Why are my amazon swords turning brown?

[bristlenose]

Hi all,

I'm pretty new to planted aquariums and I'm running into some issues. I've got a 60 gal tall tank with Zorchzon swords, jungle Val, and a few other plants. My jungle Val has never really taken off, and now my Zorchzon swords are starting to wrinkle and get a bit brown. I'm thinking I might have some kind of deficiency going on. I had to re-cycle the tank recently because I wiped out all my beneficial bacteria while treating for velvet. Any advice would be great.

My tank specs are:
- 60 gal
- Ammonia: 0
- Nitrites: 0
- Nitrates: 5-10
- PH: 7.6
- Lighting: about 2 watts per gallon
- Stocking: around 70%
- I'm dosing with Flourish and Flourish Iron, and I just started with liquid Co2 to see if that helps. I've also got root tabs on hand.

I'm stumped, so any thoughts are welcome.

[boomer]

First off, I'd love to see some photos of your tank and the plants you're struggling with.

Second, what's your fish load looking like? Are you running a pretty heavy bioload in that 60-gallon tank?

Third, what's your source water's general hardness (GH)? This is crucial because if you've got very soft water, the fertilizers alone might not be providing enough of those essential minerals for your plants.

Fourth, can you give me some details on your lighting setup? What type of lighting are you using - T5, T8, LED? What's the wattage and spectrum (Kelvin rating)? And how many hours a day are your lights on?

With this info, I should be able to help you figure out what's going on with your plants.

[bristlenose]

I'll try to post a picture when I get home, but my iPhone says the images are too big.

My fish load is 10 tiger barbs, 2 dwarf gouramis, 1 german blue ram, 1 butterfly Pleco, and a few snails.

I live in Nevada, and I know our water is very hard, so I'm not sure if I need an additional source of GH.

My lighting is a dual T5HO, 54 watts each, so 108 watts total. I think the bulbs are 6500 and 10k, but I'll double-check when I'm home.

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.

[boomer]

I still want to see those photos, but I'll add a bit more based on the info you've given me. The velvet treatment can be tough on plants, so it's possible they're still recovering.

I asked about your fish load because they're the main source of nitrogen. With your stock, you should be fine on that front. Just a tip: don't vacuum the substrate too much during water changes. Leave some of the organics in there, as they're important for nitrogen and CO2.

Given your water in Nevada is hard, I don't think GH is an issue, so we can set that aside. Vallisneria should thrive in harder water, by the way.

The brown on your sword leaves might be algae from the light or too much iron. I'll wait for the photos to get a better idea.

Speaking of iron, I'd hold off on adding it for now. Failing plants usually indicate an imbalance between light and nutrients. That brings me to your lighting. I should've asked earlier, but what's the duration and what are the tank dimensions (length, width, height)? Too much light can harm plants just as much as too little.

One last thing: what's the liquid carbon product you're using? If it's Excel or API CO2 Booster, I'd stop using it. They contain glutaraldehyde, a toxic disinfectant that I wouldn't put in a fish tank. Vallisneria can be particularly sensitive to this chemical. If you're using one of these, that could be the issue. I'll wait for the photos to get a better idea of what's going on.

[bristlenose]

I've got my light on for about 10 hours a day now, I had it a bit longer before but I decided to turn it down a notch. I double-checked my T5 bulbs and they're indeed 6700 and 10k. Also, I figured I should mention my substrate mix - it's roughly 60% Eco-complete fluorite and 40% gravel, all mixed together.

[boomer]

After reviewing the photos, I can see that the brown discoloration on the sword leaves isn't caused by algae. This leads me to believe that we're dealing with an issue related to nutrients and light. I've had good success with the 6700 and 10k bulb combination in the past, having used it over my 115g tank for a couple of years.

The intensity of the T5HO lights is quite high, so reducing the duration might help alleviate the problem. I recommend decreasing the lighting duration to 8 hours a day, and if necessary, we can reduce it further.

I would also advise stopping the iron and liquid carbon dosing. Instead, let's try dosing Flourish Comprehensive twice a week, once after the water change and again three days later. Give this a few weeks to settle and see how the plants respond.

Additionally, adding some floating plants could help balance things out.

[bristlenose]

I really appreciate your help with this, it means a lot. The tank dimensions are 24" tall and 48" long. I went with the HO T5's since the tank is taller, I thought that would be a good idea. I've stopped dosing the iron and liquid carbon, I'll just wait and see what happens now.

I'm still wondering if the substrate could be the problem. I was told to use the fluorite, so I just went with it. I'm not sure if it's causing any issues. Do you think too much light could be killing the Val's? I know you mentioned it could be harming the plants, but would it cause them to turn brown like that?

Also, I'm interested in trying out some floating plants. I had some Duckweed before, but my barbs loved to eat it, so I'm not sure if I just need a bigger batch or something else entirely. What would you recommend for a tank like mine?

[boomer]

Thank you for the kind words, I'm glad to be of help. I've been thinking about this issue and I have to say, diagnosing specific plant problems can be a real challenge. There are often related issues at play, making it tough to pinpoint the exact cause.

For instance, a calcium deficiency can sometimes appear as an excess of iron, even if the iron levels are actually within the normal range. It's a bit of a puzzle, but one that we can work through.

I've seen intense lighting cause plants to yellow and slowly decline, but usually, you'd also see an increase in algae growth. So, I'm not convinced that lighting is the sole issue here.

If I were to suggest a lighting setup for this tank, I'd recommend dual T8 tubes with two 48-inch tubes. However, since you already have the T5 setup, I think we can make it work with some adjustments. Reducing the daily duration to 8 hours is a good starting point. If that doesn't seem to help, we can try reducing it further.

I do have a question about your light fixture: can you remove one tube and still have the other functioning? Some fixtures allow this, depending on the wiring. If you can, removing one tube and replacing it with a 6700K daylight tube might be a good option.

Another thought that occurred to me is whether your fixture can take normal output (NO) tubes instead of high output (HO) tubes. NO T5 tubes are similar in intensity to T8 tubes, and they might be a better fit for your tank.

As for floating plants, I think you'll want to focus on ones with some substance. Water Sprite, Water Lettuce, and Frogbit are all great options. You can also try using stem plants like Brazilkento4 Pennywort or Wisteria. Some people have success with Red and Green Tiger Lotus, which produce floating leaves similar to a water lily.

Regarding your substrate, I've had some experience with Flourite in the past. I used it as the sole substrate in my 70g tank for two years before switching to play sand. To be honest, I didn't notice any significant improvement in plant growth with the Flourite. That being said, it's not doing any harm, so you can stick with it. Just keep in mind that it might not be the best choice for substrate fish like loaches and cories.

Don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of this. It may take a few weeks for the plants to respond to any changes we make, so be patient. I'm suggesting a few changes to start with, but if things don't improve, we can try making further adjustments one at a time.

[bristlenose]

I don't think they make NO bulbs that fit my lamp, unfortunately. My lights are set for 8 hours now, so we'll see how that goes. I'm also getting a bigger batch of duckweed, hopefully it'll be enough to keep up with my barbs. Fingers crossed it'll reproduce fast enough. I'll keep updating on how everything's doing.

[bristlenose]

Just got my GH and KH test kit results. My GH is around 300-350 and my KH is 8 dKH.