WHY DO MY PLANTS LOOK SO BAD ?

[Que]

Do you mean Flourish Excel ?

Yes.

to the best of my knowledge, microsoft software has no effects on plants.

DOH!

Q

 

[Squawkbert]

Excel is known to be hard on anything if really overdosed. Mosses, Hydrocotyles and (to a lesser extent) Vals are more sensitive than most plants. Marimo balls (cladophora algae) are highly sensitive to it.

 

[Galaxie]

Hey gang. I'm a noob, and I'm trying live plants for the first time. I had (still do, it has shrimp in it now) a 10 gal for a couple of years with artificial plants and upgraded to a 46gal. bowfront. Most of my plants are turning brown, yellow, anything but green. I am not using Co2. My light is a 65 w (10000K ?) that is on for 10-12 hours a day. I havea lace fern, some plants with leaves like teardrops, a couple of anacharis that I purchased as med light plants. Do I really need the CO2 ? I don't need the plants to go crazy, but I would like them to look decent. I'd appreciate any help you can offer. Thanx.

My biggest problem with live plants was trying to grow them in a tank with too much evaporation. I used AC70 filters (which really disturb the surface) and a cheap light hood..... plants would not grow. I switched to a cannister filter (no surface disturbing) and a very tight fitting tank cover .... now the plants grow like crazy. This tank has almost no evaporation so I assume the gases beneficial to plants are trapped in the water where the plants consume them.

I know this is a simplistic approach, but my Amazon swords and Red Wendtii' have definitely benefitted. They are huge (13+ inches) and have great coloration. I trim them every 2 months otherwise they would take over completely.

 

[Mandairn]

I would say you need more light. As far as CO2 goes, no you dont need but, Thats like saying you dont really need food for your fish either. So even though you dont need CO2 I would look into adding it.

 

[IceH2O]

Are you adding ferts of any kind? If you're running 130 watts you'll need to add ferts as the shrimp will never put enough waste out to help the plants. The lace fern will need root tabs. The teardrop is probably a Bocapa type and the anacharis both take from the water column. The anacahris is a nitrate hog.

How often do you change your water and how much of it do you change? The water changes depending on your water will be enough for most trace minerals but for the Macros you'll need to add dry ferts. Rex Griggs has some great deals and it takes about a year for me to use them all up in my 75 gallon. You'd be set for a while in the 46.