Newly planted 75

[ncsuben]

Hello All,

You all helped my husband with getting this tank set up, and I greatly appreciate it! I’m now in need of your advice for my plants.

These were all planted around thanksgiving. CO2 has been running and things seemed to be cycling well. Brown diatom to start and now starting to see that fade. Dealing with green dust now, so weekly water changes. Light is on from 3-8. Using Easy Green for liquid and root tabs in substrate. I thought the plants were doing well and rooting, but I’ve noticed the past few weeks things are really melting. All my new growth has died off. Some stem plants that were growing nicely have split in half. I’m not sure what I should be doing differently. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[BenB]

I'm not the best at troubleshooting these things, but NCSU tells me you live about 5 miles from me. I'm Ben too, but up near the Angus Barn.

I'm not sure if you are testing your water. I don't know what Easy Green is, but our water here is ridiculous soft. My KH and GH out of the tap are practically 0. If you aren't adding a bunch of Mg, Ca, and K, you should be. Use the calculator at Rotala Butterfly HERE. When I do a water change I add a bunch, and then I top off my Mg and K at least once between water changes. Maybe twice if I don't get it done in a week.

People who are better at figuring out such things will be along soon to help as well.

Good Luck,
Ben

 

[GreggZ]

Hello All,

You all helped my husband with getting this tank set up, and I greatly appreciate it! I’m now in need of your advice for my plants.

These were all planted around thanksgiving. CO2 has been running and things seemed to be cycling well. Brown diatom to start and now starting to see that fade. Dealing with green dust now, so weekly water changes. Light is on from 3-8. Using Easy Green for liquid and root tabs in substrate. I thought the plants were doing well and rooting, but I’ve noticed the past few weeks things are really melting. All my new growth has died off. Some stem plants that were growing nicely have split in half. I’m not sure what I should be doing differently. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

You've got an interesting mix in there. Some slow growers that don't need much light or ferts, and then some stems (like Cabomba Furcata) that need a LOT of everything.

I'd take a step back and think of what you want from this tank. An easy slow growing tank? A high tech colorful tank full of stems? Right now you have a mix of each.

Looking at the stems my first guess would be both not enough light and not enough fertilization.

And when you post it's easier for people to help you if you post more specific information.

Some things that caught my eye.

Dealing with green dust now, so weekly water changes

Weekly water changes are always helpful. But they likely aren't doing much to help the problem with the stems. You are removing a large amount of nutrients, and the stems look nutrient starved.

Light is on from 3-8

What light? Any idea of how much PAR? Just saying light is on from 3-8 doesn't really tell anybody anything. And 5 hours of light is the LOW side for the stems.

Using Easy Green for liquid and root tabs in substrate.

How much Easy Green? And what does it provide? Take some time to learn about macro and micros nutrients. Things like NO3, K, PO4, iron, etc. It is the language of the planted tank. When you say you dose Easy Green it doesn't tell anybody anything. And root tabs generally won't do much for stems. You need nutrients in the water column.

Have you seen any tanks you want to emulate? If so take some time to study their methods. And even reach out and ask questions. Most people in the hobby are glad to help. But it does some effort and time to begin figuring things out.

As an FYI here's Cabomba Furcata in my tank. Almost 200 PAR, 30 ppm NO3, 10 ppm PO4, and 40 ppm K in the water column, about a 1.4 point drop in pH from CO2 injection daily. I only mention it as this the language we use if you want to bring out the best in stems.

So sit back, take a deep breadth, and determine what your goals are and how far down the rabbit hole you want to go.

Good luck and reach out with any questions.

 

[Koan]

Using Easy Green for liquid and root tabs in substrate. I thought the plants were doing well and rooting, but I’ve noticed the past few weeks things are really melting. All my new growth has died off. Some stem plants that were growing nicely have split in half

If your stems were going well for a while and now they're not, it's a great guess that you had a fair amount of nutrients in the water to start (root tabs mostly dissolve and become part of the water column, depending on what they are) and now with your good CO2 driving the speed of growth, all that good plant food has been eaten up!

Stem plants like your Cabomba grow fast and eat a lot, think of them like teenage kids . They want to eat everything they can reach, not just what you have in the substrate.

It sounds like it will help you to start with taking apart the fertilizer contents you're using, to find out what you can be doing differently. What is in the Easy Green you're using? Which nutrients, and what percentage of each per ml? How often are you dosing it, and how much per gallon or liter?

Those are the kinds of things people here are great with you've come to the right place to untangle it!

 

[Unexpected]

Here's the Easy Green information. 1 pump per 10 gallons.
It's not really balanced if you ask me. I would address your Ca, Mg totals by verifying those numbers from your local water report. This is usually available online to view. If those are okay, and please inform us when you verify the numbers, I would suspect too little light and not enough Fertilizer to sustain healthy growth. What's weird about Easy Green is the lack of PO4 and K. APT complete and Nilocg are better balanced in my opinion. If you could report your pH under CO2 load, we can see if the plants are getting enough Fe as well. I believe EG is EDTA chelated.