yellowing transparent sword plants...

[sammigold]

Was wondering what to do... have a 4ft tank with java fern, anubius, some potted crypts and some swords.... my swords have virtually lost all their beautiful lush big leaves they turned yellow then see through then brown then start dissolving so i have to cut them off... They all have lots of new shoots growing but as soon as they get to about 2inches long they start to do the same thing... we bought liquid fertiliser and have been following the directions and we started having the tank lights on for only 7 hours when previously they had been on for 10-12 hours noticed after 3 weeks that things seemed to be getting worse and crypts were dying off so returned lights back to 10 hours a day... How patient do I have to be to start seeing results of ferts.. do swords grow fast or slow? Would the yellowing of the leaves and subsequent browning be ferts or light issue.... all the other plants especially the java fern are all growing nicely..

[duck]

How much light have you got?
What's your Nitrate level's?

[sammigold]

2 x 37 watt 4ft flouro lights. and nitrates at approx 20ppm

[duck]

I have to say, Not enough light to start with and will grow slow.

Get some root tabs and place it at base of the plant near the root's

[dreamer]

i read somewhere magnesium is good for yellowing/transparant plant, is it true?

[sammigold]

thank you I will get some root tabs.... what would be ideal light wattage? I will try and rectify that too at some stage... :oops: I just went by what my lfs said to me I bought the whole light from him along with the tubes..(tubes were fairly inexpensive)

[duck]

i read somewhere magnesium is good for yellowing/transparant plant, is it true?
It can be.

I think just start with putting the fert's in the substrate.
Aim for around the 2WPG +/-

[sammigold]

thanks duck... just for a noobs sake, what does +/- mean... (approx?)

[dreamer]

more or less ?

when i have my planted 10gln tank, the tank only has 15w fluro and my swords are growing mad. i used cheap granuled fertiliser instead of root tabs cost only $3 a tub of 500gr and sometimes i dose trace elements.

[sammigold]

more or less ?

when i have my planted 10gln tank, the tank only has 15w fluro and my swords are growing mad. i used cheap granuled fertiliser instead of root tabs cost only $3 a tub of 500gr and sometimes i dose trace elements.

yeh that makes sense, more or less :roll: im so silly... not familiar with putting alot of ferts in tanks so a bit scared that i will stuff up my lovely balance with ph/kh/nitrates etc. when you say "cheap granuled fert' what brand.. is it made for aquariums.. at moment am leaning toward root tab although more expensive just because dont know enough.. (i find it hard enough to keep plants alive in garden let alone aquarium!! :lol: :cry: )
better safe than sorry...

opinions?

[dreamer]

i dont remember the brand and is the general purpose ones you can pick at your local supermarket. i put the granuled fert in the substrate, it works for me maybe im just lucky :p

[duck]

To start with i would suggest that you buy a aquarium purpose fert,I found that Aquasonic tabs were very good and not to badly priced.

[sammigold]

thanks duck... I am definitely going to do that... as much as I appreciate that some non aquarium ferts can be used in tanks, i am not willing to take the risk as I dont know enough about the relevant ingredients.... but thanks dreamer for the suggestion... maybe when I know more about growing plants I may head down that road.. but for now I will be taking the safe and sure option...

[DarrenJThomas]

Hi

I recon that your problem is not enought iron. If you want to increase your iron levels just mix up some iron chelate from you local hardware store with some water. Dont go crazy with it just a small amount unitl the leaves return to normal. Another suggestion would be to add some epsoms salt. This can be added directly to the tank. I would use the same caution as the iron. Small regular amounts increased over time. The iron will be the main ingredient. It will return the leaves to green, but be careful algae loves iron as well.

I make my own fertiliser and my swards are going mental at the moment.

Have Fun HTH

[Roy]

Hey Sammi, ive had the same problem over the last two weeks, most noteably over the New Years weekend. Might be Melbourne water or the hot weather ??
I use the AZOO red ball root tabs, they last a few months and arent that expensive online (Age of Aquariums i think i got them).
Also the Iron Chelate from Bunnings is good as well, it hasnt upset my tank at all, about 1/2 a teaspoon every week mixed into some tank water after a water change.
Hope this helps.

Roy

[sammigold]

thank you Roy and darrenjthomas

My liquid fertiliser (aquamaster) contains :
N,P,K (2.6-,0,-5.0)
chelates of Iron,,copper, maanganese,boron and zinc
It is phosphate free.

If I add more iron chelate is there a danger of overdoing it as there is no mention of the amount of iron chelates in the fert. on the bottle..

Since I have left the light on longer i notice that the swords have got alot of green shoots so I suppose now I just have to be patient... will probably get root tabs this week and start with them first give them some time to work ie. about 4 weeks.... then if that isnt doing enough may try some further solutions in regard to iron chelates what do you think?

[DarrenJThomas]

You should still monitor your iron levels to ensure that it is not above 0.1ppm

The result of over dosing will be an increase in algae. So i wouldnt worry about over dosing as this can be reduced by a water change. Just as Roy meantioned add 1/2 a teaspoon a week if you dont see a change over say 4 weeks increase it to 1tsp. Dont forget you should keep everything else constant ie the number and voloume of water changes you make. It is best to find out what is happening with your plants by changing one factor at a time. If you are going to add the fert balls then dont use the iron chelate and vice versa. If after 4 weeks there is no change using the fert balls then try the iron chelate

[sammigold]

thanks, that is the plan...

[OscarManAlpha]

IMO sword plants need to be fed from the roots.

The ball type ferts are great for the long run, but if you want to see results sooner I would recommend Sera florenette A.

I just put 1/2 a Tab under each plant you should see results in under 14 days. If it goes yellow again in a few months treat again. One packet lasts me for many moons.

And you can be confident it won't harm your fish.

HTH

Cheers,

Mark

[sammigold]

ok... I got some sera-floraplus tabs the other day and have put them in under my swords roots... now i am just going to wait.... what I did notice though as I was putting the tabs in is that they (the swords) are starting to shoot heaps of new shoots and they feel pretty strong so maybe the liquid fert was helping as was increasing the light time again... now I am just going to be patient for a month and see what happens.... thanks for all the help guys..... will keep updated.

[DarrenJThomas]

I will be interested in the outcome of your experiment. Make sure you keep us all posted :)

[sammigold]

I will.... :D :D :D

[RK]

i had the same problem with my swords.

combination of 2 things fixed it for me.

1) my swords were buried too deep. so i pulled them out a bit, so that the middle area where the plant sprouts from was above the gravel.
2) i put flourish tabs under the plant.

after this the plants took off bigtime. they became really dense and big and just the most brilliant green.

[sammigold]

Getting new growth on my swords.... have put root tabs in...sera-floraplus i think they were called... the only thing I found is that they crumbled before I even got them out of the pack.... (Lucky I didnt buy the 150tablet pack!!) This made it hard to put in and I think I lost abit to the water anyway so far I seem to have regrowth...

still being patient....

although must say I couldnt help myself today and bought myself a beautiful tall broad leaf sword and another nice bushy specimen and am now determined to see these ones stay as they are. (healthy!) :lol: ...

fingers crossed... more updates in weeks to come....

[sammigold]

Here are a couple of photos of the regrowth of my swords....
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a328/sammigold/amazonregrow.jpg

and another...different plant, still sword...
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a328/sammigold/amazregrow2.jpg

and here is a picture of my two new swords... one broadleaf and the other is a different one...like the one i have regrowing....pics abit yellowy as I took with flash when light was off in tank...
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a328/sammigold/newswords.jpg

hope you like.. :D

[DarrenJThomas]

I hope you didnt startle you fish too much LOL

It will be good to see the growth in a couple of months.

[sammigold]

LOL They are used to me!!! although I was taking photos just before the tank light went out so they hadnt gone to sleep yet... (the light went out as I was taking the shots :lol: )