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New tank, one of my plants is half growing, half dying..

3K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  jkastner19 
#1 ·
First, this is my first real tank... Just started a new 28 gallon freshwater planted tank. Used Eco-complete substrate after googling and trying to find the best substrate option online. My light is a Coralife 24 inch, 65 watt, 6700K flourescent on a 12 hour diurnal cycle.

I was trying to attach pics or post them but can't figure out how, but I have got 3 things to start from a shop that I thought seemed very informative. I have some Java Fern stuck into some crevices on a piece of wood (some african wood at the store). That guy seems to be doing ok, other than brown on the leaves when I got it, the guy said to clip some leaves to promote new growth, I plucked a few but not all, I didn't want it sitting there leave-less.

The 2nd one is doing great, I am not sure exactly what its called it has several leaves going up its stem with green on top, and red on bottom.

The 3rd plant I got on first day is one I am worried about, I think it is a type of plant that is bunched at bottom all growing from same stalk.
Day 1 it had a small 2 inch shoot that seemed to balloon into 4 inches the next day, it has a big mature stalk from the first day that has stayed a nice bright green. It also has one baby shoot growing up that is about an inch big now and starting to unfurl its leaves. But the other 3 stalks or so are yellowish brown now. And one stalk that broke off, I tried to plant right back down into the substrate is curling over and dying (I am not sure if it can regrow roots or not?). It kind of looks like this but not red stem, green: http://www.plantgeek.net/plant-222.htm

I got a Moneywort from a big box store today, we will see how that does.

And some stuff from the good store I go to called Micro Sword, looks like little clumps of bright grass, I have in both my foreground corners.

So, the tank status is day 4 or so. My ammonia levels are high as I am trying to get my cycle going. My water ph is in the upper 7s almost 8, it is still the same as when it came out of tap almost which it was that high then. The water is pretty hard coming out of tap in the 150 mg/l range (not sure how this translates to degrees). So, I think my plants have plenty of minerals. My filter is giving a nice current over the top of my water surface, so I am not sure if I am losing too much CO2. Temp is stable at 78.

I guess I have some questions. Do I just wait on this plant? The strong stalks seem to be doing fine and growing, but half of it seems to be dying?

Am I going to need a CO2 system?

Am I going to need additional liquid fertilizer or solid pellets for my plants?

On that plantgeek.net link how high can I go on plants? medium? or medium-high? light needed ones?

TIA,
Jason
 
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#2 ·
I hosted two images at imageshack.

Day 4 (Not sure if its too blurry to figure out what the exact name of the plant with green leaves with red bottoms is on the back left)


Side View and the plant I am worried about (I noticed in reflection on back of tank you can see the baby shoot coming up):
 
#3 ·
You have about 2.3 watts per gallon so you probably won't want to try high-light plants. Are the leaves rotting or just becoming discolored? What I mean by this is, are holes appearing in the leaves? CO2 will always help, and liquid ferts may too. Since it has only been 4 days I would wait it out a little while longer before you decide to add ferts (since your substrate basically is fertilizer) or CO2. The tank looks nice so far, good job and good luck!
 
#4 ·
I'd go ahead and nnbunch the myrophyllum and replant it one stem at a time about 2 cm apart. Ditto the microswords. That looks like six or seven plants in each bunch. Untangle the roots and plant them about an inch apart and you'll be on your way to a lawn (a shaggy, crabgrassy lwan, but definitely a lawn)
 
#5 ·
that Myriophyllum seems to have all stems come down to one base. With one root system, should I break it apart, or do you mean 1 root system per 2 cm.

Also, the guy at store told me to try and spread the swords apart but the center bunch definitely had a main 2 roots on it. Is it ok to separate the sides from this main root part?
 
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