New Tank/ struggling plants

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Hello from the Carolinas in the US. Viewed the content here often and decided to drop in thanks to Tim Harrison’s suggestion. I have just set up a 40 gallon breeder with a 20 gallon sump divided into three sections using poret foam. Substrate is mineralized soil capped with safe t sorb and then AS Amazonia II (realized I needed more AS and instead of shelling out more money I improvised with topsoil). I am using tap water which is moderately hard, pH 9-10 most likely based on what I’ve seen from local water reports. I am injecting CO2 through a Venturi rector in my sump, so that when the bubbles escape the rector they get sucked right into my pump. It seems to be getting distributed quite well throughout my tank. Friday will make one week since I first planted, and so far half of my stocking doesn’t look too good at all. The plants that are noticeably struggling are rotala nanjenshan, Star repens, and Echinodorus tenellus. The rotala at the very tips are showing new green growth, but very small. The Star repens leaves have mostly melted away, with the stem in tact, however no new growth. The E. Tenellus leaves are starting to yellow and become translucent, also with no obvious new growth. I did not dose anything until yesterday and today, I’m following EI with dry ferts. This is not my first planted aquarium and I do understand that melt can occur for various reasons. However, I know my substrate is rich, I’m running the Twinstar900S at full power for about 3 hours at full power and it ramps up and down as the day progresses. The plants are receiving at least 50% or more power of the light for 6 hours a day.

The first couple pictures are from the day I planted, the crummy looking ones are where the tank stands now. The limnophila has new growth that looks promising but it’s my first time growing it.

I am sure Im missing something so if anything else needs to be elaborated on please let me know. Thanks in advance for the assistance.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Well it seems impatience was my issue. However, the Rotala nanjenshan didn’t recover and frankly I didn’t really care for it when it was in the tank. Lots of the Stauro melted away but I still have 4 or so stems that made it and are sprouting tiny brand new leaves all over the stems

 

[Siege]

A free thoughts.

- your tank is just over 200L plus sump?

- temp should be 22-23 degrees C.

- what is your light regime. With a new tank and Twinstar S you’d generally go for 6-8 hours at 50% including a a very quick ramp up/down. Slowly turning the intensity up over a month.

- when does your co2 come on? You want a nice lime green at lights on. With no shrimp/livestock go yellow on a new tank.

- you look very lightly planted. The soil should be covered in tiny plantlets.

- water change regime?

basically looks like too much light in comparison to low co2. Plants are too well spaced, they like to be near their mates.


S.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

A free thoughts.

- your tank is just over 200L plus sump?

Around 220L

- temp should be 22-23 degrees C.

24 C

- what is your light regime. With a new tank and Twinstar S you’d generally go for 6-8 hours at 50% including a a very quick ramp up/down. Slowly turning the intensity up over a month.

Lights come on at 0600 at 15% and ramp up to 100% by 1200. Ramps down starting at 1400 and hits 15% again by 1600, staying that way till 2100. I keep it at the low setting so I can view the tank throughout the day.

- when does your co2 come on? You want a nice lime green at lights on. With no shrimp/livestock go yellow on a new tank.

I don’t use a drop checker or anything to check the CO2, it is injected via a Venturi reactor and when looking at the tank it has micro bubbles throughout the entirety of the tank.


- you look very lightly planted. The soil should be covered in tiny plantlets.

Yes I need to add more plants to the foreground, this was my miscalculation when ordering.

- water change regime?

Water changes have been every couple days.

basically looks like too much light in comparison to low co2. Plants are too well spaced, they like to be near their mates.


S.

 

[Siege]

Thanks for the reply.
You have a long light period even for an established tank. More so for a new tank.

At low light levels plants won’t be able to use it much but algae will!

on a new tank we generally go for a 15 min ramp up, 6 hours of light at say 60%, followed by a 15min ramp down.

gradually increase the intensity over a month or so and increase to 8 hours. This can be 2-10 for example.

co2 on perhaps 3-4 hours before lights on to aim for a light green colour at lights on.

water changes every couple of days. 50% min. Gradually reducing to weekly.

hope that helps.


S.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Thanks for the reply.
You have a long light period even for an established tank. More so for a new tank.

At low light levels plants won’t be able to use it much but algae will!

on a new tank we generally go for a 15 min ramp up, 6 hours of light at say 60%, followed by a 15min ramp down.

gradually increase the intensity over a month or so and increase to 8 hours. This can be 2-10 for example.

co2 on perhaps 3-4 hours before lights on to aim for a light green colour at lights on.

water changes every couple of days. 50% min. Gradually reducing to weekly.

hope that helps.


S.

thanks for your response, I think your right about the light period. Today I noticed some GSA on the wood and rocks that I toothbrushed off and did a WC. I will adjust the lighting and CO2 start time. I plan to acquire more stauro repens, mini hygro and mini AR to help fill in more of the foreground. Thanks again, it’s been a long time since I had a full setup and monitoring progress.