I have a large sword as a feature in the centre of my 165 ltr cube. Each new leaf that comes out seems to form holes within a day. I am using a twin fluro lamp with 2 15w tubes, i do weekly 30% water changes, I am using "leaf zone" and "flourish excel" and all other species of plant in the tank are okay. I am 200% sure I dont have any snails.

Oh and oops I dont have any of that fancy stuff you put in the bottom of the tank for plants before you chuck in the gravel.

What is the problem here?

I was going to look at those fertilizer balls that you put in amonst the roots?

ok, first problem... you have 30 watts of lighting over a 165 litre tank.... 80 watts woul be a good mark to start with (giving 0.5 Watts per litre)

holes in leaves means you have a deficiency of some sort or nutrient... i cant remember what nutrient that is exactly but someone will be able to tell you.....

I would also suspect something sucking on nice tender new leaves

keep an eye on your clown loaches and bristlenoses

What sort of sword do you have? I use the JBL micronutrient balls as they provide the micronutrient to the roots of heavy feeding plants like swords. If you move swords the plant will normally loose all the existing roots and grow a whole new root system This will cause a relatively dormant period and may make the plant short on nutrient until it gets re established.

Im unsure of the type of sword it is sorry and I am 99% sure it is not any of the fish creating these holes.

I spoke to somebody at Hollywoods and they recomended Flourish as well as the Flourish Excel I was already using. I also bought some JBL balls as I had always wanted to use these. I will se how these new ingredients go?

And yes I know I need more light, Im waiting for my LFS to have some kind of sale as they are not cheap. I have looked at a DIY version but I have no time to make one.

You know what would be wicked over that tank.... a 150W metal halide

:lol: hope your plants come back to life

I use plant-gro and get excellent growth and much cheaper than flourish. No probs with holes in plants. I also have nothing under gravel. ph 7.3 30% water changes twice weekly and 9 bala sharks( i have been told they love to snack on plants).

jim.

Still not much improvement with my sword, keeping up with the weekly water changes and adding more doses of flourish, no noticable change.

I think it must be my tanks depth ( 600mm ) and the lack of light from my feeble 30W double fluro.

Looked an Halide lamps but my budget wont alow it, I may add a longer double fluro but the depth still concerns me, I doubt these lamps penetrate to this depth.

Any thoughts?

Still not much improvement with my sword, keeping up with the weekly water changes and adding more doses of flourish, no noticable change.

I think it must be my tanks depth ( 600mm ) and the lack of light from my feeble 30W double fluro.

Looked an Halide lamps but my budget wont alow it, I may add a longer double fluro but the depth still concerns me, I doubt these lamps penetrate to this depth.

Any thoughts?

Whats the width of the tank? 600 , 900, 1200? if 600 or 1200 then buy a second hand troffer panel. These are lighting trays that fit into office ceiling tiles. They will take 4 fluoro tubes usually. A second hand tray on Trademe should cost appx $10. I just looked and there are heaps up.

Add a power cord and 4 x tubes. Buy commercial 6500K 965 or 865 tubes at appx $9 each by doing that you can add 4 x 38W = 152W - if you suspend it over the tank and leave the old tube you can get 180W all for < $50.

Its a pretty good likelyhood that your lil 30W will be causing the problems. Adding a few lights is cheaper than adding CO2 which would probably also help. You could try making a co2 bomb. Yeast, sugar, water, in coke bottle with an airline and non return valve then an airstone in the tank.

Also try adding a couple of cm of cucumber weighted down to the tank. If the pleco and clown loaches are peckish they will suck. My Clowns love cucumber!!!!!!!! they will knock out a lump that size overnight. I found it helped most of my plants before I added CO2.

Swords need a lot of light and 600mm is a deep tank and would need a lot more light than you have at present. You could add more light, drop the water leval and/or leave the lights on for longer. I have two three foot flouros on a 500mm tank going 16 hours a day and they are throwing runners at present. This I think would be a minimum.

This tank is approx 700 long 500 wide 600 deep, the light is on a timer 6:30am to 9pm. The 3 largest and longest leave on this plant are basicaly on the surface of the water which is maybe 100mm from the light, surely it would be getting enough of what it needs from there ?

Sorry halide lights are out of my budget, I was waiting either for my LFS to have lights on sale and buy another double unit or look fo rone of those industrial ceiling fittings 700mm long with four tubes, so long as I can buy tube to fit it that are suited for use in aqaria.

I'll have to buy my fish some sunnies then.

Fertilizer balls will make sure the problem is not lack of micronutrients. What sort of sword is it? (it must be a big variety)

Yeah I have shoved two JBL balls down in the substrate but I guess they have a slow release so no major changes yet. Still going with liquid fertiliser also.

Sorry I am not to sure of this swords name it is around 500mm tall, 300mm wide ( over all ) leaves are about 150mm long, I will go look and try to get a name for you, it is fairly common thought.

Idealy I want tiger lilly in this tank but I must get the light thing sorted first.

Yeah I have shoved two JBL balls down in the substrate but I guess they have a slow release so no major changes yet. Still going with liquid fertiliser also.

Sorry I am not to sure of this swords name it is around 500mm tall, 300mm wide ( over all ) leaves are about 150mm long, I will go look and try to get a name for you, it is fairly common thought.

Idealy I want tiger lilly in this tank but I must get the light thing sorted first.

PLASTIC PLANTS!!!!! :-?

I have a few but its not the same sorry.

I will do my best to I.D this plant . . . .

I have a few but its not the same sorry.

I will do my best to I.D this plant . . . .

Have you thought of making a coke bottle co2 bomb and seeing if it helps?

Cheap and easy to do. Better than Excell and cheaper. ?

I have. also thought of the old Sodastream ( just dont tell the missus ).

I recon my lighting is a priority though - must have more watts !

I have. also thought of the old Sodastream ( just dont tell the missus ).

I recon my lighting is a priority though - must have more watts !

I run a 855g Sodastream CO2 bottle with reg and needle valve - appx 3 bubbles a sec in 500l tank - growth is brilliant. Initially I have low light so the co2 was needed to get the tank growing, but after adding 4 more 40W tubes , it is virtually a triffid zone.!!!!

If you run a sodastream bottle, then look for the Alco2jet bottle that comes in the 100l unit. It gives long life between fills and most fire extinguisher fillers will fill them for you (Dont tell Soda Stream)

Oh boy you've done it now !

Where do I get the valve / reg' from and how does it fit to the bottle?

Do I then run a hose (what type) to the filter outlet?

Oh boy you've done it now !

Where do I get the valve / reg' from and how does it fit to the bottle?

Do I then run a hose (what type) to the filter outlet?

pm'd

For now can I use an old bottle from the soda stream with some of my tanks water in it, give it a few shots of the Co2 and biff it in the tank or will this just float to the top and be a waste of time?

If this would work how often should I do it, daily weekly?

Its only untill I get my D.I.Y system going.

For now can I use an old bottle from the soda stream with some of my tanks water in it, give it a few shots of the Co2 and biff it in the tank or will this just float to the top and be a waste of time?

If this would work how often should I do it, daily weekly?

Its only untill I get my D.I.Y system going.

It needs to be a constant supply of carbon. You best off making a coke bottle filled with 3 tsp bakers yeast, 1/4 cup sugar and 500ml water. drill a hole in bottle cap and silicon in a silicon hose. Run this into another 300 to 600ml coke bottle. drill two holes in this, glue in the hose just made, then another hose that will go to a stone in the tank.

This second bottle is just to ensure no yeast mix ends up in the tank i.e. a safety overflow.

Every two to three weeks you can replace the yeast/sugar/water mix.

My sword is ECHINODORUS MURICATUS !

I have been watching a new stem come up and just before the leaf opens out the leaf forms small holes and goes yellow. After a few days of it being open it slowly turns green from the stem out.

These new stems reach up to withing 100 to 200mm of the light before the leaf opens out so I dont think it is so much of a light problem as first thought. There are 5 or 6 big leaves on the surface of the water under 100mm from the light and only about 4 leave well under the surface but still only 300mm from the light.

Light is on from 6am to 9pm every day on a timer.

I know I am under watt per Gal recomendations and I am working on that.

This new leaf has come up after the addition of 3x JBL balls around the roots, a 50% water change and weekly additions of Flourish and a wee bit of Leaf Zone.

Whats going on !