Unhealthy plants, what to do?

[Mouxt]

Hey guys, looking for some advice on what's happening in my tank.
Here's some background info, started the tank (4ft long) about a month ago and planted 2 weeks ago, tank was not fully cycled at that point and still leaching ammonia from aquasoil, in hindsight I probably shouldve waited abit longer for things to stabilise. Substrate is aquasoil topped with eco complete
I added co2 about a week ago as wasn't accessible earlier, drop checker showing green.
As you can see in photos some of these plants are not having a good time, I'm unsure of they were grown emersed or not.

Do I remove whatever doesn't look healthy or will they recover? I've read that emersed plants have a transition phase but unsure if it's that?

Also as a bonus, is this biofilm or some kind of algae growing on the driftwood?

This is the full tank shot from a week ago, majority of plants still looking pretty healthy except the ones pictured above.

Any advice is greatly appreciated

 

[Bradders]

Hello!

Could you provide details about your equipment as well? i.e., tank volume, filter, CO2 unit, etc.

 

[Mouxt]

Hey thanks, it's 220L 4ft tank on a fluval 407 cannister filter, using a co2 art regulator with a pressurised system at 4 bubbles/s. Light is a fluval 3.0 and atm it's at 50% intensity for a 4 hour period with a 3 hour sunrise/sunset. (increasing intensity and time on over time)

 

[Bradders]

Thanks! And just for good order sake, what are your Amonina/Nitrite/Nitrate/PO4 levels?

 

[Mouxt]

Ammonia and nitrite are at 0, nitrate is 5-10ppm, phosphate I'm unsure as I don't have a test for that (I'll pick one up tomorrow). The fert I use is from 2hr aquarist apt 1 which has 0 phosphate

 

[bazz]

If stem plants turn to complete mush they seldom recover, I can however see some new growth so all is not lost. Crypts notoriously melt when transplanted or with a change in water parameters and more often than not will start to reappear in a month or so.
Frequent/daily water changes will help with the dilution of Ammonia.
The growth on the wood is normal and should disappear in time by itself, shrimps seem to favour it.
Cheers!

 

[Andy Pierce]

What brand of aquasoil are you using?

 

[Mouxt]

Ada Amazonia v2 is the aquasoil.

So Ill remove the dead looking stem plants.
Whilst waiting to see if the crypts bounce back, do I clear away some of the dead plant matter or leave them be so to not disturb them more?

 

[John q]

Hey thanks, it's 220L 4ft tank on a fluval 407

Initial thoughts 🤔 that 407 will not push the gas around the tank.

 

[Mouxt]

Initial thoughts 🤔 that 407 will not push the gas around the tank.

I have a spray bar which pretty much runs the length of the tank installed and waiting for an inline diffuser to arrive this week, should be fine with that?
Only using intank atm temporarily.

 

[Happi]

Aqua soil and Eco complete combination isn't a very good choice to begin with. Are you seeing rapid increase in TDS? There was a problem with Eco complete where it would raise the TDS and many users couldn't bring the TDS down, it was almost like adding dolomite.

I had similar issues as you when I first used the Eco complete and that was 15 some years ago.

 

[Mouxt]

Hmm I have a tds reading pen, tap water reads at 96ppm and the tank water is at 160ppm, I'll keep an eye on it thanks

 

[Happi]

Hmm I have a tds reading pen, tap water reads at 96ppm and the tank water is at 160ppm, I'll keep an eye on it thanks

Test the tank water daily to see if tds continues to rise. Any reason you decided to add eco complete on top of aqua soil?

 

[John q]

I have a spray bar which pretty much runs the length of the tank installed and waiting for an inline diffuser to arrive this week, should be fine with that?

Possibly.

Assuming the filter can pump enough water to run the entire length of the (4ft) spray bar, and have it come out with enough force to push the water from the back of the tank, hit the front glass and travel downward, then yes you might improve the flow in some areas of the tank, but not all, especially anything that's behind those large pieces of wood in the tank.

Give it a try and see if it works, would be the best advice.

I'd also increase the main lighting period to at least 6hrs and have a quicker ramp up/ramp down time.

 

[PARAGUAY]

Definitely don't give up on Crypts remowe all dead matter ,the roots should be establishing but patience is best

 

[Bradders]

Assuming the filter can pump enough water to run the entire length of the (4ft) spray bar, and have it come out with enough force to push the water from the back of the tank, hit the front glass and travel downward, then yes you might improve the flow in some areas of the tank, but not all, especially anything that's behind those large pieces of wood in the tank.

I agree with this, but it comes back to that problem where if you have too much force, then you have smaller fish flying around like a teenager in a nightclub.

The balance of flow in terms of 'good for fish' and 'good for plants' still frys my noodle!

 

[John q]

The balance of flow in terms of 'good for fish' and 'good for plants' still frys my noodle

Probably boils down to what's important, the plants or the fish. In nature the plants get adequate flow, the fish adapt to lots of flow. 😀

 

[G H Nelson]

Hi
The substrate looks too deep for my liking....personally I would remove as much of the Eco Complete as possible.
Then do a huge water change, replant into the remaining layer of aqua soil with fast growing stems, these can be removed later or shifted to another area of the aquarium.

 

[Bradders]

Probably boils down to what's important, the plants or the fish. In nature the plants get adequate flow, the fish adapt to lots of flow. 😀

Yep - currently going for decent flow for plants, with the caveat of a small amount of occasional "fish breakdancing".