Help, not sure where i’m going wrong.

[Killamanjaro]

this is my first planted tank and has been up and running for a couple of years, but only the last 4 months it has been planted.

I have the following plants in an inert sand substrate and use TNC Light fertiliser once a week as stated along with TNC liquid carbon every day.
Cryptocoryne willisii
Echinodorus bleheri
Anubias nana petite
Hygrophila difformis
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Hygrophila rosanervis
Hygrophila corymbosa
Hygrophila polysperma
Anubias barteri broad leaf
Vallisneria americana biwaensis

The anubias seem to be fine, no problems. But my other plants such as the amazon swords and the valiserna seem to be looking a little thin/transparent, have holes in the leaves and not growing much if at all.

I don’t have any experience with planted aquariums so I’ve taken pictures to better explain.



What could I do or change to improve the look and health of my plants. They are also currently under 2x Juwel t8 lights. Would it be better to switch to TNC Complete liquid fertiliser or am I good with the current one I’m using?

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

 

[Kezzab]

Hi, switch to tnc complete. Light contains no nitrate or phosphate, so its likely your plants are undernourished.

Good luck.

 

[Edvet]

Or switch to EI salts.

 

[Killamanjaro]

Thanks for the replies. I’ll grab some TNC Complete and see how that goes for a while.

I thought the light would have been enough seeing as I had quite a few fish but nitrates always seemed to be at zero.

 

[gregl]

Could also go for root tabs for less maintenance

 

[Killamanjaro]

Just order some more TNC Carbon and some Complete fertiliser. I also ordered 10 root tabs to test them out.

If using TNC Root Plugs, should I continue dosing Complete fertiliser or would I get algae blooms from too many nutrients in the water?

Sorry for the basic questions, I’m still getting my head around keeping plants healthy... I’m more of a fish guy, but the pictures on this forum and how my fish respond to the plants makes me want a planted tank so bad!

 

[Edvet]

algae blooms from too many nutrients in the water

SSSsssshhhhh
Ferts don't cause algae blooms in our tanks, even if overdosing EI a few times (as shown by multiple forum members) we don't get algea.
Roottabs will compensate for sloppy column dosing, all plants will take up ferts from the column.

 

[ceg4048]

my other plants such as the amazon swords and the valiserna seem to be looking a little thin/transparent, have holes in the leaves and not growing much if at all.

These are CO2 related faults. You should increase your liquid Carbon input and ensure that it is dosed daily. Experiment with different brands, Excel, EasyCarbo and so forth to see which works better for you in terms of performance and price.

Cheers,

 

[Killamanjaro]

Right, before buying other forms of carbon i’ll Gradually increase the current one I’m using now.

I was worried about increasing the amount of liquid carbon I dose as I’m currently dosing what it says on the container. I remember reading somewhere online that over dosing liquid carbon can be fatal to fish... if I increase the dose by 0.2ml/ day would this be ok?

If that makes no difference i’ll try Excel and EasyCarbo etc.

You guys are awesome, thank you so much!

 

[ceg4048]

Right, before buying other forms of carbon i’ll Gradually increase the current one I’m using now.

I was worried about increasing the amount of liquid carbon I dose as I’m currently dosing what it says on the container. I remember reading somewhere online that over dosing liquid carbon can be fatal to fish... if I increase the dose by 0.2ml/ day would this be ok?

If that makes no difference i’ll try Excel and EasyCarbo etc.

You guys are awesome, thank you so much!

Hi,
TNC is a good brand at a good price and it should be fine. I only mention this because each brand uses a different concentration and different dosage, so it's wise to experiment with each to determine efficacy and best economics.

When Seachem Excel was first introduced, their bottle recommendations on assumed hobbyists were also injecting gas and were experiencing some forms of green algae, such as hair algae, or some form of red algae, such as BBA. The original doses therefore are not meant to run a tank on that dose alone if it is your only source of Carbon enrichment.

I think this fact gets lost in all the hysteria about toxicity.

I have yet to find a product being sold that is as toxic to fish as CO2, and people kill their fish with CO2 every day, so I don't see any reason that you cannot increase the dosages beyond what is printed on the bottle.

To run a tank exclusively with gluteraldehyde you will probably need to use 2X-3X bottle recommended dosage daily, because it is not nearly as effective as gas.

Now, having said all that, I've made some assumptions, because gluterahdehyde is a disinfectant. It's toxicity to plants and animals is a function of concentration and there are some plants that do not respond well. My assumption is that you do not have any of these sensitive plants, such as Riccia, any type of liverwort or bladderwort. It is claimed by some that Vallis responds poorly, however, there are many other reports of good experiences.

Mileages vary. You can increase the dosages gradually, as you mentioned, until you get to the target dosage.

Cheers,

 

[Killamanjaro]

I’ve received the TNC Complete today and dosed as stated on the bottle, 1ml per 10litres of water so 18ml for my tank per week.

Before dosing I did a quick water test to figure out what my parameters were. Before dosing KH was 10 which is normal for my tank and GH was 14, again normal.

An hour after dosing the KH remained the same but the GH was 20. Is this normal? Or is it a false reading due to the Mg in the fertiliser?

 

[Danny]

I use TNC liquid carbon and complete, I dose 2x the carbon and 3x the complete without any problems.

I did notice an improvement from dosing the complete daily in daily amounts rather than weekly too so perhaps think about that.

 

[ceg4048]

Or is it a false reading due to the Mg in the fertiliser?

Well an increase in GH is not false in the sense Ca + Mg = GH so adding Mg of course will increase GH. Adding Calcium would have an even stronger effect.
Depending on how much you added and depending on the concentration of the mix, one has to question the degree of accuracy.
A 1 unit GH change is a little less than a 18 ppm change. So a 6 unit change equates to more than a 108 ppm change.

Based on the analysis data listed for TNC Complete, with a Mg content of only 0.4%, there is no way you could have increases the concentration of Mg by over 100 ppm by just adding 18 ml to 180 liters of water. Even if we take into account the fact that you really have less than 180 L of water in the tank the numbers are far from adding up.

You would've had to have added the TNC GH Boost to get that much of an increase - and even that would have required somewhere on the order of 10 teaspoons to raise the GH by that much.

So, as is typical in The Matrix, you now have a test kit dilemma which will sap your energy and suck your life's blood like a vampire.

Did you add anything else to the tank, like coral sand or rocks containing lime/chalk or anything like that?
I suppose you can get some RO or DI water and test your test kit....

Cheers,

 

[Killamanjaro]

I thought it may have been a problem with the test rather than the fertiliser, the Mg content wasn’t high enough to Increase GH by that much. Thanks for the confirmation.

I dose the carbon daily anyway so i’ll Split the fertiliser dosage into daily amounts and add it along with the carbon.

Hopefully I see the improvement you did.