# why are my plants looking so bad



## bubbleBubble (Feb 23, 2011)

Hi Tank People,
I am new to the whole planted aquarium thing, and I'm having some issue with some of my plants. i believe there is plenty of light and have a good CO2 ratio, but 2 of my plants ( dwarf baby tears & Ludwiga - Broad) aren't looking too good. The baby tears are turning yellowish brown and the Ludwiga look like they are wilting. And various other plants have browning leaves (which I'm thinking is diatoms).

The tank was originally setup as a fish tank and i recently started to reconstruct it, to add some plants. Added substrate under the gravel, & added a DIY CO2. 
Here are all the stats for the tank:
40g wide, 
2 lights (36in standard light with 2 15w Flora fluorescent tubes (front), & 20in dome with 2 60w compact fluorescent lights (back row) where 90% of the plants are)
PH = 6.5, KH =40, GH = 180, Nitrite = 0, & Nitrate = 160. 

Now I know the nitrate are very high and have begone water changes. But could the nitrate being causing such a problem with my plants. And is there anyway I can speed the process up?

I must state that the plants in the tank are only about 2-4 weeks old.
Picture should be attached

Thanks ahead of time.
Bubble


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## NeonFlux (May 15, 2008)

Ouch, nitrate IS highh. You have to do a 50% partial water change, like right now. Try and get it to 10-20. Put in more fast-growing plants. I'm afraid the plants on the foreground is not a true aquatic plant. They may deteriorate, decay, and eventually die, so I recommend taking them out.. Do you dose any nutrients into the tank? Do you know about NPK? You could be experiencing potassium deficiency.


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## bubbleBubble (Feb 23, 2011)

as for the foreground plants, during my research on how to get fix my plants I realized that the foreground plants were a waste of time and money. *NEVER BUY PLANTS FROM PETCO!!!!* I will remove them today when i do the water change.
I have put in some liquid nutrients over the pass couple of weeks, but only the what the directions say. there are no substrate pellets fertilizer. the liquid nutrients say that it has potassium in it, but i will check to make sure.

Not sure what NPK is, but i will Google it.

the 50% water change will fix the nitrate problem? should i vacuum it out as well, will that help? (newbie questions)

thanks for the help


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