Plant identification and some dying

[justjason88]

Hi all

I've had my tank maybe around 4 weeks now and planning on buying my first fish in about a weeks time. Unfortunately i think some of the plants are dying and starting to rot from what i can see and could do with a few helping tips and pointers in order to revive them.

Firstly, i forgot to get some of the plants names and could do with a hand of identifying them so i can do some research. Below, the plants along the left side behind the echinodorus.




I believe the thin leaved plant at the back with the red tips is rotala wallichii. I'm unsure what either of the two mosses are, the one at the back looks a bit like cress.



Some of the vallisneria leaves are going brown and transparent. Occasionaly a leaf will break off and i'll have to fish it out in the morning. Some are doing fine though, so maybe individual roots have been bruised? I'm not sure. These were put in the tank about 4 weeks ago and you can see them in the photograph below. The rotala wallichii was put in around 2 weeks ago and hasn't been doing at all well from the start. As you can see in the photograph below all the pink at the top of the leaves have turned brown and are falling off daily. However i have noticed a very small pink set of new leaves starting to form on 1 branch.




Both mosses, the java fern on the piece of wood and the echinodorus have been doing fine and i've had no problems at all with them.

The plant along the left side of the tank has so far been no problem but i have noticed they have been turning from dark green to light green and some of the leaves are falling off but not too much to cause alarm. The rotala indica has been growing as you can see in the photograph below, there are new leaves and branches appearing from the top but everything below the new leaves has turned brown. It used to have bright red tiny leaves along the whole length of the branches but these have all turned transparent and brown and most have fallen off.



The specs of my tank are as follows:
125L of tap water treated with de chlorinator
26C Temp
Standard juwel filter without air diffuser
pH 8 - trying to get it lowered to 7 but so far both pieces of bog wood haven't altered the pH at all
GH 10
kH 7
Lighting active between 4pm - midnight
No CO2 kit

Thanks a lot

Jason

 

[Alastair]

Hi Jason, welcome to ukaps.

In answer to your questions, the plants behind the echinodorous are either cabomba Carolina, or myriphilium aquatica. I think cabomba though. This plant I've found does well in any conditions.

With regards to the deterioration of your plants, lower leaves and stems browning and dying is down to co2 and flow, however you didn't mention anything about fertilisers being added if any, and what wattage light you have, but running them 8 hours a day with nothing in the way of food for plants, you'll start to see deficiencies in them all.

If your avoiding going the co2 route, then maybe you could have a look at the Diana walstead method which has great results.

Ps rotala wallichi is fairly demanding I found in terms of fertilisers and co2.

You'll definitely benefit from adding either one of the branded all in one ferts from the sponsors such as tropica nutrition plus or either fluid sensors or aquarium plant foods all in one.

 

[justjason88]

Thanks a lot for your help alastair, i'm completely new to the aquarium scene and only had my tank around 4-5 weeks so i'm learning and self teaching every day.

I have a juwel rio 125 so the lights are standard:
Juwel High Lite Light Unit 80cm for 2x28 Watt 590mm tubes.
Juwel High Lite Day, T5 length 590mm, 28 watts
Juwel High Lite Nature, T5 length 590mm, 28 watts

I have not used any fertilisers or nutrition, the only thing i'm using is 1ml a day of A.B.A. Concentrated natural bacteria to start the cycling. I will look into the fertilisers you mentioned. Also, the flow around the tank is quite slow. I did put the huwel air diffuser onto the end of the pump but it made the flow too fast and literally looked like there was a storm in the tank. That and it also uprooted some plants and caused too many air bubbles. I had some advice on acquiring a powerhead to increase the flow but again i don't know what this is so i'll have to do some research.

Thanks a lot for your help 🙂

Jason

 

[Quetzalcoatl]

No Co2, No ferts, poor flow, and what looks like an inert substrate?? I was exactly where you are 8 months ago mate. But with the help on this site you will succeed! 😀 You have found the right forum. Congratulations. To infinity and beyond.....