to grow the Bacopa, the wisteria doesn't look too hot either and that's plenty of light to grow wisteria. At this light level CO2 and ferts is a necessity, if you aren't adding anything or just adding CO2 then there's your problem.

Ferts you'll need = nitrates, phosphates, potassium, micronutrients. If you have really soft water then a gH buffer as well. Seachem sells a the full line you need, if you wanted a brand.

 

[Philosophos]

CO2 and ferts aren't necessary if you've got a nutrient sponge like H. difformis. The 20g in my livingroom is sitting around with eco complete and a 60w CF, but no CO2. There is bacopa caroliniana and hygrophila difformis in it right now. Algae is pretty minimal.

DO NOT add phosphate unless you know what you're doing. Phosphate promotes algae growth far more than it helps plants IME. It's the whole interphase vs. mitosis thing. Algae spends a far higher ammount of time in mitosis. Phosphate comes in through fish food, decomposing plants, and the local water supply if you're using tap water. Get a test kit for phosphate first; if it's zero before a water change, then consider adding it. Otherwise it'll just feed the algae.

Seachem's "Flourish Excel" is the one that's got the biggest reputation. In some cases, it's helped to knock back algae levels. Looking through a 2002 issue of TFH, I see ammano was using ferts labled as, "Brighty K", "Green Brighty STEP 2" and "ECA" All ADA products. They're $20 a bottle, and pushing a higher light system would probably be needed to get things right.

I guess it all comes down to how much money you want to blow on test kits , ferts and lighting vs. how much time you're going to spend waiting for plants to grow and using trial and error.

 

[phanmc]

CO2 and ferts are necessary if you have a nutrient sponge because they suck up all the available nutrients and CO2 faster. This leads to a nutrient deficiency and poor plant growth. If you don't want to deal with ferts and CO2 then use less light.

Phosphates do not promote algae growth. This has been quite thoroughly tested, simply look at the success stories with the estimative index method of dosing to see this. The EI method simply adds a little more than enough nutrients to last a few days to ensure nothing runs out.

Seachem's Flourish Excel is a carbon substitute that also happens to have an algaecidal effect, at high enough concentration it will kill everything else as well. It does not provide any other nutrients and it is not as effective as CO2 injection. Good for spot treating algae or in a low light tank but not good enough for higher light.

ADA's Brighty K is potassium, probably potassium sulfate. Their Green Brighty Steps are micro nutrients mixed at different concentrations for the various steps. The only reason he doesn't use Brighty Lights/Shade, which is basically nitrates and phosphates at different concentration, as frequently is because he's using ADA Aquasoil and Powersand which is rich in nutrients. These nutrients are dirt cheap if you were to buy them in dry form, you're paying a premium for the ADA brand name.

I haven't used a test kit in ages. I simply add enough ferts according to the EI method and then do a 50% water change at the end of the week to ensure none of the ferts accumulates to dangerous levels.