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all my plants are turning brown please help

Joined
26 Mar 2009
Messages
43
as in the title,i seem to be losing all my plants they are all turning brown,i,m using tpn+ at 10mls per day and injecting co2,the tank is 240 ltrs,temp of 25c lights on for 9 hrs,ive got all the dry ferts to start EI and was going to start on monday any help greatly recieved,ive lost loads of plants already so could do with help not to lose any more.
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Hi,
Plants melting and turning brown are a CO2 issue. You'll need to add more CO2. It's not clear from some of the photos whether this is structural decay or whether there is something brown on the surface of the plants. If it's structural then it's definitely CO2. if it's an algae then it's probably poor PO4. These are all driven by your level of lighting so you should think about lowering the light by about 50% until you have the proper CO2 levels and dosing levels.

Cheers,
 
the vallis is rotting, and the brown on the swords rubs off,but not all of it i think the co2 is at the maximum level for the fish,this is my drop checker using 4dkh solution

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should i just throw away all the affected plants and start again using EI from day one?i really just want a nice planted tank for me and my fish to enjoy :(
 
No need to chuck the plants out. Up your water changes, syphon off as much algae as possible and check your CO2 is being diffused all around the tank. How long has the tank been set up and do you have fish in yet? If not then turn the CO2 up further to make sure you don't have a CO2 issue. Don't forget to dose after each water change and each day with TPN+.
 
The tank has been running about 12 weeks,6 of those doing a fishless cycle,the fish are already in the tank so dont think i can crank the co2 up any more,i did have a phosphate remover in the external filter but removed it yesterday on the advice from clive,ive had the drop checker in several positions in the tank and i'm getting the same readings where ever its placed. at present i'm changing 100ltrs of water every week,should i just carry on with the tpn+ til its all gone or after the next water change start with EI? I've just trimmed all the brown leaves off the plants so i suppose i'll just have to see how things go over the next couple of weeks,another problem i have is i cant drop the ph to low cause of the nerite snails.so 30ppm of co2 is not going to be acheivable. Clive suggests cutting the lighting by 50% does that mean just having the lights on for 4 hours instead of 8? if so will it still be ok to have the co2 running for 9 hrs,sorry for all these questions,i'm new to planted tanks and just want to get things right.
 
I would say from your DC colour that the CO2 at that area is around the 30ppm mark anyway. Don't worry about the fish unless you see them struggling. At weekends or days you have spare to regularly check turn the co2 up slightly until you see the fish going to the top. Then turn it down a notch or 2.

It could well be that you are injecting more than enough but circulation is failing. Looks like you have high plantmass or regions with high plant mass. What filter/circulaiton are you using?

Try the DC near the substrate in one of these regions. No need to be able to see it as you can just remove it to look and then put it in another area similar. However you won't be looking for light green in these regions near the substrate. You will be looking for a darker green otherwise higher in the water column the ppm will be very high :)

Saying all the above I think the phosphate remover may well have been a key element of your troubles :)

AC
 
Please also bear in mind that nothing good happens in a fish tank quickly! As Andy hinted you've had 6 weeks removing one of the main food sources for your plants so it may take a little time for things to come good. Just make sure your CO2, circulation and ferts are good and kept good for a few weeks and I'm sure you'll see great results.
 
this is my tank
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as you can see the co2 reactor is on the left just under the spray bar,the juwel internal in the other corner has the flow pointing at the surface,whats the best solution for gettig co2 to the bottom right hand side of the tank?the drop checker is now in the top right hand side of the tank about 10cm below the surface,ill move it to the bottom right corner tomorrow and see what results i get.
 
Not as heavily planted as I thought and therefore should be less trouble with flow until it grows. I would concentrate on the PO4 as Ceg suggested.

Ceg meant by 50% light to turn a tube off if possible. If not then reduce your photoperiod to 6 hours for a wekk or 2 to see if there are any changes :)

I see the TPN+ bottle there. Do you have any KH2PO4 to add as an extra boost? Some water in the UK (where George and I live in Lincolnshire for example) is quite high in PO4 already where other areas aren't.

AC
 
Have read of this

Clive has kindly put this together a long with a solution based on a 20 gallon tank. Basically you'll need to figure out how many gallons you're tank is then multiply the dosage accordingly i.e. if your tank is 40 gallons just double the dosage of the 20 gallon set up.
 
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