Trickerie

Hey all,

I set up my first NPT recently, and have run into some issues. Heres my stats:

Tank: 25 gallon (19" H)
Substrate: soil topped with safe t sorb
Lighting: 2x Dual bulb t5 6700k fixtures, on top of tank
PH: 7.5
KH: 0-1d
GH: 5d

I've had two bunches of water wisteria totally melt and rot within 2 days. I also have another crypt melting and rotting quickly as well.

I raised the KH up to 5d, because I figured 0-1 was simply too low. What should I do? Am I doing something wrong?

Any advice is gladly welcome, as I am just a beginner in aquatic plant keeping

JeffyFunk

To answer your question, we are going to need some more information.

What type of soil did you use?
How deep is the soil? The capping material?

Personally, I suspect that the soil layer is either too thick (which would lead to anaerobic conditions which are detrimental to plants) or the soil was the incorrect type (i.e. had too much fertilizer in it which is bad...). Pictures are also helpful in determining the problem.

Trickerie

The soil I got was the Expert Gardener Potting Soil from Walmart.
I capped it with Safe T Sorb (fullers earth)

I tried to get the soil as close to 1" as possible, but some areas are shallower or deeper. However, I did try to get it as close as possible.

Here are some quick shots of what I experienced:





And heres an overview shot of the tank. I've since added a second dual t5 fixture:

JeffyFunk

The plant in the first picture looks like a cryptocoryne; It's not unusual for them to 'melt' when they are planted. I would simply vacuum out the dead / decaying parts and give it some time. They can be quite resilient and grow back from their root stock.

The plant in the second picture looks like water wisteria. Again, i would vacuum out the dead / decaying parts. This would also make a good floating plant since it's a fast grower. Give it time to see.

The overall tank looks good - i don't know about the microsword, though - they just don't seem to do well for me w/out CO2 injection. The sword plants look nice and healthy, however. They'll probably end up too big for the tank, but that's a good thing at this point. I would just make sure you maintain good aquarium conditions w/ weekly water changes for a while and daily removal of any dead / floating leaves.

Trickerie

The wisteria totally rotted off save for one small piece. The rest turned to mush. The crypt in the first picture has lost all leaves and has only a few small off shoots that still give me hope, but I'm not sure if they were there from the start. Im attempting some DIY CO2 today, so hopefully that will help a little bit. I'm just not sure whats going on. No plants are showing much growth except the moneywort on the right.

Trickerie

Moneywort's bottom leaves are browning, but the top is sprouting. Swords appear to be yellowing some. Is there anything im missing here? This is my first planted tank, so I'm open for all suggestions.

mariannep

Just an idea.. it could be that the plants were raised emmersed so that they now have to adjust to submerged life, and they do that by shedding their old leaves. If you see new growth and that holds and propers I would be patient and see if that's the case, before attempting any radical changes.

Trickerie

I'm hoping the same. However, I'm not sure that's the case. My swords new growths are looking nutrient deprived/brown. How does that make sense? My stem plants are turning to mush and dying. I'm not sure what to do.

mariannep

Do you see any pattern at all? Spots that may point to a specific deficiency, or browning starts at x then progresses towards y?

AaronT

Safe T Sorb is dropping your pH and the plants don't like it / are adjusting to the new parameters. When using any of the montmorillonite clay substrates this will occur for the first few weeks or even months depending on which one you use and how soft you water is initially. If your tap water is hard the effect shouldn't last for long.

Frequent, as in daily or every other day, water changes are you best bet. Also, raising the KH as you did should help too. Whatever you do Crypts like consistency.