[gaday]

I have a 13" amazon sword in a one month old 55 gal tank with pea gravel substrate, two 18" T-5 9600k flourescents, ph at 6.8. I also have Anubias, Red ludwigia, Java fern and moss. The sword has put on five new leaves since I got it. My question is when the larger leaves get within 2 or 3 inches of the top of the tank they start developing brown spots. I dose with Flourish once per week. All the other plants are doing well and growing.

Glenn

 

[davemonkey]

Is it just the emersed leaves developing the brown spots? If so, no worries, the ycan all be removed and will be replaced with submerged leaves.

Something to think about is that swords are heavy feeders. They like LOTS of nutrients. I had best results with swords using substrate ferts (root tabs) along with the usual water column dosing.

-Dave

 

[gaday]

Thanks for the reply. The leaves are not emersed, they are still an inch or two under the water surface. One thing I didn't mention is since I only have two 15watt 18" lamps, I leave the lights on for 14-16 hours per day. What kind of dry ferts do you recommend?

Thanks,

Glenn:

 

[davemonkey]

That photoperiod seems too long, but I don't know how that factors in with the very low light. With only 30 watts on a 55, I don't think you will need any fertilizers. I'm surprised the ludwigia is still making it in less than 1 wpg.

Try just a couple root tabs under the sword plant roots and see if that helps. I would caution against water-cloumn dosing with your current lighting. But I could be wrong.

-Dave