75g Planted Tank Issues

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Columbian Shark Catfish

Columbian Shark Catfish

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 18, 2009
2,231
0
0
California
BACKGROUND:

It has always been my dream to have a planted tank for my 75 gallon tank. But then it turned brackish. So I bought ANOTHER 75g tank :)
This was fairly long ago, the freshwater tank is about a year old, water changes every week, and at the moment only 2 small yoyo loaches, 1 7" common pleco, 1 1.5" clown pleco, 1 2" Ladder Loach, 1 2.5" bumblebee catfish (giving away), 1 4" 4-line pictus (giving away) and 1 3.5" spotted pictus (giving away).

Ok, so after these fish are given away (next week or two), it will have the 2 plecos, 2 yoyos, and 1 ladder loach. (Might get more small loaches).

THE PROBLEM:

So I finally said, "I'm GOING to do this planted tank." So I go out, but a bought a 48" CORALIFE 2 54w lighting fixture. It included a 48" 54w 10,000k Daylight bulb, and a 48" 54w "Actinic bluelight" bulb.
Soon after, I buy a fairly large Amazon Sword, a medium Spiralis (cryptocoryne spiralis), and a Red Wendtii (cryptocoryne wendtii).

Day 1: Plants are doing alright, the fish don't seem to care for the plants besides the loaches, they seem to like them :)

Day 2: Same as day 1.

Day 3: Plants start looking wavy(?) at the leaves and look not so healthy.

Day 4: Look even worse, so I put 2 smaller light fixtures (a 15w and 25w).

Day 7: Still looking bad, So I buy some Seachem Iron and add to tank with water change.

So it's been a week, I have regular play sand, and about 140w of light. (2w per gallon). I added the iron yesterday, and I'm waiting.

Please tell me what I should do. :(

At the moment I'm going to go down and get some root fertilizing tab thingies because I read amazon swords are root feeders.

I would get black flourite sand, but thats about 100$ for a 75g...
 
I did buy the plants from a display tank without a glass lid. I also read that plants will suffer if the have lived in tanks without lids and then moved into tanks with lids?
 
i never heard of that but its possible try taking the lid of for a few days?
 
I have a Red Wendtii and it just gets sad for a month when disturbed. It should recover, so long as the other plants do. It also grows slow.

Whats your Temp and PH? Also, 10,000K is too much... get a pair of 6,000K bulbs. Glass between the bulb and the water will change things a little... but I think its negligible and not worth changing anything if already in place. Just half-assed clean that glass with the weekly water changes. All I do it rub my fingers around on it when the water is low.

Take out your test kit and see how much chlorine and Chloramine is in the water. Even small ammounts can be hazaroudous to your plants. Please tell me you did NOT rince them in tap water before planting them... far too many sites say to do this because of snails. Use old tank water or you can kill those plants. They usually die 4ish days after chlorinine/chloramine tap water is rushed over them... even worse at the wrong temps. If you did tap water rince them, all you can do right now is wait and see if they recover or not.

Sometimes tearing the plants roots before planting will make them weep for a bit, but it also promotes new growth and will eventually root better than not tearing them. Resulting in a much healthier plant later.

To help them recover, and for continous growth and bright colors;
Pour in some cheap liquid fertilizer (make sure that carbon bag is out of your filter or its a complete waste) and add some root tabs. Do not overdo it. Root tab it just this once and never again to the same plant. Add the liquid ferts weekly right after water changes.

Good luck man. Hope they bounce back.
 
Omg...I want to cry right now!

Lol, so basically the guy at the fish store said to rinse them in tap water before, because he said there were snails in the tank. So I did that...And I'll see what I can do about the bulbs. The fixture is only a week old, I'm sure I can swap in for a small fee.

And I didn't tear the roots, until just today! I was trying to see what was wrong with them and in a "How to plant an aquarium" video said to tear them...

And I have some liquid ferts that I added, didn't know about taking out the carbon.

Finally, as for the Iron doses, when I add them do I have to remove the carbon as well? Because it doesn't say on the bottle.

Thanks so much for the advice.
 
Columbian Shark Catfish;4259710; said:
... as for the Iron doses, when I add them do I have to remove the carbon as well? Because it doesn't say on the bottle.

Thanks so much for the advice.
Click to expand...

Yeah, keep the carbon out.

Your welcome. And welcome to real live plants. Its addictive as F**K once you start getting a few to grow nicely.
 
I give it 3 weeks before your playing with Java Moss.

BTW, those plants you got, aren't the easiest to start with. Swords are fine for beginners, but I've found any crypt to a bit finicky. I always recommend Java Ferns to new plant folks. Personally, my most favorite plant is the Banana Plant. I wrote and small fact sheet on them a month or so ago for this site. Should be easy enough to search for it. I should add to it... as I found a few new things with this awesome plant.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom