bikerbabe Posted June 9, 2013 Report Share Posted June 9, 2013 Hiya.. I need some advice... My plants are not doing so good.... :tears: The Windelow is turning brown... & the ambulia is disintegrating. I do a 40'ish% water change & gravel vacuum each week & am using Valrays fert (2 drops per day.. 60Lt tank). The light is on for 5 hours in the evenings. The light is a sunlight bulb (lady in the LFS said I don't need to worry about going to a tropical bulb...??? :dunno: ) Temp 26'in a community tank. Couple of bits of driftwood. The tests I did a week ago showed no amonia, no nitrite & ph 7.2 Internal filter with 1 piece of foam which I rinse each week in tank water & an airstone which is on all day (usually turned off at night) I'm not hugely experienced.. but have done a lot of research before I set this all up.. but I don;t know what's going wrong... it's getting expensive to have things fail.... :nilly: & upsetting :tears: Any ideas please......?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bishop Posted June 9, 2013 Report Share Posted June 9, 2013 They are some hardy plants in my experience. How many watts is your light? 5 hours seems a bit low. Any co2 addition? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikerbabe Posted June 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2013 I know.. that's why I got them... I thought they were fairly idiot proof plants :facepalm: bulb says ''sunlight' 24W. The lounge gets a lot of sun all day (big windows right across.. although in saying that.. they are tinted windows.. would that make a difference??) No CO2 at this stage.. but am in the process of putting together a sugar & yeast mixture setup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bishop Posted June 9, 2013 Report Share Posted June 9, 2013 How much ambulia you got? if you have plenty in there up-root one and check the roots to see what condition they are in. Don't really need an air stone on all day as the plants will produce oxygen ( if they are healthy ) Lighting should be fine in the old watts per gallon system but 5 hours isn't long at all. Personally I would up that 1 hour a week until I hit at least 10, but keep an eye out for algae. Sometimes it can be difficult to find a balance. You need to find the optimum for your set up, just do it slowly to avoid algae outbreaks. Co2 will help the plants absorb the nutrients, but it will change the balance of everything Also how old is the tank? how long have the plants been in there? What substrate do you have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
binu Posted June 9, 2013 Report Share Posted June 9, 2013 go tropical lighting ..i grow both without any co2 but a good lighting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikerbabe Posted June 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2013 I did have several bunches of Ambulia.. but they have thinned out a lot & the roots are very sad. Do I need the airstone at all then? or just for less time? I'll set the lights to come on an hour earlier tomorrow. There is a little BBA (I think.. from what I've read on other threads on here). At each water change, I do a plant cleanup & remove any leaves etc that I see it on.. so it's very minimal. The tank is probably getting close to a year old now Some of the plants have been in there for a little while (also have some anubias & val, which seem to be looking ok) & a couple of new swords.. which went in the same time as the windelov.. (I've only had those 2 for a week.. I did a swap with another Nelson lady & her windelov went completely brown very fast :tears: ) & substrate is fruitsalad gravel Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikerbabe Posted June 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2013 go tropical lighting ..i grow both without any co2 but a good lighting Yeah, I will do that.. coz the bulb thing has been bothering me for a while too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikerbabe Posted June 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2013 inhabitants: :f77: 3 x pearl gourami 2 x dwarf honey gourami 1 x male fighter :love: 1 x golden bristlenose 3 x clown loaches 1 x male platty about 12 x male guppies :facepalm: not too many??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikerbabe Posted June 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 9, 2013 The bigger java fern leaves on the left are going brown & grotty & full of holes, so have trimmed them off. The ambulia at the back is looking rather shabby, & the tops of the windelov are browning off.. all since this pic was taken a week ago. :tears: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted June 9, 2013 Report Share Posted June 9, 2013 my thoughts on your issue - I take it your tank is a 60cm long based on your lights wattage. How high is it? The difference between a sunlight and a tropical bulb is a pink bulb brings out the colours on the fish more. I would also up the amount of time you have the lights on - up to about 10 hours per day. If your ambulia growing long and stringy then it is 'reaching' to get to the lights. This suggests that the lighting you have is not strong enough to get down through the tank. You can easily snip off the healthy part of the plants and replant them. I find java fern/windelov very difficult to grow but most people appear to have no problems. The only time it takes off on me is if I chuck it in a tank with next to no lighting and ignore it. Then it grows beautifully. My big planted tank has a couple of plants which haven't really done much - it will be interesting to see if this changes with my new fertiliser dosing. You have a nice looking tank with a lot of plants. :thup: I wonder if 40% water changes per week along with the use of the fertilisers by the number of plants is too much and you would be better to drop it back to 30%. Are you able to test your nitrates? Often planted tanks are better with slightly smaller water changes. Your swords will need a fertiliser in the substrate to grow properly as they are heavy root feeders - they don't take a lot, if any, from the water column. JBL balls are great for this - just push them in around the root base of the swords, be careful when you gravel vac not to pull them out, and they will last up to around 12 months - around about $13 for 7 balls I think. You could try increasing the amount of ferts you are dosing slowly and see if that helps as well. Hope some of this helps you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted June 9, 2013 Report Share Posted June 9, 2013 I have plain sunlight bulbs in my tank and have never managed to grow ambulia. I always assumed it was my lighting as I understood ambulia liked a fair amount of it. As said, turn the lights on for longer - 8 hour minimum, unless the tank is in a high light area from natural light. And the other suggestions Adrienne gave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bishop Posted June 10, 2013 Report Share Posted June 10, 2013 Do I need the airstone at all then? or just for less time? I don't think you need it at all, but I could be wrong Turn it off but leave it set up and see how the fish are. If they start hanging out at the surface and gasping for air you will need to run it over night or something but I doubt you will need it with that many plants in there. Can't comment on your stocking, not really my area. But I will say the more you try to grow plants the more you need an algae clean up crew, SAE's, Ottos ect. They really help. If you use JBL balls I would bury them as deep as you can, with the substrate you have the nutrients will get into the water column and you will have an excess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted June 10, 2013 Report Share Posted June 10, 2013 Airstones look pretty but don't do a lot, unless you are medicating and then they can help agitate the surface to help with oxygen levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted June 10, 2013 Report Share Posted June 10, 2013 If you run CO2 you may need to run an airstone on a timer at night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikerbabe Posted June 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2013 Thank you for your replies everyone!!! :thup: The main 60L tank is 580cmW x 390cmH (water level) & 300cmD The small 20L Hexi tank is also having the same issues with the Windelov & the Ambulia.. :tears: I trimmed the Ambulia down in the small tank when I did a water change/gravel vac tonight. I don't have a nitrate test Things I will try: increasing the lighting another hour every day for a week & see how it goes. some JBL balls for the swords leaving the air stone off for a few days & keep an eye on the fish. In both tanks the internal filters create some surface movement, will that be enough then with having all the plants as well? I do have more of the same gravel spare.. shall I add more to the tank to create a deeper layer in which to bury the JBL balls?? Here's a couple of (bad) pics.... :facepalm: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikerbabe Posted June 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2013 Hi guys... Any ideas from the above pics??? :spop: I've trimmed off a lot of the brown bits. Things seem to be holding their own, for now.. the lights are on for 8 hours, no airstone, still have to get tropical bulb (should get that today) plus JBL balls. :f77: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted June 15, 2013 Report Share Posted June 15, 2013 Wish I did have some ideas - from other forums it is a common issue and most suggest to cut off the brown/dead leaves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.