# Plants growing fine but bottom leaves die



## shibby12435 (Nov 8, 2007)

I've had this tank set up for about 6 months. Its just a 10 gallon because that is all the air force says i can have in room....so its better than nothing. The tank is cycled and the ammonia and nitrite levels stay at 0. The tank being so small, and me maybe having a few 2 many fish i sometimes have high nitrate levels. Right now there is some lily pads from walmart, water wisteria, and some stuff i found in a lake on base a couple days ago. The plants grow quickly and appear healthy, but as the plants grow the bottom leaves always turn brown and fall off. As u can see from my pics the water wisteria only has leaves on the very top. I have an incandescent hood with 2 compact florescent bulbs. The bulbs are from lowes and are full spectrum bulbs and i believe they are 15 watt. I have root tabs in the gravel, i add liquid fertilizer, and have a DIY co 2 system. any help would be great, im trying desperately to have a natural looking planted aquarium.


----------



## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Welcome to APC 

Usually that is a sign of lack of light. But you should have enough light for the plants you have if the bulbs are in fact 15 watts each. I would double check the wattage and also check the K rating.

On the other hand it could be a nutrient difenciency. _Which ferts are you using?_


----------



## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Here, http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...ects/45208-diy-mod-perfecto-10-gal-light.html, is a thread about what I am doing with a ten gallon tank. Adding reflectors for those bulbs does add significantly more light in the tank.

I suspect that the liquid fertilizer you use is just a trace mixture, such as Leaf Zone, so you probably are starving the plants. They need nitrates, phosphates and potassium, as well as calcium and magnesium in order to grow well. Visit the Fertilizing Forum and see if you can find a good fertilizing routine for you.


----------



## shibby12435 (Nov 8, 2007)

i am using leaf zone, with API root tabs. I checked the bulbs they are both 13 watts, so thats 26 watts for 10 gallons, 2.6 watts per gallon. Ill check out the fertilizer forum and pick up some good stuff hopefully that will solve my problem.


----------



## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

The wattage rule breaks down in a 10G tank, so you have less than 2.6wpg. See this link... http://www.rexgrigg.com/mlt.html

Although your using root tabs their really no benifit to stem plants since they absorb their nutrients through the water column. Get yourself a good micro & macro nutrients. Seachem makes a good line... http://www.seachem.com/home/home.html


----------



## shibby12435 (Nov 8, 2007)

I just read the site on the 10 gallon light requirement. According to that it says that somewhere in the range of 71 watts is right for a 10 gallon. Is anyone actually using this much wattage? I dont even think my cheapo incandescent hood can handle that. Right now i only have 23 watts on the 10 gallon so im probably gonna go out and replace the 10 watt bulb with maybe a 20 or 25 watt to give me a total or 40-45 watts. Is this a good way to go? or should i just get low light plants? thank you for the help im lost on what to do


----------



## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

I have two 15 watt screw in fluorescent bulbs on my ten gallon tank. It isn't high light, but it certainly is moderate light. If they would fit I would try some 23 watt bulbs, and I'll bet that would get the light up to high light. Reflectors that actually reflect a substantial portion of the light from the parts of the bulb that don't point towards the tank make a big difference. Making mylar reflectors as I did was very easy, so why not try that?


----------



## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

I have a 10 and it's using the ahs 36W kit. I have also used the ahs 2 x13w kits. The 2 x 13 works well for most plants except for the more light demanding ones, and I would recommend starting with something similar until you know what you're doing. IMO, I can't imagine needing 71W for a 10 gal tank.


----------

