# HELP plants grow quickly 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.


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## XRTech (Jul 15, 2007)

Did the old leaves of the wisteria look different from the new leaves? Sometimes it's sold emersed and those leaves will die off when submerged. If that's the case, I would just trim off the naked stems and replant the top part.


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## Carissa1 (Aug 25, 2007)

If the plants were recently added, it's likely that they are just adapting to new water conditions. How are your nitrates? If you're sticking with the higher light and co2, you'll need to be fertilizing all macros/micros especially once your plants start filling out. Personally I would go for more like 20 watts of light to start with, but if you've had 30 watts for six months and you don't have algae problems yet you're probably ok. Wisteria is a form of hygro and I know with mine I usually end up throwing out the bottom parts of the stems as they lose their leaves.


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

shibby12435 said:


> ... I have root tabs in the gravel...


When you say root tabs in the gravel, what kind of root tabs are you using(I would not use anything but Seachem Fluorish root tabs) and what kind of gravel do you mean? Is it regular gravel? If it is, your substrate may be at the root of your problem. Consider using a good substrate like Schultz Aquatic soil, fluorite, eco-complete, laterite clay overlaid with traction sand or pea size gravel, or even Seachem Fluorish tabs underneath inert sand like pool filter sand.

The other thing that I could not help notice is that your tank is not densely planted with a lot of plants and while I know this has nothing to do with you question, you may seriously want to consider adding more plants and densely planting your tank especially with additional fast growing stem plants. Such stem plants are easily trimmed back or removed if you end up with too much growth, and this is a small thing compared to the major protection that a densely planted tank affords against the development of algae, which could end up taking a lot of time and effort to clean up.

Regards and Good Luck.


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## Mr. Fish (Oct 24, 2007)

Homer_Simpson said:


> The other thing that I could not help notice is that your tank is not densely planted with a lot of plants and while I know this has nothing to do with you question, you may seriously want to consider adding more plants and densely planting your tank especially with additional fast growing stem plants. Such stem plants are easily trimmed back or removed if you end up with too much growth, and this is a small thing compared to the major protection that a densely planted tank affords against the development of algae, which could end up taking a lot of time and effort to clean up.
> 
> Regards and Good Luck.


Listen to him, thats what I'm going thru now...
Fighting a war with Algae... I've almost depleted most it....


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

Mr. Fish said:


> Listen to him, thats what I'm going thru now...
> Fighting a war with Algae... I've almost depleted most it....


I feel your pain, bro  I learned that lesson the hard way. I have a 40 gallon tank. Wanting to rush into things, without thinking things out, I got the pressurized c02, upgraded lighting from 90 watts to 110 watts. The only thing that I failed to do was pack the tank full of plants before doing all of this. Now, I am left with a 40 gallon algae farm right in my living room and it is a real eye sore to say the least. That is a major bummer :doh: I have cut back light(even tried split photoperiod and noonburst), am dosing 2-3X Excel, got an army of algae eaters(otos, SAE, Bristlenose Pleco), increased water changes, and packed the tank full of plants including floating plants(lol,after the fact), following EI fert dosing, and I feel like I am fighting a losing battle. The tank remains an eyesore. At this point, if the things don't make a turn around within the next 3 months, I will likely waive the white flag of surrender to algae, accept defeat, tear the tank down, and start all over.

When it comes to algae, one thing that I have learned is that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.


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## Mr. Fish (Oct 24, 2007)

See I dont have that much algae but deff its an eyesore.... I hate the BBA as to destroys
your plant leafs... Im almost done killing it tho, but might come back as to I just switched
from DIY to Pressurized and havent found a good setting on it yet...Im at a bubble a sec but
my indicator is still light blue....


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