Day 4 fading and melting

[glenn farrar]

Hi guys

So I am now on day 4 of my first tank and not much is looking good my crypts are melting fast and my vallisnaria is looking pale and see through, I did have an aponogeton crispus but that literally melted before my eyes! I am attempting a low light set up and dosing EI method.

So details are:
65l tank
Manado substrate
Single 15w T5 on for a total of 6 hrs (3 hrs on 4 off and 3 on)
Jbl crystal profi 901 using the spray bar
Planted over 50% coverage
30-50% water change every other day
Dosing 5ml macro and 5ml micro dry salts solution on alternating days
Temp is at 26°
I am removing all the dead stuff I can see daily which seems to be getting more and more. Should I up the ferts or maybe lower the light times?
Any suggestions would be greatly received before I lose all my plants!

Thanks in advance

Glenn

 

[ian_m]

What form of carbon supply are you using?

if using liquid carbon as carbon source this can melt plants.

Also could be plants that were grown emmersed in air adjusting to new life underwater.

Also leave light on in one period, old wives tale a " rest period".

 

[ceg4048]

Poor CO2 causes melting.

Cheers,

 

[Martin in Holland]

Vallisneria doesn't like liquid carbon for sure, if you cut the roots off of the Crypts they sometimes melt but often recover later (always use a sharp knife) same with the aponogeton crispus.....

 

[EnderUK]

Also could be plants that were grown emmersed in air adjusting to new life underwater.

Since you're using low light and low tech? ie not adding CO2 I'm betting this is the cause. I usually lose about 75% plant mass when adding emmersed plants to my low tech. Crypts are really bad at the transition. As long as new leaves start sprouting in the next couple of days you'll be fine, once this starts happening start trimming the worst of the leaves away as this will stop the plant putting energy into the dying leaves and more energy into the new growth.

 

[glenn farrar]

Thanks for replies
@ian_m no co2 going in and thanks for the advice on the lights I have set them for a straight 5 hrs now cheers
@ceg4048 I have read a lot of threads on melting and I knew you were going to say that 🙂 still going to try for no co2 cheers
@Martin in China I did snip the roots on the crypts and the aponogeton but I did use sharp scissors do you normally not cut the roots on these?
@EnderUK thanks for the answer I will be keeping a close eye on them and hopefully they will come round. Do you think the amount of ferts is enough or too much maybe?