# Why are my plants not doing so good ?



## 90blackcrx (Mar 30, 2005)

First off, I have one of the easiest plants out there to grow, but yes I forgot the name. My wattage is cutting it but for the first 2 or 3 months my plants grew like crazy, looks good and healthy but now they are starting to look, not so good, sagging, dark green and just not growing. What would cause this ? Could dirty glass ( where my lights sit ) not be allowing enough light
in ?

Some of the plants near the top are growing great, so I'm thinking light is a factory but how come in the first few months they grew great.


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## flashover00 (Oct 19, 2006)

90blackcrx said:


> First off, I have one of the easiest plants out there to grow, but yes I forgot the name. My wattage is cutting it but for the first 2 or 3 months my plants grew like crazy, looks good and healthy but now they are starting to look, not so good, sagging, dark green and just not growing. What would cause this ? Could dirty glass ( where my lights sit ) not be allowing enough light
> in ?
> 
> Some of the plants near the top are growing great, so I'm thinking light is a factory but how come in the first few months they grew great.


Could be that your substrate "dried up" in terms of fertilizers. Are you using a specific plant substrate or just gravel/sand etc..
Could be that your lights need new bulbs maybe....flourescent tubes lose intensity over time.

Need some more info about your tank. Water params and the type of plants etc...


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

It is hard to say what happened, because you need to share your setup, and how you run your tank.

I can tell you, however, that you would be better off keeping nitrates @ 10-25ppm, phosphates .5-2ppm, potassium @ 20ppm, and you need a micro supplement as well. 
I am a ferm believer in extra iron as well.
Plants will stop growing completely if nitrates reach 0 or near. Any other nutrient that is lacking, and your plants will be limited

Oh, and any algea in the tank that is left to fester and grow, only leads to problems.


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

IIRC you are talking about your anacharis? 
Are you using Excel for a carbon source? That may be the problem. Excell will melt anacharis. ( I found out the hard way) As will it melt vals and some other plants. 
However yeah Anacharis or eloda is one of the easiest plants to grow. Don't bother with root tabs for them. and in that substrate isn't so much of an importance either. All the substrate does is holds them down. As always and with all bunch/stem plants you need to make sure they are planted individually with space inbetween it and its neighbor.

As to why the growth has slowed. Consider this. To sustain plant mass you have to supply a certain level of nutrients. If your plant mass has doubled and you are still supplying the same amount of ferts as you were when they were half as big they will start to starve. you might consider upping your fert amount a little. Not 2X but just a little. See if that helps. Like dippy said make sure you have a decent level of nitrates. Thats an essential plant food. and it is one nutrient that most people overlook or rather are afraid to add. But it should always be maintained at around 30ppm so that its there and ready when the plants want it. 
Clean the glass that the light goes thru. And if plants are covering other plants it simply may be time for a trimming. 
I found that my plants grew the best right after a good trimming.


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## 90blackcrx (Mar 30, 2005)

Yes thats the name of the plants, the only stuff I add is flora pride. I have no carbon in the tank anymore, and I'm using the highest watt bulb I could find for my lights, and its florescent but the bulbs are pretty new. I do have that green stuff on the rocks, and some growing on the sides, I need to vacuum it all out, and do a water test soon.

Last time I did a water test, this is what it looked like.

Nitrite: 0
Nitrates : 40
Ammonia : 0
PH:7.2
High PH: 7.4


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

Ahh still dealing with the BGA. Thats the problem. 
BGA will strangle the hell out of your plants. Take care of it ASAP before it starts to kill the fish too.

Get some erythomycan. ASAP and treat the tank to a 3-5 day dosage and a black out once you ahve vaccumed as much of it out as possible. Seriously do this ASAP.


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## 90blackcrx (Mar 30, 2005)

I worried to toss anything medical in there, in fear that it will kill my bio life thats in my filter.


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

Well if you don't do somethign about it the bact in yoru filter isn't the only thing you will need to worry about dieing. 
Supposivly Erymothican (sp) will not kill your bio bact because it is aimed at Gram - bact and the bene bact in your filter is gram +. or the other way around.

If it makes you feel any better I used it in my convict tank without any precautions and it did not effect the tank in any way excepting clearing out the BGA.


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## 90blackcrx (Mar 30, 2005)

BlackSunshine said:


> Well if you don't do somethign about it the bact in yoru filter isn't the only thing you will need to worry about dieing.
> Supposivly Erymothican (sp) will not kill your bio bact because it is aimed at Gram - bact and the bene bact in your filter is gram +. or the other way around.
> 
> If it makes you feel any better I used it in my convict tank without any precautions and it did not effect the tank in any way excepting clearing out the BGA.


I will search for that, my local pet stores usually don't have a wide selection. I did vacuum today though. What stores all the bio and what not ? I read some where its the bio wheels, is this true. Can I take a bucket of water out, and put the bio wheels in there for a day or two ?

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod...p;N=2004+113000

How about that ?


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

NOOO!!! God no don't put that in your planted tank!

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl36...semtablets8pack
this is the stuff I use.

and yes. you can take the bio wheels out and keep them wet in tank water for a couple days. But make sure to monitor your ammonia/nitrite and nitrate levels. If they get too high you might want to do a WC. But your plants should be able to handle the bio load.


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## 90blackcrx (Mar 30, 2005)

BlackSunshine said:


> NOOO!!! God no don't put that in your planted tank!
> 
> http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl36...semtablets8pack
> this is the stuff I use.
> ...


http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl36...semtablets8pack
Are you postive ? Because that seems more for fish then the plants. Also should I monitor my tank or the bucket of water with the bio wheel ?

How are you guys doing black outs, my fish won't eat if the lights have been off long, do you turn the lights on then off after there done eating ? Going to test my water now and repost.


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## 90blackcrx (Mar 30, 2005)

Ammonia : 0
nitrite : 0
nitrates: 40-20 hard to say 
ph: 7.2
High Range PH 7.4


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

90blackcrx said:


> NOOO!!! God no don't put that in your planted tank!
> 
> http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl36...semtablets8pack
> this is the stuff I use.
> ...


http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl36...semtablets8pack
Are you postive ? Because that seems more for fish then the plants. Also should I monitor my tank or the bucket of water with the bio wheel ?

How are you guys doing black outs, my fish won't eat if the lights have been off long, do you turn the lights on then off after there done eating ? Going to test my water now and repost.
[/quote]
Yes it is for fish. Actually it is an anti-biotic. And BGA is not an alage. It is a bacteira. thats why it kills fish.
And this stuff is what kills it the most efectivly. 
As for black outs. my 20 gal is in my babys room and he's not here yet. so I just shut the blinds in there and close the door. and switch the lights to off. no significant amount of usable sunlight gets in there. 
If your tank is in a high trafic area you would want to take some towels and secure them to the sides of the tank as well as drape it over the top. and of course lights out.

Your levels look good.


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## 90blackcrx (Mar 30, 2005)

Going to get that stuff, but I ment I know how to do a black out, but do the fish not eat for two days then ? My fish all look like there sleeping and won't eat with lights off.


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

they will live.


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## 90blackcrx (Mar 30, 2005)

Hopefully my local store sells it. If I add it next week, should I vacuum first ?


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

absoloutly. Vaccum as much of that crap out as possible. the more you remove the less that will need to be treated and killed off and of course the less channce of a re-outbreak from a stray peice that didn't get a solid treatment. If it is starting to grow under your substrate stir it up. you want as much of it exposed to the treated water as possible.


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## 90blackcrx (Mar 30, 2005)

Got ya, do I drop these pills right in, or in the filter ?


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

90blackcrx said:


> Got ya, do I drop these pills right in, or in the filter ?


Best bet is to crush them up real well and delute them in a cup of tank water. And then If you have a syringe or eyedropper or something like that you can squirt the stuff right on the BGA. best to hit it as directly as possible.


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## 90blackcrx (Mar 30, 2005)

BlackSunshine said:


> Got ya, do I drop these pills right in, or in the filter ?


Best bet is to crush them up real well and delute them in a cup of tank water. And then If you have a syringe or eyedropper or something like that you can squirt the stuff right on the BGA. best to hit it as directly as possible.
[/quote]

Interesting, I would of never though about doing it that way. And I don't know how easy that would be, I mean some of the BGA is around my logs, and is hard to get to. Should I move the log ? The fish have made there home in there, cleaning out gravel and what not, I would hate to disrupt them and cause on chaos in there.


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## 90blackcrx (Mar 30, 2005)

I bought them, quick question. It says add 1 every 10 gallons, so I have to add 13 tablets ? Thats insane, well insane because the place charge me 8 bucks compared to the online price. Also it says to change the water, make two water changes, 25% , do I have to do this ? I figure they are talking about if your fish have one of those illnesses.


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

half dosage is fine. your treating an external bacteira with it not internal so it dosen't need to be as strong. just being in the water collum gets it to the bact.


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## 90blackcrx (Mar 30, 2005)

I have been adding plant tabs and I have gotten rid of all the stuff on the bottom, plants are growing like mad.


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

Nice!


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