Failing at growing Amazon swords

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bleublaze55

Gambusia
MFK Member
Oct 15, 2009
340
1
16
Orange County
So my 75 gal tall tank has soil then flourite on top of that. Ugly but functional. I have pond lilly tablets in the soil as well. Injected CO2 through the filter inlet pipe. 4 t5 and soon to be mounted 2 mega LED stripes. temps are 86 commonly (discus tank), PH is 6.5 avg. Liquid iron, phos, potas, nitrogen every week. WCs 5-7 days a week. Lights are on for 14hrs +.

My amazon swords are stunted and barely grow. My anubias (worth mentioning) are turning yellow and dieing. only they arent liquifying, they look like leafy skeletons then the fish eat them away. My tiger lotus is doing great big leaves, but short stems. (5-9") all the other green plants barely grow too.... Ill post pictures in a second to help... i seriously don't know what else to do... can someone tell me what secret im missing?

This is my like 10th time trying to grow swords... any kind of sword!! I want huge plants... theres something i am missing i know it!!

Thanks friends.
 
Well...based on your anubias statement. It sounds like an iron deficiency. But that doesnt make sense because you are dosing. Are you using root tabs? In my experience...any sword that has any light at all and root tabs is a happy sword. Maybe your fertz and such arent of the quality that you are hoping for. Yellow leaves are a dead giveaway on iron deficiency like I said.
 
first off, take a look at this nutrient deficiency chart http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=349882

it sounds like you have too much light and not enough co2/ferts. do you have a drop checker? what are your co2 levels? 4x54w of T5HO is A LOT, too much i would say. and for 14hrs is just ridiculous. the more light you have and the longer its on, the more your plants require co2 and ferts. and im certain you dont have enough co2/ferts to match the lighting.

i would try switching it two just two bulbs for 7-9 hours and see what happens. the reduction in light will reduce the plant's needs for co2 and ferts, which then should balance out with what youre already providing
 
good tips. I will try reducing the lighting, maybe adding some more iron, maybe increasing the CO2. I will check my CO2 again but its usually over 20ppm. I have recently increased my CO2 and my tiger lotus' are growing in size but not height.
 
just a thought, but the short height could also be due to too much lighting. i know blyxa japonica, for example, it stays short with very intense lighting. with lower lighting, it grows taller. could be a case with yours as well
 
checked out the chart... maybe iron and phos def. Maybe since i do so many WCs the phos and iron that i put in don't have enough time to be absorbed in the plants.
 
whats your water change schedule? couldnt understand what you meant, you said 5-7 days a week?

under the EI dosing method, i do one 50% water change a week, and thats because im adding excess nutrients to make sure there are no shortages (since thats when you have problems). the big water change is used to reset the levels.

a typical planted tank doesnt even need many water changes, if at all. since youre not doing EI dosing, why even do so many water changes?
 
Thank you for your advice, very much appreciated!!! i have reduced the lighting, keeping the 6k from 9am-9pm, and the rosettes about an hour less than that.... im going to get more root tabs too
 
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