plant help!!

[bleublaze55]

Hey Forum,

I have this plant in my edge fluval, Pogostemon helferi, and its doing very poorly. It lost most of its leaves, then the leafy part that was left fell off the stem. BUT it propogated a tiny little plant right next to it. It never turned any colors just basically melted. My fluval is running ph 6.5-7, co2 plenty, lighting 10w directly above, temp 84-86 (ive just turned the heater off thinking that might be my problem), the substrate is florite black sand, and there is one pfizer* root tab in the substrate. plus i dose with irone and micro supplements. SOO can any one tell me what i might be missing to get this plant to really grow strong? I bought it from a store that had it under low-med light, cold temps, and min supps.

HELP please, i really love the look of this plant and would love to get this plant growing healthy and spreading. plus is was expensive.

Thanks!!

Heres a link to the plant profile

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/myplants/104-Downoi_Pogostemon_helferi.html

 

[JasonG75]

Some sites say Low to Med and others say Med to High with co2.


"co2 plenty" How?

 

[bleublaze55]

plenty would be my drop checker on the yellow green side. Its only a 6 gal tank so im sure the drop checker is pretty accurate.

 

[JasonG75]

plenty would be my drop checker on the yellow green side. Its only a 6 gal tank so im sure the drop checker is pretty accurate.

What I mean to say I guess is HOW are you getting Co2 into the tank? DIY or pressurized?

"drop checker is pretty accurate" Maybe not... Are you using 4dKH solution or following the direction and adding Tank Water?

 

[bleublaze55]

IM using the solution that came with the drop checker. It was an ebay brand one so im hoping that its working fine. Im using DIY CO2 and there is couple steady streams of bubbles from the diffuser im using.

 

[JasonG75]

IM using the solution that came with the drop checker. It was an ebay brand one so im hoping that its working fine. Im using DIY CO2 and there is couple steady streams of bubbles from the diffuser im using.

working YES, fine NO.

The instructions call for you to fill with tank water AFTER you inserted 5 drops, correct? You are actually suppose to fill with 4dKH solution that has been CALIBRATED to read Co2 (pH/GH/KH) your tank is not a good indicator of that.

http://cgi.ebay.com/4-dKH-Reference...223?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35af3c582f

Here

 

[bleublaze55]

DAMN IT!! ok i guess ill get it in a couple weeks. stupid chinese cheap crap! The instructions should tell you that. If tank water wasnt ok then why does the dump instructions tell you that?
Sorry i think this is some misguided frustration from other stuff!

 

[cichlid_starter]

DAMN IT!! ok i guess ill get it in a couple weeks. stupid chinese cheap crap! The instructions should tell you that. If tank water wasnt ok then why does the dump instructions tell you that?
Sorry i think this is some misguided frustration from other stuff!

lol. It happens.

When did you put the plant in? Sometimes new plants "melt" due to changing water conditions. They usualy come back just as strong. Which might be why you have new growth already. Edges are cool plant tanks. Fluval makes a mini C02 canister as well that might fit on the edge. GL to you man.

 

[bleublaze55]

I have a small yeast container behind it. Where its at right now it doesn't look to bad but ill look into the CO2 canister for the future! i might upgrade my paintball one to a 10lb this summer so maybe ill just wait till them. Its all about saving money and not spending right now.

Hopefully that will regrowth will come back quickly. since i put the CO2 in the tank, all the other plants have tripled in growth speed. New leaves on EVERYTHING every couple of days.

 

[JasonG75]

When did you put the plant in? Sometimes new plants "melt" due to changing water conditions.

This is very common with crypts, it is called Crypt Melt. But some plants do this but not to the extreme as crypts. Call it a die off period.