Bacopa melting

[Gaina]

My bacopa caroliniana has been in the tank for about 8 weeks now and it's melting in places. Here are some photos on my Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/BgySq00nayf/

My Gh is 6, ph 6.6 and temperature 25.5c. I'm using Colombo Florabase soil.

As far as I can tell I've got adequate flow around all my plants. Should I persevere with the new plant food a bit longer or relocate the plant?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Edvet]

We need more info on lighting, ferts, CO2? filtering, flow to see what could be wrong

 

[sciencefiction]

I agree a bit more info may be useful but bacopa generally doesn't need much care to grow well. It's a weed. Yours looks light deprived and also lack of ferts could be an additional issue.

 

[ceg4048]

My bacopa caroliniana has been in the tank for about 8 weeks now and it's melting in places. Here are some photos on my Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/BgySq00nayf/

My Gh is 6, ph 6.6 and temperature 25.5c. I'm using Colombo Florabase soil.

As far as I can tell I've got adequate flow around all my plants. Should I persevere with the new plant food a bit longer or relocate the plant?

Thanks in advance.

Melting leaves or deformity in leaves is always due to poor CO2, therefore you'll need to consider your injection rate (or injection timing) or consider the possibility that you have excessive light. Flow and flow distribution are also possible faults.

Plant food has nothing to do with this condition. It is strictly a CO2 issue.

Cheers,

 

[Gaina]

We need more info on lighting, ferts, CO2? filtering, flow to see what could be wrong

* No Co2. I weighed up the pros and cos and worst case scenarios of what could go wrong and decided not to go down that route (trust me, if anything can go wrong, it'll go wrong in MY aquarium! LOL) . If it turns out this plant just won't do well without adding Co2 then I'm OK with changing it for something more forgiving.

* Feeding daily with The Aquascaper Complete Food.

* Light is the standard LED that came with the Roma 125 (technical info on this light is proving frustrating to find!). Timer set for 5 hrs (it has a 'sunrise' and 'sunset' period).

*Filter is a fluval U3 and appears to be reaching all parts of the tank judging by the plant movement. I have the spray bar positioned to give decent surface agitation but not so strong it trashes my frogbit.

Hope this helps.

 

[Gaina]

I agree a bit more info may be useful but bacopa generally doesn't need much care to grow well. It's a weed. Yours looks light deprived and also lack of ferts could be an additional issue.

Thanks for the feedback. I was actually wondering if I should add another LED today, maybe the fluval one design for plant growth?

 

[sciencefiction]

Thanks for the feedback. I was actually wondering if I should add another LED today, maybe the fluval one design for plant growth?

Try high intensity light, shorter duration. Make sure the plants get direct light. I too grow mine in a low tech, no CO2. Mine is a different species, bacopa australis. I got it to carpet in a low tech with more light. Low light and it gets all leggy and generally poor looking, eventually would wither and die. It is very sensitive to low nutrients, such as iron and will pale out first of all plants so any colour change is indicative of nutrient issues. Besides that, it's a weed. It will grow floating as well.

Edit: Also, forgot to say but melting plants in a low tech is always a sign of lack of light....severe light deficiency. That's especially true for easy plants like bacopa that doesn't need much to grow....Your tank light is probably way too low and not plant targeted. Many LEDs are...even some expensive ones. They're not all equal, unlike the old T8s and T5s.

 

[alto]

Light is the standard LED that came with the Roma 125 (technical info on this light is proving frustrating to find!). Timer set for 5 hrs (it has a 'sunrise' and 'sunset' period).

Sf has it right
The stock lighting is wickedly weak for this tank dimensions
(You can pretty much count on Fluval to showcase their tanks with just added plants for the photoshoot & you won't find any aquascape "growth over time" videos, though they did produce some nice "setting up the aquascape" videos )


From Fluval website:

Aquarium dimensions: W80 X D35 X H50CM
Light: 10W LED LIGHT

Look at the LED placement - does is cover the length of the tank equally?
Can you count the # of LED?

I suspect the supplied lighting is built to general spec rather than particular LED etc components which is why it's difficult to find detailed information - emailing Fluval tech support with any specific serial numbers may elucidate some detail

Given the water column height (50 cm), look for higher watt (individual) LED as well as overall increased wattage on any additional LED lighting you add (HOT5 would likely come in significantly cheaper)

As you're not wanting to add CO2, you want to balance light intense enough to reach the substrate with available nutrients (including CO2 - heavily stocked fish can do a decent job of this but then I suspect the filter may be "underpowered" in that respect (unlike the Spec series which has massive filter area for tank size))
Use shorter periods of more intense lighting - Sf again

You could try one of the "liquid CO2" products - add small amounts daily just like your fertilizer
Weekly water change of 50% will help keep system balanced

If you have a Soda Steam system, you can also carbonize some tap water & add this daily for CO2

 

[Gaina]

Try high intensity light, shorter duration. Make sure the plants get direct light. I too grow mine in a low tech, no CO2. Mine is a different species, bacopa australis. I got it to carpet in a low tech with more light. Low light and it gets all leggy and generally poor looking, eventually would wither and die. It is very sensitive to low nutrients, such as iron and will pale out first of all plants so any colour change is indicative of nutrient issues. Besides that, it's a weed. It will grow floating as well.

Edit: Also, forgot to say but melting plants in a low tech is always a sign of lack of light....severe light deficiency. That's especially true for easy plants like bacopa that doesn't need much to grow....Your tank light is probably way too low and not plant targeted. Many LEDs are...even some expensive ones. They're not all equal, unlike the old T8s and T5s.

Thanks for the info, I will try floating it and seeing what happens. I'm starting to think the bacopa might just be in the wrong place, as the other plants (vallisneria, Crypt Wendtii and petchii, java fern, sagittaria teres, Echinodorus bleheri, Amazon Frogbit and Echinodorus Granat) are growing well - the few bits of java moss I have are even coming back to life!

 

[Gaina]

Sf has it right
The stock lighting is wickedly weak for this tank dimensions
(You can pretty much count on Fluval to showcase their tanks with just added plants for the photoshoot & you won't find any aquascape "growth over time" videos, though they did produce some nice "setting up the aquascape" videos )


From Fluval website:

Aquarium dimensions: W80 X D35 X H50CM
Light: 10W LED LIGHT

Yes, it reminds me a bit of the tricks food photographers use like dry ice to make a meal look like it's piping hot!

Look at the LED placement - does is cover the length of the tank equally?
Can you count the # of LED?

Yes it covers the length of the tank and there are 31 LEDs

I suspect the supplied lighting is built to general spec rather than particular LED etc components which is why it's difficult to find detailed information - emailing Fluval tech support with any specific serial numbers may elucidate some detail.

Ive just noticed a small amount of condensation inside the light cover which I'm sure isn't right so I'm going to email them about that anyway.

As you're not wanting to add CO2, you want to balance light intense enough to reach the substrate with available nutrients (including CO2 - heavily stocked fish can do a decent job of this but then I suspect the filter may be "underpowered" in that respect (unlike the Spec series which has massive filter area for tank size))
Use shorter periods of more intense lighting - Sf again

The filter is supposed to be good for tanks up to 150 liters so when I do a water change I'll double check the filter and make sure everything is working as it should.

I know I'm severely understocked fish-wise and I could also do with adding more plants, I just haven't got round to it yet thanks to the stupid flu that was kicking about. I'm adding more fish next week.

Thank you for your suggestions, I'll have a tweak and let you know how I get on.