# PLANTS NOT DOING GOOD



## VRM (Jan 9, 2007)

ok some of you know that i have asked questions about plants and lighting lately. i got some good info. i have a coral life light with 130w 6700 plant light. planted some plants ,and all of the sudden they started dieing . my question is =should i or do i have to take the glass top off the tank? if so that would answer why they are dieing cuase i have them on the tank still. please help a want to be tank planter out


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## Piranha Guru (Nov 24, 2005)

I keep the glass tops on all my planted tanks. What plants are you having problems with?


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## VRM (Jan 9, 2007)

BioTeAcH said:


> I keep the glass tops on all my planted tanks. What plants are you having problems with?


3 differnt type of swords amazon brazilian,and i can't remember the name of the other . my anubus (Sp) and my grass


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## ryanimpreza (Jul 19, 2006)

i might of missed it but what size tank? do you run co2 and what type of fertilizers do you use? What kind of substrate do you have?


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## VRM (Jan 9, 2007)

ryanimpreza said:


> i might of missed it but what size tank? do you run co2 and what type of fertilizers do you use? What kind of substrate do you have?


it is a 75 gal tank no i do not run co2 . iam using flurish,and i have small black gravel for my substrate


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## ryanimpreza (Jul 19, 2006)

sonicrx said:


> i might of missed it but what size tank? do you run co2 and what type of fertilizers do you use? What kind of substrate do you have?


it is a 75 gal tank no i do not run co2 . iam using flurish,and i have small black gravel for my substrate
[/quote]
you are running just enough light for co2. I have the best luck with flurish tabs with swords. everything else seems good.


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## Trigga (Jul 1, 2006)

yeah they are probably just doing that sh*t they do when they were emersed or w.e they will die back a little and grow anew dont worry.


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## l2ob (May 22, 2004)

Trigga said:


> yeah they are probably just doing that sh*t they do when they were emersed or w.e they will die back a little and grow anew dont worry.


ya vince these guys are right. Plants need to get adjusted. And sometimes when they are introduced to a new tank they "melt away" at first but as long as you got that light on there and add some liquid nutrients or root tablets they should be good to go soon.! Just takes time!


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## br75b (Jul 9, 2008)

When I first got into live plants I had the same reaction-What the hell? As some others have said on here it is expected for the plants to die off when replanted and introduced to new water. My best advice from experience is to keep up on water changes. Supplement atleast once weekly-more for larger number of plants, trim off any noticeable dead leaves or sections of plant that you know won't grow back. I would not even worry about Co2 unless your set-up is elaborate. I also use a carbon supplement in liquid form. I would set your light up on a timer and have it on for around 10 hrs. Be sure your plants are getting good water circulation around them. Give it time and care and the plants will come around. Don't worry about the glass tops, leave them on.


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## traumatic (Jan 29, 2003)

I'll summarize what others have pointed out here for you

1. plants may have been grown emmersed and need time to sprout new growth in submerged form
2. lighting should be consistent - get a timer, 10 hrs on is a good span of time.
3. supplement with fertilizers and root tabs - use instructions on bottle for best results. adjust as needed.
4. carbon supplement (flourish excel) does work well, just don't overdose it can kill fish and some plants.
5. make sure your plants ARE true aquatic, some that are sold at petsmart, petco and walmart are not.
6. waterchanges once a week and re fert after refill.
7. be patient and keep trying, everyone "fails" at first.


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## VRM (Jan 9, 2007)

i have 1 rhom in this tank do i still need to change water every week? before i had 4 redbellies in the tank,and my water params were good forever so i only changed the water 25% every 2-3 weeks. i am not an over feeder,and i check my water every 4 days. if i need to change weekly i will do it just never had any problems with water quality. my palnts are all true aquatic plants. they were picked out by bioteach (bought what he suggested). and i have the light on from 6:30 am to7:00 pm. i do thank you all for the input to the plant noob

what other chemicals by name should i add for the plants. all i am using is flourish


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

My plants always do better when I do a water change once a week.


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## Piranha Guru (Nov 24, 2005)

I only run my lights 10-11 hours...cut yours back to 10 hours and see what happens. Fluorish Excel is a must. Order a 2L bottle and use a cap a day after following the directions for the initial dose. I know a 2L cap = 100g tank, but I dose every day at up to double strength to keep algae at bay, that way if I miss a day, it is no big deal. Also, root tabs will help with swords as will Fluorish Comprehensive and Fluorish Iron once or twice a week. Fluorish Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium once a week will help as well (Potassium maybe twice a week if your stems are brittle). For all of those you can get the smaller bottles to start as you won't go through them as fast as the Excel and you should be good to go for a few months.

PM me your info and I can get out some baby swords to you the next time I need to trim my runners for the cost of shipping.


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## VRM (Jan 9, 2007)

BioTeAcH said:


> I only run my lights 10-11 hours...cut yours back to 10 hours and see what happens. Fluorish Excel is a must. Order a 2L bottle and use a cap a day after following the directions for the initial dose. I know a 2L cap = 100g tank, but I dose every day at up to double strength to keep algae at bay, that way if I miss a day, it is no big deal. Also, root tabs will help with swords as will Fluorish Comprehensive and Fluorish Iron once or twice a week. Fluorish Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium once a week will help as well (Potassium maybe twice a week if your stems are brittle). For all of those you can get the smaller bottles to start as you won't go through them as fast as the Excel and you should be good to go for a few months.
> 
> PM me your info and I can get out some baby swords to you the next time I need to trim my runners for the cost of shipping.


well i will have everything you mentioned by wed. as for my info do you still have it from the light deal we had? if not i will pm ya the addy again,and thank you


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## cueball (May 24, 2005)

two question

have you had algae problems since you got the plants? and how many months has your tank been planted..?


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## VRM (Jan 9, 2007)

cueball said:


> two question
> 
> have you had algae problems since you got the plants? and how many months has your tank been planted..?


no algae problems at all,and the tank has had plants for a 1 -1/2 weeks


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## Piranha Guru (Nov 24, 2005)

sonicrx said:


> well i will have everything you mentioned by wed. as for my info do you still have it from the light deal we had? if not i will pm ya the addy again,and thank you


It's in my PayPal history...I thought I had deleted a PM and realized I never got it that way.







How big do you want them to be before I send them? I've got some that are 4-6" with several leaves and roots. They are your standard Amazon Swords and will eventually outgrow the tank...I'm down to 4 mother plants in 2 tanks and still have more plantlets than I can get rid of!

Do you think you could post up current pics of the plants and/or tank shots? If you got them in the emersed form as they appeared in one of your other threads, that may have something to do with them dying off. I wouldn't count them out yet as they may just be in transplant shock and need to send out new immersed leaves. I've had and have swords in tanks with lower wpg and they just grow smaller and paler. Check your water parameters as swords don't like higher pH and salt in their water (I didn't see params listed in the other plant threads you had).


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## VRM (Jan 9, 2007)

BioTeAcH said:


> well i will have everything you mentioned by wed. as for my info do you still have it from the light deal we had? if not i will pm ya the addy again,and thank you


It's in my PayPal history...I thought I had deleted a PM and realized I never got it that way.








How big do you want them to be before I send them? I've got some that are 4-6" with several leaves and roots. They are your standard Amazon Swords and will eventually outgrow the tank...I'm down to 4 mother plants in 2 tanks and still have more plantlets than I can get rid of!

Do you think you could post up current pics of the plants and/or tank shots? If you got them in the emersed form as they appeared in one of your other threads, that may have something to do with them dying off. I wouldn't count them out yet as they may just be in transplant shock and need to send out new immersed leaves. I've had and have swords in tanks with lower wpg and they just grow smaller and paler. Check your water parameters as swords don't like higher pH and salt in their water (I didn't see params listed in the other plant threads you had).

[/quote]

ok first off i have been treating my rhom with salt for his chin. he was in a split tank with another rhom before i got him. this could be an issue right off the start. i will cease salt use ,and just use melefix for now. my ph is 7.0-7.2 when i did the co2 test with one of my kits i was in the correct range. 2nd i only have flourish comprehensive i just ordered all the other chemicals you suggested so i will have them by thursday for sure. this is what i got . i ordered 2 of each and an extra 250ml of flourish excel. plus some plant tongs and cutters haha i like to be high tech with the tools

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...mp;pcatid=12787

as for plants i like grasses for the front and around the driftwood. are they hard to keep? i also really like the swords they look sturdy so i will take any size and you have . but i would like to get the right chemicals before i put more plants in so they will have a beeter chance,and i feel guilty just paying shipping on the plants,are you sure you are good with that? pm me your phone and i can call ya it will be easier to explain . i deleted it out of my pm box by accident last night.


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## cueball (May 24, 2005)

well there ya go ill almost say you poisoned your plants with salt,,, theres only a smal hand full of plants that can stand a salt treatment,, i dont think swords are one of them,


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## Piranha Guru (Nov 24, 2005)

It will take several water changes to get the salt to a negligible concentration. Swords turn yellow and then transparent real fast with any salt in the water. I would do water changes of 25-30% every other day or so to get it back in check. I can send you the plants when you think you are ready for them. For grassy plants, I would go with either dwarf sag (S. subulata) or E. tennelus micro (narrow leaf pygmy chain sword).


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## VRM (Jan 9, 2007)

BioTeAcH said:


> It will take several water changes to get the salt to a negligible concentration. Swords turn yellow and then transparent real fast with any salt in the water. I would do water changes of 25-30% every other day or so to get it back in check. I can send you the plants when you think you are ready for them. For grassy plants, I would go with either dwarf sag (S. subulata) or E. tennelus micro (narrow leaf pygmy chain sword).


ok back on track... i got all the chemicals i need,and started adding them. i am now starting to get some algae so i increased the excel. i also bought the light holder for the corallight fixture which holds the light off the glass top,and i also bought some moon lights. thoughts on what to do to control algae? and is the the hanger for the light fixture ok for my plants. here is th setup i am talking about


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## Piranha Guru (Nov 24, 2005)

sonicrx said:


> ok back on track... i got all the chemicals i need,and started adding them. i am now starting to get some algae so i increased the excel. i also bought the light holder for the corallight fixture which holds the light off the glass top,and i also bought some moon lights. thoughts on what to do to control algae? and is the the hanger for the light fixture ok for my plants. here is th setup i am talking about


I don't know if that light holder will work with the glass tops. Controlling algae is all about getting your dosing figured out. Try dosing per the instructions on the bottles, but don't dose Nitrogen, Potassium, and Phosphorus on the same day as Comprehensive and Iron (Honestly, on my tanks I usually only dose everything once a week unless my plants tell me otherwise). Seachem has a recommended chart, but they dose way more often than I do. It is going to take some experimentation to find a good balance in your tank. Stick to weekly water changes and cut back or increase your dosing based on how your plants react.


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## VRM (Jan 9, 2007)

BioTeAcH said:


> ok back on track... i got all the chemicals i need,and started adding them. i am now starting to get some algae so i increased the excel. i also bought the light holder for the corallight fixture which holds the light off the glass top,and i also bought some moon lights. thoughts on what to do to control algae? and is the the hanger for the light fixture ok for my plants. here is th setup i am talking about


I don't know if that light holder will work with the glass tops. Controlling algae is all about getting your dosing figured out. Try dosing per the instructions on the bottles, but don't dose Nitrogen, Potassium, and Phosphorus on the same day as Comprehensive and Iron (Honestly, on my tanks I usually only dose everything once a week unless my plants tell me otherwise). Seachem has a recommended chart, but they dose way more often than I do. It is going to take some experimentation to find a good balance in your tank. Stick to weekly water changes and cut back or increase your dosing based on how your plants react.
[/quote]

i got them to work . i guess i worded my question wrong . what i was asking was ...wil the light being off the glass effect the amount of light the plants get?


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## traumatic (Jan 29, 2003)

sonicrx said:


> ok back on track... i got all the chemicals i need,and started adding them. i am now starting to get some algae so i increased the excel. i also bought the light holder for the corallight fixture which holds the light off the glass top,and i also bought some moon lights. thoughts on what to do to control algae? and is the the hanger for the light fixture ok for my plants. here is th setup i am talking about


I don't know if that light holder will work with the glass tops. Controlling algae is all about getting your dosing figured out. Try dosing per the instructions on the bottles, but don't dose Nitrogen, Potassium, and Phosphorus on the same day as Comprehensive and Iron (Honestly, on my tanks I usually only dose everything once a week unless my plants tell me otherwise). Seachem has a recommended chart, but they dose way more often than I do. It is going to take some experimentation to find a good balance in your tank. Stick to weekly water changes and cut back or increase your dosing based on how your plants react.
[/quote]

i got them to work . i guess i worded my question wrong . what i was asking was ...wil the light being off the glass effect the amount of light the plants get?
[/quote]

short answer... yes.

You can test this yourself. Just lift the light up and down to see what the tank looks like w/ the light farther or closer to the surface of the water...


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