unhealthy plants with pics...please help

[wojo93]

I thought this chart was interesting.

It outlines the symptoms seen in plants with nutrient deficiencies.
Hope it helps!

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm

 

[IndianaSam]

Lighting: 65 Watts compact fluorescent 50/50 - 10000K daylight/blue
15 Watts T8 fluorescent - FloraGlo 2800K

Maybe you should switch out your 50/50 lighting for a 6700K PC bulb. The wrong lighting (like what you have) can cause weird algae.

 

[wojo93]

I actually ordered a 6700K bulb a couple days ago... Hopefully it'll be in soon.

In the meantime, I stopped filtering my water prior to adding it to the tank (the old thinking was to attempt to decrease the GH from 9 to the 6ish it was after filtration/use of the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Water Softner Pillow). I believe that this was stripping my water of any nutrients that may have been present naturally. So far it's been about a day and a half. I've seen less algae growth and the stems of the hygros are begining to turn upward again. Ludwigia still looks bad... but I'm giving it some time.

 

[Timmain42]

Water softners are BAD for plant tanks (I learned this the hard way). As I understand it, they precipitate out calcium and magnesium that your plants need to grow. They rock for non-planted FW tanks that are having lime-scale issues, but really, you don't need it for plant tanks.

The hard way, you ask? I mistakenly used potassium chloride (commercial water softner) as a source for potassium on my 12 gallon tank for a month. It **** near killed all my plants.

Hopefully your bulb will be in soon. You'll enjoy 6700k vs. 50/50.