All plants dying in a new tank

[mpast]

Set up a new tank on Saturday. Slowly, every single one of my plants is in bad shape. This isn’t my first planted tank, but it's the first time it’s been going so poorly.

I am not sure what is going wrong. My crypts are melting (expected), and my stem plants just gave out completely. My hygrophila leaves are slowly starting to look worse and worse. anubias and buce look fine for now but looked better when they arrived. The only plant that is doing well is my homalomena that I planted it above the water line, but its roots still in the water. The other homalomena that was attached to rocks fully submerged are starting to melt away, so I put them on the water line to see if that saves them. (slide 7; left is the one planted above the water, and on the right are the ones I pulled out from below the water) even my moss is turning brown. Interestingly enough, the leftover moss that I didn’t use yet has been sitting in a bucket of water in the garage, and it’s perfectly green and healthy.

I really am not sure what’s going on.

PH 6.6-7

CO2 injected

Chihiros RGB Vivid 2 on for 8 hours daily

Dosing ADA brightly K and brightly mineral daily

Temp ~76 F

TDS 160

I reused ADA aqua soil from a previous tank, but I dried it out completely for over a week before setting this tank up. Brand new filter media. I figured this would kill all previous beneficial bacteria, but now I’m not so sure. I know ADA soil releases ammonia into the water, but as of right now, I have zero ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates. I even added a bottle of Tetra Safe Start 24 hours ago. Still zero on all parameters. I'm not sure if there is already bacteria or if the cycle hasn’t even started yet.

The only clue I have is that I soaked my stones in a heavy bleach solution, but then I rinsed them and soaked them in water, adding dechlorinater multiple times, stones also dried out for a week or so.

 

[mlgt]

I would trim most of the leaves or at least the ones suffering from melting and wait a bit. The plants are adjusting and its jsut going through its phases as most people do 🙂

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Welcome to UKAPS. Hopefully we will be able to give you a helping hand. The linked threads should flesh things out a bit.

I would trim most of the leaves or at least the ones suffering from melting and wait a bit.

Same for me. Have a look at "Seasoned Tank Time":

The only plant that is doing well is my homalomena that I planted it above the water line, but its roots still in the water.

Access to aerial CO2 is a real advantage, have a look at <"What is the “Duckweed Index” all about?"> & <"Using stem plants as a filtering aid at Start Up!">.

I know ADA soil releases ammonia into the water, but as of right now, I have zero ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates

You probably will have some "fixed nitrogen". There are a number of issues with water testing that the vendors of test kits don't tell you about. Have a look at <"Increasing Specificity of the API tests"> and <"Few problems with my little slice of nature!">.

I reused ADA aqua soil from a previous tank, but I dried it out completely for over a week before setting this tank up. Brand new filter media. I figured this would kill all previous beneficial bacteria, but now I’m not so sure.

It should be fine.

I'm not sure if there is already bacteria or if the cycle hasn’t even started yet.

Basically "cycling" doesn't really exist, have a look at <"Correspondence with the Neufeld lab. University of Waterloo">, <"Dark start vs old filter media?"> & <"Amazon Swords Advice">. As far as I know UKAPS are the only forum that have actually spoken with the scientists working on nitrification.

I even added a bottle of Tetra Safe Start 24 hours ago.

Have a look at <"Dr Timothy Hovanec's comments about Bacterial supplements"> and <"Correspondence with Dr Ryan Newton - School of Freshwater Sciences, University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee">.

CO2 injected

Your plants can only make use of the added CO2 if all the other essential minerals for plant growth are available. Have a look at <"Plant problems - advice please!">.

Dosing ADA brightly K and brightly mineral daily

Unfortunately <"lack of honesty"> is a very common theme with the sellers of <"aquarium"> products. What ever ADA may tell you their products <"aren't really fertilisers">, they are the <"world's most expensive water">.

cheers Darrel

 

[FrozenShivers]

I would trim most of the leaves or at least the ones suffering from melting and wait a bit. The plants are adjusting and its jsut going through its phases as most people do 🙂

Agreed, also it looks like in photo 2&3 that there is some new healthy growth coming in? Your tank also looks relatively lightly planted, how much % of power are you using on your Vivid 2? Is your bubble checker green?

 

[johntambler]

Set up a new tank on Saturday. Slowly, every single one of my plants is in bad shape. This isn’t my first planted tank, but it's the first time it’s been going so poorly.

I am not sure what is going wrong. My crypts are melting (expected), and my stem plants just gave out completely. My hygrophila leaves are slowly starting to look worse and worse. anubias and buce look fine for now but looked better when they arrived. The only plant that is doing well is my homalomena that I planted it above the water line, but its roots still in the water. The other homalomena that was attached to rocks fully submerged are starting to melt away, so I put them on the water line to see if that saves them. (slide 7; left is the one planted above the water, and on the right are the ones I pulled out from below the water) even my moss is turning brown. Interestingly enough, the leftover moss that I didn’t use yet has been sitting in a bucket of water in the garage, and it’s perfectly green and healthy.

I really am not sure what’s going on.

PH 6.6-7

CO2 injected

Chihiros RGB Vivid 2 on for 8 hours daily

Dosing ADA brightly K and brightly mineral daily

Temp ~76 F

TDS 160

I reused ADA aqua soil from a previous tank, but I dried it out completely for over a week before setting this tank up. Brand new filter media. I figured this would kill all previous beneficial bacteria, but now I’m not so sure. I know ADA soil releases ammonia into the water, but as of right now, I have zero ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates. I even added a bottle of Tetra Safe Start 24 hours ago. Still zero on all parameters. I'm not sure if there is already bacteria or if the cycle hasn’t even started yet.

The only clue I have is that I soaked my stones in a heavy bleach solution, but then I rinsed them and soaked them in water, adding dechlorinater multiple times, stones also dried out for a week or so.

Sounds frustrating! Could be a combo of nutrient deficiency and a stalled cycle. No nitrates suggest plants aren’t getting enough. Try adding some nitrogen (like KNO3) and reducing light intensity a bit. Also, double-check CO2 consistency. Hope it stabilizes soon!