Plants not Healthy - Light or Fert (or both I Guess)

[John44]

Really need some pointers

The setup

Tank Info and Water Parameters etc

Juwel Trigon 190 Aquarium
190 Litres

Filtration
Eheim 2178 Professional 3e 600T Thermofilter

CO2
DD Freshwater CO2 Set

Lighting
High-Lite Light Unit 70 cm, 2 x 28 W - come as standard

Substrate
TMC AquaGro Nutrasoil Brown 10 Litres x 2

Circulation boost

2 x Koralia at 900 l/h


Weekly water change 40%

Typical Chemistry mid week

NH3 - 0
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 20 - 40

Midday Ph 7.6 and KH 7 drops so CO2 ppm - 5.3
at 9 pm Ph 6.6 and KH 6 drops so CO2 ppm - 45.2

Current Fertilizer

Bi Weekly addition of 20ml of JBL Ferropol

I have a drop check which turns green and have moved this around the tank and it changes no matter where it is



So whats my problem, its the plants, for the first 4 months they looked healthy and green and grew at speed now they look dirty and ill and growth has slowed down

I have changed nothing so am assuming its either a Lighting issue or a Fertilizer issue but pointers really appreciated


Pictures below


Before


and now

Regards
John B

 

[Zeus.]

Not an expert, but had a similar issue my self. When over to tropicas web site and read their section on lighting.
Not sure on your plants requirements but let's say easy/medium.

So you need 20w per litre for T5 tubes.
190litres x 20w so 3800 lumen which should be enough to grow all easy plants and some medium ones if everything else is good.

You have two 28w T5's

So say 40 lumen per watt

40 x 28 x 2 = 2240 lumen total, dependant on tubes output and if reflectors fitted.

How long is your photoperiod ?

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[John44]

I have the lights on for 6 hours and Co2 starts 1 hour before the lights go on and finishes 1 hour before the lights go off

John B

 

[xim]

JBL Ferropol contains only Potassium and Traces which is probably adequate for a fish tank with some plants and no CO2 injection. For a CO2 injected planted tank, you also need Nitrogen and Phosphorus.

 

[rusticdr]

I agree with Xim. Ferropol does not contain nitrates and phosphates. Only Trace elements. And how tall is ur tank..

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[John44]

Thanks - its 46cm

Im getting the message that im deficient in Nitrogen and Phosphorus - any recommended products

John B

 

[GPaul]

You can try seachem or buy salts and mix it.


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[John44]

thanks I have order some Seachem Nitrogen and Phosphorus - lets see if that helps

John B

 

[John44]

So i do now have Nitrogen and Phosphorus- so hopefully in a few weeks I will see some improvement - thanks for you help

regards
John B

 

[rusticdr]

Good luck to u.. Keep us posted

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[Silviu Man]

Hi.
Nice tank and combination of plants.
But, in my opinion, your problem comes exactly from the combination of plants. Almost all plants are slow growing, meaning that is not a matter of fertilization but of use of nutrients from the water by the pants. This because why there are also a lot of green algae and the nitrates are pretty high. An simple increase in light could help the plants but also algae. So my advice is to add some fast growing plants, maybe floating plants, some algae eaters (Amano, Oto, Spiral) and to gradually increase the light. As fertilization you can use a complete formula from Dennerle or Tropica, for low populated aqvarium. Microsorum pteropus is not very difficult but need a little more light and complex of nutrients in water. Same for the others.