What's wrong with my plants!? Help!

[Aparker2005]

Hey guys, I'm growing more and more frustrated ever since I switched to my 125 from my 55. I have browning, melting plants that aren't doing much at all. It's a low tech tank with Excel pretty much daily.

Plants are Amazon Sword, jungle Val, wisteria, water sprite, Java fern, anubius, and S repens.

In my 55,everything was a jungle and lush green. I had a single 48" Finnex Planted+ with flourish and root tabs. No c02.

This tank has been set up since November with plants since January.

My java fern is turning brown and new baby plants are green for a few days, then they brown and melt away.

Jungle Val is starting to spread but had a ton of brown hair looking algae. The leaves always break off before they get to the top of the tank.

Wisteria is growing at one spot, but they are also browning.

Anubius and swords are doing OK.

S repens is browning also.

Sprite looks to be doing the best of all.

Ferts are GLA micros and macros using ei index. Water changes are twice per week (discus). Also use root tabs.

Lights are 2 30" Finnex Planted Plus 24/7s on the 24/7 cycle. A single 48" Finnex Planted Plus also on an 8 hour timer in the middle of the tank. All 3 are on the legs.

I don't know what could going on unless I'm dosing too much or too little? Any and all info would be appreciated.

I'd love to do pressurized c02 but I honestly am entirely too lost. Plus don't have the funds to get a good system going.

Here are photos. Thanks!

 

[Glossolepis incisus]

I'd recommend shortening your light cycle I feel any thing over 14 hours of light starts to become detrimental. Plants devote all energy into foliage growth while light, and roots while it's dark. In my tanks I noticed that root systems became weeker overtime. When exposed to excessive light periods. This can be compensated for by ferts, and co2. But it's a rely fine balance to maintain longterm. Why do people always think their smarter than nature. Plants have evolved to require natural light and dark periods. People who grow mmj try to manipulate light schedules like this as well. But mother nature still knows best in my opinon.

 

[flukekiller]

those are all low light plants with the exception of the s. repens... no more than 10hrs of light.

since you are not using CO2 i would cut your ei dosing in half.. between too much light and too much ferts there is no competition for food so the algae is just flourishing.

 

[Aparker2005]

The lights are only really effective for 8 hours. The 24/7 lights has below 5 par and then 0 when they're not in sunlight mode.

 

[flukekiller]

thats just my 2 cents,, plus im not a fan of 24/7 lighting

 

[xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx]

Personally I think the 24/7 is a complete bust, why Finnex even decided to build and release the fixture is hilarious... The 24/7 is really only good for for tanks like the Mr Aqua 12 gallon bookshelf aquarium because it's a shallow tank, and pretty much anything deeper then 12" the 24/7 has no effect whatsoever.... Most people with deeper tanks only use the 24/7 for a lighting effect...

As for a planted tank the 24/7 is a waste of money my friend....

 

[Aparker2005]

Well I don't think I can talk the wife out of them now lol. We love the effect it has and how awesome it makes the tank look.

I'm wondering too if I have too much biological filtration and it's taking an effect? My nitrate is usually around 5

 

[xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx]

That's a really low nitrate level, my nitrate level on my 45 gallon is around 18ppm which is due to following classic EI dosing. What it sounds like to me is that you're actually under dosing the tank which can cause plants to die off. Here's the nutrient calculator I use for my tanks....

http://rotalabutterfly.com/nutrient-calculator.php


The plants in my 45 gallon continue to thrive with new growth all the time, and I haven't dosed the tank for a week now and yet they're doing great. Reason I stopped dosing is because I'll be tearing down the tank to add a bigger/better piece of driftwood in the tank, and setting it back up.

 

[Aparker2005]

So I put the 2 30" Planted Plus 24/7s and my 48" Planted Plus on a 10 hour timer. The 24/7s are on the max setting. I may scale the hours down, but we'll see.

I also removed some of my bio media to see if these 2 things help out.