Things are starting to go awry with my plants...

[Dwarfnut]

Greetings,
I'm new here and pretty new to this whole planted tank thing, so please bare with me.

The tank I'm working on right now (I have 6, 4 1/2 being planted!) is my 40 gallon breeder tank... 36x18x16. I have recently changed the lighting in the tank from a pair of 24" GE Chroma 50's to a dual 36" setup with two 30W Phillips Home Light 'Cool' bulbs... these show a temp of 4,100 K. The lights are really bright... much more than before, but plat growth is mixed. With the smaller bulbs, The light was darker, but plant growth seemed to be more uniform, meaning all plants were going albeit not really too crazy like! I do have DIY CO2, the tank parameters are Ph about 6.8 to 7, GH about 15 to 20, temp 80 degrees and I'd consider this to be a medium planted tank.
Here's the basic problem... I have an Amazon sword that was growing slow, but was already to the top of the tank. Recently, I've noticed that the leaves are slowly becoming tranparent and basically disappearing! I don't have many fish in the tank right now... a breeding paia of Bolivian rams, an Agasissi(sp?) Apisto and a pair of Bristle-nose plecos. I don't think it's the plecos eating the plants and this just started shortly after I changed the lighting. So my Long-winded question is do you think it is a nutrient deficiency, or could these new lights be too strong?
Also, the substrate is 1/2 sand, 1/2 Flourite and I dose with Kent freshwater fert , Formula K/Fe once a week at recommended dosage. I've also had a pretty serious outbreak of blue-green slime-like algae since the new lights also. The lights are one approx. 14 hours a day.

Thanks a bunch,
Bill C.

 

[carpguy]

I'm kind of surprised that the "Cool" bulbs are 4100k: higher temps are cooler, lower are warmer. You only have 1.5 wpg, which is fairly low, so its not too much light although your photo period is longish.

I'd double check the color temps and cut back to 11 or 12 hours, especially if you're getting algae (algae prefer cooler lights). Could be a nutrient thing, especially if you've got a bad algae bloom. It coincided with the light change so that bears some looking into, but the algae may be related.

Sometimes plants just disintegrate in bad conditions, its not the fish.

This Algae FAQ has this to say about…

"Blue-green, slime or smear algae
Grows rapidly in blue-green, slimy sheets. Spreads rapidly over almost everything and usually indicates poor water quality. However, blue-green algae can fix nitrogen and may be seen in aquariums with extremely low nitrates. Sometimes seen in small quantities between the substrate and aquarium sides. Will smother and kill plants. This is actually cyanobacteria. It can be physically removed, but this is not a viable long term solution as the aquarium conditions are still favorable for it and it will return quickly. Treatment with 200 mg of erythromycin phosphate per 10 gallons of water will usually eliminate blue-green algae but some experts feel it may also have adverse effects on the biological filter bed. If erythromycin is used for treatment, ammonia and nitrite levels should be carefully monitored."

It mentions it hitting low nitrate tanks, which may be the case with your bioload being light. This is a great reference for nutrient levels. Nitrates are NO3. Stump remover (KNO3) is used as a nitrate supplement. You'll have to ask around for a dosage. Enough to get you up to 10 or 20 ppm and let it fall back down towards 5.

HTH

Oh, and welcome to AqC

 

[punch]

I heard with swords they do this with an iron definsea (sp?)
and iron need to get through the roots of swords. Some iron rich plants tabs pressed under the roots may do.

 

[Dwarfnut]

Are these ideas ok?

Even before I posted, I did dose again with the Kent's fert. It is an iron and potatium formula, but maybe not enough? I'm doing about 3 tablespoons per week as dosage says 1 to 2 tablespoons per 10 gallons weekly. I also added some Jobes fert spikes to the substrate under the sword and several other plants to see if that helps.

I've read about the stump remover stuff, but anyone have an idea how much to use? Is dosage based on gallons or just by ppm?? I don't have any of the nutrient test kits right now... I'm trying not to get too sophisticated! I do think that maybe the comment on the fish load being low is very plausible as I also removed some fish about that same time also... hadn't considered that yet! I think maybe I'll sjuffle some fish around to increase nitrates and ammonia also.

Thanks so far...

Bill C.

 

[carpguy]

I think once you know what you're doing you can play by ear. I've heard plant people say a lot of the tests are not terribly reliable and they can make better adjustments based on watching the plants. I'm a newb and I can't make those sorts of judgements without bouncing around out here and using test kits. I checked a FAQ I had bookmarked and it said blue-green slime algae may indicate low nitrates -- that's not something that I know off the top of my head. So how do you know if you're adding too much? (More algae). I'm still using the test kit. So far I haven't needed to boost, but I have a higher fishload.

This calculator will explain how to mix some stock solutions of different fertilizer elements, including KNO3 (potassium nitrate). So how much do you add?

"For Nitrates, you should adjust your dosage based on the results of a nitrate test kit, to achieve the desired PPM."

Nobody knows how much the plants are using or the fish are contributing, so no one can say how much you need to hit the desired level. Using the calculator I figured that a quarter of a teaspoon of KNO3 should raise 40 gallons by about 5ppm. You want to stay above 5ppm without going a whole lot higher (10 or 20ppm).

 

[carpguy]

I found an article this morning by Tom Barr (aka Plantbrain). Its about estimating your ferts and not having to rely too much on test kits.