Help with Planted Tank

[Oplr]

Its my first planted tank and so far I have set up a 29g tank with some dwarf hairgrass, stargazer and amazon swords. I have an LED striplight, and have got some flourite black in the tank.

I have put root tabs in under the substrate and have been every now and then dosing with floruish excel and I have noticed as days go on the plants are getting brown spots on them and some look really withered, what could be the cause of this? There are no fish in the tank.

Ive attached a pic.

Cheers!

 

[skjl47]

have got some flourite black in the tank.

Hello; I am not familiar with this so cannot comment.

put root tabs in

Hello; The swords are the only plants that need a root tab. The tabs should be placed in the substrate at the roots maybe one every month or two.

dosing with floruish excel

Hello; Just a wild guess but you may be adding too much in the way of fertilizers.

Hello; Would be nice to know the photo period ( time lit vs. time dark). I generally use from 12 to 14 hours on. More light time can lead to algae growth.

Also not sure what LED strip lights are. Might be helpful to know what the lumens are and the color range of these lights.

There are no fish in the tank

Hello; Fish do two things. One is to keep mosquitoes down. Another is once the tank is cycled it is the excretions from the fish that eventually become plant ferts (nitrates). It does not take many fish for this at all.

 

[Oplr]

Hello; I am not familiar with this so cannot comment.


Hello; The swords are the only plants that need a root tab. The tabs should be placed in the substrate at the roots maybe one every month or two.


Hello; Just a wild guess but you may be adding too much in the way of fertilizers.

Hello; Would be nice to know the photo period ( time lit vs. time dark). I generally use from 12 to 14 hours on. More light time can lead to algae growth.

Also not sure what LED strip lights are. Might be helpful to know what the lumens are and the color range of these lights.


Hello; Fish do two things. One is to keep mosquitoes down. Another is once the tank is cycled it is the excretions from the fish that eventually become plant ferts (nitrates). It does not take many fish for this at all.

I was hoping to grow the plants out before adding any fish. The light I am using is 1650lm apparently according to manufacturers guidelines. The lights are usually on for 8hrs and off for the rest. LED is the type of lighting on the tank its more energy efficient I think. I have no idea what you mean by mosquitos, if you mean the insect there arent any in my country(or near me anyway, UK)

Would too many ferts kill the plants or will they grow back? I will stop dosing Co2.

 

[skjl47]

I was hoping to grow the plants out before adding any fish. The light I am using is 1650lm apparently according to manufacturers guidelines. The lights are usually on for 8hrs and off for the rest. LED is the type of lighting on the tank its more energy efficient I think. I have no idea what you mean by mosquitos, if you mean the insect there arent any in my country(or near me anyway, UK)

Would too many ferts kill the plants or will they grow back? I will stop dosing Co2.

Hello; Yes to the biting insects. I have learned the hard way about having water in tanks with no fish but that is not a problem for you.

I have LED lights on may tanks as well and they work just fine. I am not familiar with the 1650lm designation but if it turns out to be lumens than you should have plenty of light intensity/strength.

I like light in the frequency range of around 5000 to 6500K ( kelvin). Also called daylight or sometimes natural color light.

My next suggestion will be to up the photo period to 12 on and 12 off. I also suggest using a timer.

Using CO2 is sort of advanced and does have a place in growing plants but is not at all needed. Perhaps a thing for later on. Plenty of plants can be grown without it.

Can too much ferts kill plants? Yes at least in potted plants and garden plants. I have done so. Never have done so in an aquarium yet but I do not dose with extra ferts much. I do stick plant tabs in the roots of my swords from time to time nd rarely use any other added ferts. Like I said before that was just a guess.

I am revising my suggestions based on new information. This is my best WAG (wild a_ _ guess) for now. Set the lights for at least 12 on and off and do not add any more ferts for now. If things do not start to look better in a week then give us more details.

 

[twentyleagues]

Brown spots as in algae or the leaves are actually getting brown spots as in damage? If its algae keep everything the same but try dosing more carbon. If its damage you are missing some nutrient. Thats where I'm right now figuring nutrients.

 

[pescado209]

What light are you useing exactly?
Some plants melts a bit when they are first planted or moved, give it some time .

 

[Oplr]

Brown spots as in algae or the leaves are actually getting brown spots as in damage? If its algae keep everything the same but try dosing more carbon. If its damage you are missing some nutrient. Thats where I'm right now figuring nutrients.

Its in the picture it looks more to be damage rather than algae I would say. I cant think of what nutrients would missing unless im missing something as a beginner.

What light are you useing exactly?
Some plants melts a bit when they are first planted or moved, give it some time .

Its this one I think https://www.completeaquatics.co.uk/aquael-retrofit-16w-led-sunny

 

[twentyleagues]

Light looks good for low light maybe two would be better. Swords and hairgrass are higher light plants. Im not sure what stargazer is. Is it just the one leaf on the sword? Maybe just an old leaf. If its just the one cut it off now and dont change anything else atm. Root tabs will work for swords, I'd get a liquid fert too like flourish since you already use the excel. The other plants will do better on liquid ferts.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; Do you use RO water or is your source water low in mineral content?

 

[pescado209]

that light is missing red spectrum leds.
from what I have read and I guess you can say what I have grown in my own tanks, red led promote more growth.

plants in my finnex 24/7 tank grow faster than the lights in my tank with a regular household led @ 5000k.

I just bought this light for my 40g breeder (my 4th planted tank) and it's been awesome.. plants grow like crazy and definitely plan to buy the same light if I turn my 75 into a planted tank.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00NAFQ6D2?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title