# Melted plants and other questions :-)



## Witchy (May 26, 2014)

I know some plants melt after transplants, and i expected it from two of my newest editions, but a few melted in transit and what didnt melt then, melted since then. Heres a list of whats melted in less than a week:

3 corkscrew val
1 crypt florida sunset 
1/2 of a crypt Ponte

Now the crypts i know tend to melt. The corkscrew val i did not expect. They were not grown emersed, they came from another tank. Is that normal for those to melt? Also is there anything special i need to do for them? The crypt sunset and the vals are melted to the roots, and the vals im having a hard time keeping them in the substrate, my hooligan corys keep uprooting them. Anything i should do? 

Part two: Could this be caused from my utter lack of kh/gh in my water? My ph is low as well. (1kh/gh, 6.5+/- ph) 

Addition, the only ferts they get are from the activflora substrate and the fish. They are also lovingly tended by a herd of ramshorns. No CO2, light i was told is low- 1 zoo med tropic sun 5500k 15w t8, maybe a little ambient sunlight but no direct.. No driftwood in the tank. 




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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

*Any photos of the damaged plants?*

What size tank is this? 15w is very low, but it depends on the size of the tank.

Also, flourish excel and other "liquid CO2" products are known to damage vals. Vals are also unable to be grown emersed they are an aquatic submersed only plant.

Vals also do like higher GH/KH water but I'm not sure that would outright kill them.


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## Witchy (May 26, 2014)

Its a 20high. The vals had partially melted just in transit, then were completely gone in 24 hours. Other than when they were shipped, they went from one tank to another. Im kind of mystified as to why they all melted. 


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Is your tank 16 inches high or about 24 inches high? There are two types of 20g high.

LxWxH
20g High: 24 1/4 x 12 1/2 x 16 3/4 
20g Extra High: 20 1/4 x 10 1/2 x 23 3/4

Either way, 15w is quite low light. If possible add another 15 watt fixture (or even 2 extra for a total of 30-45 watts). 15 watts might not be enough light to grow much of anything in your tank. I suppose you could always wait and see what grows, but your light will definitely limit your future plant choice.

As for the cories uprooting plants. I don't think there is much you can do to stop that, unless you make some kind of a barrier around the plants to protect them.


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## TropTrea (Jan 10, 2014)

When I used T=8 and T-12 Florescent light I always tried to gave at least 2 Watts per gallon. With higher light demanding plants like the Val I would even go a lot closer to 3 watts per gallon. 

Years ago I had an extra tall 30 gallon bit after trying different plants and light set ups I gave up trying to grow plants in it. Today with LED lighting I think you can have better success and LED's can concentrate the light much better. 

From my experience the crypts should happy with lighting as all the crypts I had loved the low light once they got past there initial transplant sock. 

If adding extra light is not an option for you you might want to up the photo period but you do not to run it over 16 hours as the plants do need a good respiration period of no to extremely low light as well.


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## Witchy (May 26, 2014)

Just the regular high, not the show high. 16in tall. 

Well see im not having a problem with the rest growing... The rest of my plants are growing like crazy actually. The only ones without new leaves are the ones that melted, well except the crypt sunset, it popped up a little leaf overnight. My banana plant alone gets at least 2-3 inches a day each new leaf. The vals so far have been the only plants that have melted in tank. Which struck me as odd since they were half melted out of the box. 



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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Sounds like this might be a temporary problem then. We can wait and see if it improves in the next week or two. It might just have melted because it was damaged from shipping and environmental change.


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## Witchy (May 26, 2014)

Ok. Hopefully they bounce back. They sure do look nice when they actually have leaves. Now i just need to figure out my budget for this months plant order. Lol. Ive got 2 tanks started and eventually planning on going walstad on a 5 ive got sitting empty. 


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