the new guy Posted March 26, 2011 Report Share Posted March 26, 2011 I have found some problems with my plants that have appeared over the past couple of days. i have a flax that has developed black spots all over it, and this other read plant that the leaves are dying and going all "see through". i have no light at the moment and i have taken the air pump out of it because i understand that this takes all the CO2 out of the water. any ideas y these problems are there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshlikesfish Posted March 26, 2011 Report Share Posted March 26, 2011 i have no light You should probably get one. It will help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the new guy Posted March 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2011 You should probably get one. It will help yup thats the plan next week! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted March 26, 2011 Report Share Posted March 26, 2011 The first issue as Josh has already stated is the lack of light. Plants need light. removing the airpump will do nothing to benefit the plants whatsoever in your situation. Plants need Carbon Dioxide yes, They use this to extract carbon from it using a process called Photosynthesis. The Photo part of that word means LIGHT. Plants will be going see through because they are deteriorating and dieing. A lot of people under estimate the light requirements to keep the average plant healthy. Secondly you mention the plant is a Flax type of plant. This to me suggests that it is not a true aquatic plant. Bog/Marginals tend to require far more light than most true aquatics. Hope that helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the new guy Posted April 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 so i got a new light. its a single 18watt t8 tube and i got me some new plants too add to the tank, but the same thing is happening. should i throw them all out and start again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fordayzbro Posted April 8, 2011 Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 so i got a new light. its a single 18watt t8 tube and i got me some new plants too add to the tank, but the same thing is happening. should i throw them all out and start again? Before you throw your plants out and start again, you need to look at what plants are suitable for your set-up. It's pointless adding plants that need high light, Co2 and plenty of ferts if your running a low tech tank. Could you please list the tank specs and the plants you are having troubles with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted April 8, 2011 Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 How big is your tank? Depending on the size, 18 watts of light might be too low, sufficient or too much light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burrowssj Posted April 8, 2011 Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 you should get a daylight bulb, a filter that moves the water(but not to the point of a windy day situation) abit of extra substrate for the roots seems to help. also you could look into DIY co2 (very easy, simply need a bottle,air line,sugar an yeast) an you could add ferts once everything is setup an running for a while Jennifer has amazing setups so hopefully she will see this an put in some info for you my plants were going terribly until I added co2 an ferts now they are managing to grow even with the cichlids constantly eating them :an!gry the under gravel nova ball ferts are really good if you dont mind paying abit coin for them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the new guy Posted April 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 you should get a daylight bulb, a filter that moves the water(but not to the point of a windy day situation) abit of extra substrate for the roots seems to help. also you could look into DIY co2 (very easy, simply need a bottle,air line,sugar an yeast) an you could add ferts once everything is setup an running for a while Jennifer has amazing setups so hopefully she will see this an put in some info for you my plants were going terribly until I added co2 an ferts now they are managing to grow even with the cichlids constantly eating them :an!gry the under gravel nova ball ferts are really good if you dont mind paying abit coin for them Co2 might be the problem i think. ill get a system running this week i think. i have done just done some aquascaping to take out the dead parts etc and found all the plants have heaps of new growth. infact i just cut 12 new stems and replanted(and threw some away!) and the co2 could help with the drooping plants. um what are ferts??? lol Before you throw your plants out and start again, you need to look at what plants are suitable for your set-up. It's pointless adding plants that need high light, Co2 and plenty of ferts if your running a low tech tank. Could you please list the tank specs and the plants you are having troubles with? the tank is 60L with an external filter with a new, better one on the way, and a 100w heater. um i don't know the name of the plants but i will find out on Wednesday when i go back to redwood aquatics. i really would love to make this the most amazing planted tank ever! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the new guy Posted April 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 O and im trying to find a new, brighter light tube at the mo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted April 11, 2011 Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 Co2 might be the problem i think. ill get a system running this week i think. i have done just done some aquascaping to take out the dead parts etc and found all the plants have heaps of new growth. infact i just cut 12 new stems and replanted(and threw some away!) and the co2 could help with the drooping plants. um what are ferts??? lol the tank is 60L with an external filter with a new, better one on the way, and a 100w heater. um i don't know the name of the plants but i will find out on Wednesday when i go back to redwood aquatics. i really would love to make this the most amazing planted tank ever! As I mentioned above in my previous post, regardless of whether you add CO2 or not, it is a waste of time with the amount of light you currently have. What are the dimensions of the tank in question? Litreage gives no idea of the dimensions. It is the depth that is the info needed regarding planted tanks. The deeper the water the less light penetration. What are you trying to acheive? The reason I ask this is that there is many ways to successfully have a planted tank. It can be done with you current setup but you must understand the balance required and the type of plants you have must be known. See my low light setup here viewtopic.php?f=2&t=50880 CO2 is not the answer to all questions. Especially if you do not understand it does to your tank. It can be used successfully but it takes more than just adding co2. As you stated you do not know what ferts are therefore you should concentrate on getting the basics of a planted tank right before thinking about going high tech. Its not hard, it just takes a bit of understanding. Without it you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the new guy Posted April 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 please refer back to the post right before yours about the light. Here: O and im trying to find a new, brighter light tube at the mo. As you stated you do not know what ferts are therefore you should concentrate on getting the basics of a planted tank right before thinking about going high tech. Its not hard, it just takes a bit of understanding. Without it you are setting yourself up for disappointment. and my question was: what are ferts? the dimensions are 60*36*30mm giving Co2 a go wouldn't do any harm to the plants thought would it? i have everything i need to make a DIY Co2 system Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer Posted April 11, 2011 Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 Plant growth is driven by lighting. The more light you have, the more the plants will try to grow. However, their growth will be limited by the amount of food (nutrients/ferts/fertilisers) they have available. Plants need a range of nutrients, see here for complete details: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=50222 As Simon said, you do not need a lot of light to have excellent growth. In fact, the only reason to have more light, is to have faster growing plants - but faster growing plants also require lots of nutrients. I like to think of my high tech (fast) tank as a teenage boy, it eats a lot, grows a lot and drives a fast car so it basically costs me a lot to maintain and it can go off the rails very quickly. :lol: The idea with a planted tank is that you want to give just enough light to let the plants grow and not so much that you can't keep up with the feeding - if that happens, the plants will begin to starve and this can result in deficiencies, poor growth and opportunistic algae growth. I would advise getting a low tech tank going well, get some plants that do well with low lighting, start fertilising and read up. In no time you will have a satisfying result and in the future you can always go high tech if you want to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice222 Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 and my question was: what are ferts? the dimensions are 60*36*30mm giving Co2 a go wouldn't do any harm to the plants thought would it? i have everything i need to make a DIY Co2 system It might do harm to the plants and fish if you don't know what you're doing. Adding CO2 can alter the PH of a tank, some plants are also more sensitive to it, like my twisted val, it melts if I put in too much flourish excel (liquid C02). There's also not much point adding CO2 if your plants don't need it. As you said you don't know what ferts are, ferts are fertilizers for the plants. Depending on what type of plants you have, how many you have and what your fish stocking levels are, the type and amount of ferts needed can differ. Phoenix44 had a good post showing how this works: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=48813 Plant growth depends on a balance between lighting, C02 and Nutrients. Ferts = the nutrients, and within the nutrients there are many different kinds as well, details of which can be found in the sticked post by Jennifer in the Aquatic Plants section of the forum. Those threads are a really good read if you are determined to have a high tech tank (high lighting, fert regime, CO2, allowing more demanding plants to grow), but as Supasi said, if you're just starting out, it's best to start out with a low tech set up (lower lighting, minimal ferts, no CO2, choosing plants that suit these conditions). You can always up grade it later when you have a better understanding of the types of plants you want to grow. At the moment I'd recommend fertilizers that go in the substrate (if your substrate is deep enough). Since these fertilizers are only accessible by the plants' roots and not by algae in the water, it's hard to go wrong with them, so they make a good starting point for improving plant growth. I myself have pretty low tech setups, if you choose plants that suit lower lighting, you can still get a very successful planted tank, and the great thing about lower tech tanks is that they can be so low maintenance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the new guy Posted April 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 after letting the light do its thing for the past week or 2 there is a massive difference within the plants. the black spots have disappeared and the plants are no longer dieing. but the plant fert is still on the shopping list :0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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