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why is my water lettuce dying???

9K views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  lunawatsername 
#1 ·
okay so about a week ago i bought 3 plants for my (cycling, but nearly finished i think) sorority tank. the marimo moss ball is fine, the... sword? i think.. is fine, bt the water lettuce is dying, fast. its leaves are turning a dark brown-black, starting at the ends and moving in. its on every one of the leaves. ill give you everything i know about my setup and hopefully someone can save my poor little plant! :/

tank size: 2o (tall?)
filtration: 2 10 gal filters, not a lot of turbulence at all
temp: a steady 79F
ammonia: about 0 ppm
nitrate: around 30 ppm
nitrite: ? (why does my petco not sell nitrite tests? still looking... :/)
lighting:
the fixture- a hanging light fixture, about 4 inches above the tank
the bulbs:2, each is a 15 watt, 24 inch t8 bulb of 4100K. and their white (all my home depot had, for some reason)
i dont know if it matters, but their is also about 30 other fake plants in there, a drifting piece of driftwood (the thing just wont sink...) and i am feeding the tank a few small pinches of pellets everyday for the cycling... if anyone has any ideas please let me know, i really like my lettuce and dont want it to die :/


edit: l realize that pics would be helpful, but i have no idea how to put them in a thread. if someone would explain that to me, id gladly get some for you. :)
 
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#3 ·
thank you!
 
#4 · (Edited)
oh god. i think im partially retarded when it comes to computers, because i just cant attach a picture to this -___- im trying to add one on a post (this one) but i cant do it... :/ i can find the attachment thing, but where do a get my pictured url? sorry for the incompetency -__-
 
#5 ·
ok so i cant figure out how to attach a picture, but all the information is still good, so does anyone have any advice? im lost :/
 
#6 ·
Maybe being 4 inches off the tank will help some but that seems like an awful amount of light for a 20 gallon tank. I didn't have great luck with Home Depot for a 6500K light bulb but I did find them at Lowes and Wal-Mart.

Any way to remove 1 bulb and have it still work? Are you using fertilizer?


FOr pictures go to a place like tinypic.com, upload the picture to their site. After upload it will give you a direct URL, us that for the picture URL you are trying to attach.
 
#7 ·
Assuming this plant is Pistia stratiotes, it prefers bright light and requires a lot of nutrients. One source says it does best in highly-polluted nitrate-rich water as in a garden pond. It may be that it is not getting sufficient nutrients from the water. If there are no fish in this tank, there are few organics being produced, and that is a major source of plant nutrients. Adding a liquid fertilizer like Flourish Comprehensive should help.

Byron.
 
#8 ·
thank you guys so much! im going to go to walmart when i can and look for some better bulbs, i wanted one blue one anyway and home depot didnt have those either. :) and i will definitely pick up some flourish comprehensive when i pick up my next check. thanks for the advice! :-D
 
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