meesheelly Posted February 20, 2007 Report Share Posted February 20, 2007 Hey guys Does anyone know why some of my plants are rotting rather than rooting? Mainly ambulia and hygro. Using propagating sand for a substrate. I was wondering why they were all floating up, had a look and instead of rooting they have just rotted. Any help is is much appreciated. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishboi Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 would need a bit more info, things like how many litre tank, height of the tank, light, water conditions..... most common cause are excess nitrate, Unclean water, improper nutrients, insufficient light or new subtract with out fertilizer. u said its mainly the stem plants, how are u planting them? when planting stem's cut just below a joint at the height u want then discard the lower half with the existing roots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilknieval69 Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 They may be rotting away where they have been cut/broken/snipped off and havent reacted well, so they may have to die off a little bit, then gain some roots, so you could try using some plant weights to hold them on the substrate whilst they take hold..... *breath* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meesheelly Posted February 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 200ish litre tank, 50cm high, 2 4ft lights, pretty sure water is fine. probably not enough ferts. Have been cutting just under the joints. Most of the ambulia has gone slimy, sort of melted? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plantman Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 200ish litre tank, 50cm high, 2 4ft lights, pretty sure water is fine. probably not enough ferts. Have been cutting just under the joints. Most of the ambulia has gone slimy, sort of melted? Any CO2? DIY or pressured sytem? DIY is cheaper and you will see almost instant improvement. what is the wattage per tube? if 36X2 is not enough. best is 100 watts and higher. the colour has to be between 6,000 to 10,000 kelvin. do you use liquid fertiliser? if substract fertliser is not enough, you can use JBL Ball fertliser. they are very good. what is the position of your tank? does it gets partial sun light? may be 36X2 wattage is enough with partial sun light but this is very hard to measure and will only know after some time. basically, you will still need 100 watts or higher. if it is the stem plants, cut off the rotting part and re-plant the upper good part of the stem into the gravel. keep us posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishboi Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 pretty much what plantman just said with the lighting but u shouldn't need co2 to grow those stem plants although it would make a huge difference. most cases of melting plants are caused by lack of or over supply of nutrients so in ur case i would say lack of. i think the main problem here is lighting and since its a pretty high tank i personally don't think T8 penetrates deep enough. i have a 3 foot, the water deep from surface to subtract is around 40cm, at the start i had heaps of problems with this tank as i couldn't seem to find the right light unit for it and didn't want to go MH because of the cost and i already have another tank running MH, i ended up with T5s, although not the cheapest it was the cheapest that works. does the tank have an algae problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 I have a tank of about the same size with 2 x 3ft flouros and no CO2 and I have 3 types of Echinodorus in there with runners and they like light. Leave the lights on longer--mine are on 17 hours/day. Fish give off CO2 and the plants can utilize it if you don't drive it off by aerating the hell out of it. Contrary to popular belief ambulia is not always easy to grow and it is not always easy to convert plants from emersed to submersed growth, and when you buy plants from the petshop they have usually been grown emersed (particularly the stem plants). I also have ambulia in this tank and it is growing but not flourishing. When you set up a community tank it is all a big compromise for fish and plant, what is good for one is not going to be ideal for something else. I tend to grow plants only where they like it rather than forever trying to change the environment. I only use added ferts (flourish excell) if I start to get algae problems, and once a year add JBL fert balls to heavy feeders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meesheelly Posted February 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Yeah I have been trying to find cheap lights. Where do you get t5s. How much? I will get some ferts. Little bit of brown algae around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
me love fishy Posted February 22, 2007 Report Share Posted February 22, 2007 i agree with alot of what Alanmin said. I have a 4 ft tank which is deeper than regular tanks and I have 3x30w fluoro bulbs and I managed to grow several species of plants well in my tank, I don't use a CO2 system, but do have an airpump. I find its just trial and error alot of the time, I try to buy plants that are suited to lower light conditions (and there are quite a few) and if I don't know what the plant likes I will buy one and see how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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