Plant Leaves Turning Black - New to Planted Aquariums

mitchtalley83 · 03-09-2010, 06:59 PM

Hey everyone,
I was wondering why my new aquarium plants are starting to get black on their leaves. I am pretty sure its not an algea issue, so what else could it be. I just bought the plants from freshwaterplants.com and was very happy with them, some of them are even growing small sub-plants on their stems. So what is the issue? I heard it could be lack of phosphate? If thats true whats the best way to check it. Thanks,

Current Set Up
29Gal with 2 65w PC Bulbs, DIY CO2, and I have been dosing Leaf Zone and Micronutrients,

Mitch

Bert H · 03-10-2010, 09:15 AM

If all the nutrients you're adding is Leaf Zone and some micros, you're lacking other nutrients. Apparently Leaf Zone is only Potassium and iron? You also need to dose nitrogen (nitrates) and phosphates. Look through some of the fert regimens here on the forums and start dosing these as well.

Tex Gal · 03-10-2010, 10:23 AM

If you can post a px it will help. Sometimes it is algae...

mitchtalley83 · 03-10-2010, 05:53 PM

Thanks for the info. I bought some SeaChem Flourish and Flourish Excel today to hopefully help with the nutrients. And as I did a water change today I looked at a couple of the plants closely to see that it wasn't algea, but that the leaves where somewhat dying off. Hopefully the flourish and flourish excel will help.

Mitch

Tex Gal · 03-10-2010, 08:31 PM

Flourish is just trace elements. You also need macros (nitrogen, phosphates, and potassium). Flourish sells these in separate bottles.

Shad0w · 03-11-2010, 12:36 AM

agreed if you look and Seachem flourish composition, the nitrogen percentage is very small.

mitchtalley83 · 03-15-2010, 01:17 PM

Well I bought a Seachem plant pack with florusih, flourish excel, and flourish iron. So far the plants have seemed to start growing new leaves and roots.

However if yall say I need MACRO's then I believe you. So whats a good macro solution to add?

huaidan · 03-15-2010, 11:00 PM

Miracle-gro. But then you'll be in a world of pain with algae.

Seriously, the only real argument I've heard against putting a soluble macro-nutrient such as miracle-gro in your tank is it will disproportionately spike your macros compared with your micros, which would give algae a competitive advantage. If you're suffering from macro deficiency, this might be just the thing. Just mind your fishies, because you're basically dosing with ammonia, or urea which breaks down to ammonia, if you do that. Really man, only if you're desperate.

I know firsthand that overfeeding your fish, or dosing an unstocked tank with fish food, can help spike your nitros and phosphates, but your fish won't enjoy the strain put on the bio filter.

Bert H · 03-16-2010, 03:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mitchtalley83

Well I bought a Seachem plant pack with florusih, flourish excel, and flourish iron. So far the plants have seemed to start growing new leaves and roots.

However if yall say I need MACRO's then I believe you. So whats a good macro solution to add?

If pre-made solutions are what you want, Seachem has them all. They make Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium solutions. Check out their web site for information. They're excellent products, but it can get costly quickly which is why lots of folks buy solid and dry dose. On smaller tanks, it's affordable.

Aquaticz · 03-16-2010, 04:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mitchtalley83

Well I bought a Seachem plant pack with florusih, flourish excel, and flourish iron. So far the plants have seemed to start growing new leaves and roots.

However if yall say I need MACRO's then I believe you. So whats a good macro solution to add?

NPK

Now your next question can be answered by reading older posts here....Start with EI
by the time your done, you will have had a good intro on Macro & Micros
best of luck to you