what parameters do I need to check to save my amazon swords?

[Anonymous]

55g w/ 200+ w lighting, on a staggered 14 hr timing schedule, ph mid 6's, amm/ni/na all at zero levels, temp around 79. Using a mixed flourite substrate. Have not checked CO2 or anything else yet. Have not added any kind of fertilizer or plant additives.
The tank has both a plumbed sump/filter and a canister filter.

It's only been a couple weeks since I planted them, and the plants are slowly dying off. The leaves get brown spots/patches which soon turn clear as the leaf dies. What do I need to be checking on here?
I'm a pretty good gardener, but I see aquatic plants may be trickier than I anticipated.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok, more reading suggests I definitely need to be adding fertilizer already. I'll get that today. From the other thread, Flourish excel and iron?

Second, is my sump losing too much CO2 with the water turbulence from that plumbed drop maybe? I can find a way to plug it up and stop using it if need be.

Third, I have a couple decently strong powerheads in there, trying to simulate a current as a stream might have. Too much water movement releasing CO2 there as well?

 

[Anonymous]

iron, and it's quite common for swords to shed their old leaves after transplanting-especially if the lighting is different from where they came from

brown spots with yellow edging is either light burn, lack of iron (chlorosis), or both, and clearish spots that get mushy fast is often a sign of not enough carbonates/carbon

the trick to swords is also in the planting-you should take great care to first clean off/strip ALL and any brown matter, roots or leaves (i also remove the outer ring of leaves from the crown-give a very sharp tug down and outward from the center, while holding the center leaves and root ball firmly but not crushingly, heh

THEN (and this is THE most important rule for planting swords) DO NOT BURY THE CROWN! use two fingers to push the gravel away from the root ball while holding the plant with two fingers above the spot where it's to be located, place in the depression deeply, never using the plant to move the gravel -THEN tug upwards gently just until you see both the leaf 'ends' and the white root tips-if the crown gets buried/damaged, the entire plant will likely rot

just submerge the pipe end into the sump, don't worry about the circulation/CO2 issue in the tank for now-plants appreciate good water flow just like fish do (besides, the excel is independent of circulation as a source for the carbon

 

[Anonymous]

oh, and as long as you see new leaf shoots from the crown center, outer leaves dying off slowly isn't a great worry

 

[Anonymous]

brown spots with yellow edging is either light burn, lack of iron (chlorosis), or both, and clearish spots that get mushy fast is often a sign of not enough carbonates/carbon

I think I'm seeing both. I gave the tank a big dose of all 3 products in the Searchem plant pack yesterday, flourish, excel, and iron, and reduced my light timing cycle by a couple hours. The lights are 4X65W power compacts. All 4 are only on together for about 4 hours at midday.

Thanks Vitz. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Anonymous]

heh.

try not to ever start with a big dose of anything-it's far more sensible to make changes slowly-swords don't like major fast changes -it's one of the triggers for leaf dropping while growing new light level adjusted leaves

just give 6-8 hrs of all lights, if you want to --funky timing ain't really necessary for plants (or, for that matter, corals, heh)

g'luck

 

[Anonymous]

Ah. Thanks for the tip. I went by th guidelines on the bottles for a first time dosage.
Now that I'm home though, I will say the plants look markedly better already. All the parts that had not yet gotten brown are a brighter green again than yesterday. Probably a lack of carbon was the main problem.

With the lighting, I'm just aiming for as close to natural light levels as possible with what I have. And trying to keep the lights on at times when we're home to enjoy watching the tank. Hence my staggered lighting setup. This light fixture has a built-in moonlight as well. The funky lighting is more for my enjoyment. As long as I know a few hours of 260W isn't too much for the plants, it's not a big concern.