[eaking]

7 days ago I planted 4 Jungle Val's 3 Bronze Wendtii and some Java moss...
I attached a pic of the Val. When I got home from work today I noticed that the Va'ls have started to develop brown streaks and look like chunks are being taken out. I have 2 Danio's 3 gold Mollies and 3 Harlequin rasbora. The Mollies will nibble at pretty much everything but not take "bites" so I don't know if I'm developing an issue. The Wendtii has what looks like holes "burnt" in a couple if the leaves and the java moss has what looks like very fine white/clearish hairs on in.

Is any of this a white flag or am I just thinking to much in to it as the plants need to adjust to the tank?:-?

 

[Boredomb]

It could be that they just need time to settle in but do you use any fertilizers? How long are the lights on for?

 

[angelcraze]

Your val, to me just looks like it had been bent, maybe during transport or trimming the tips, and pinholes are usually due to a lack of potassium. Potassium might also help the val if they are getting weak. Iron is not a bad thing to add if you find the leaves are all turning yellow, especially from the tips to roots.

The whitish/clearish hairs (without a pic) I would say are probably staghorn algae. We do not know how much light or what kind on what size tank you use, but to take care of this, lowering the light intensity and duration of the photoperiod is recommended, also removing the existing algae by hand, although this might be difficult in mosses. Hopefully by adjusting your lighting, this problem won't get worse.

 

[eaking]

54 gal corner
3-Gold Panda Mollies
2-Danios
3-Harlequin Rasbora
4- Jungle Val
3 - Bronze Wendtii
Java moss
Aqueon QuietFlow 55/75
Aqueon 150 watt heater
Solarmax H.O. Deep blue high output 236, (1) T5 10,000K daylamp (1) T5 6700K bulb
35lbs natural gravel
45lbs CaribSea FloraMax substrate
API master testing kit

I am attaching a pic of the Moss and Wendtii...

Your val, to me just looks like it had been bent, maybe during transport or trimming the tips, and pinholes are usually due to a lack of potassium. Potassium might also help the val if they are getting weak. Iron is not a bad thing to add if you find the leaves are all turning yellow, especially from the tips to roots.

The whitish/clearish hairs (without a pic) I would say are probably staghorn algae. We do not know how much light or what kind on what size tank you use, but to take care of this, lowering the light intensity and duration of the photoperiod is recommended, also removing the existing algae by hand, although this might be difficult in mosses. Hopefully by adjusting your lighting, this problem won't get worse.

 

[Boredomb]

Does that light sit right in top of the tank? Or is it hung above it? So you just rely on yhr substrate for the nutrients to the plants? With that much light (which is doable) you will need to dose the water column with fertilizers.

 

[angelcraze]

You have to find a balance between your light/nutrients/c02, the latter which you are not adding. It might be worth looking into if you want to use that much light, but research it first. Otherwise, you may want to raise your lights, as asked by Boredom, so they are not as intense. The floramax will be good for your wendtii (your plant with that much light should turn a complete reddish brown from bottom of the stem to end, top and bottom) and helpful for your val. Your moss will hardly benefit from it at all and relies mostly on fish waste or any organic matter decomposition for nutrients. Otherwise, if your plants are using them up too quickly, you must add them via chems.

Look at it this way, your light is the gas pedal, you are ramping your plants to use up so much nutrients. If they run out of something, in a tank with no c02 added, they will let you know. Those things you noticed are good indicators. But I don't really think they have had time to establish yet in your tank. I would pay attention to the new growth more if I were you. Like I said, your wendtii should be all reddish brown, if not shaded. I have had to cut off a leaf here and there when bringing a plant home, especially cryts since they are prone to 'crypt rot'.

I received some val this week from Ebay, but it came to me folded and flat in an envelope. I had to trim all the bent leaves, to help the plant focus on the roots, not repairing the damaged leaves. I added laterite around the base, and hope for the best. I think you just have to give them time and leave them be, try not to disturb the roots much, you still might want to relax on the lighting a bit, can you run only the 6700k bulb for a while? Raising it would maximize the light angle.

Some people suggests turning the light up slowly, as you get more plants, and to start with a 6 hour photoperiod. I go down to 6 hours when I start seeing algae. Also, since your filter is probably off gassing any c02, maybe adding some Excel (liquid carbon) would help with the staghorn algae. It doesn't look that bad to me, but if you are concerned......I don't want to take any responsibility for any bad effects, (I've read val doesn't like Excel, but I am still going to add it to my tank) I am just writing based on my experience and hope some of this makes sense and helps.

Also for the staghorn algae, some squirt the Excel right on it and for a friend of mine it worked, the algae died, but be very careful not to overdose if you decide to do this, and read up on it first, please.

 

[eaking]

I picked up some Flourish yesterday well see what happens after a few days i also removed the bad leaves on the Wendtii and pruned all the yellow leaves on the Val's. I took the picture of the Moss to one of my LFS's and he informed me that what i am seeing on the Moss is new growth the hairs are white/clear when they are immature, they will green up.

 

[Boredomb]

Angelcraze made some good points.

Its going to take a lot of flourish (btw its comprehensive you got?) To keep the balance if you have the lights directly on the tank. Usually in high light tanks ppl use dry fertilizers and Co2 (as already mentioned). Excel is a pretty wicked stuff. I used it once and only once. Btw Angelcraze it did make alot of my Vals melt. I have read if you skip the big dose after water changes and slowly raise the amount each week after the water changes that they will get use to it. *Shrugs* it didn't work for mine.

 

[angelcraze]

Interesting, thanks for the info Boredom, I bought some giant val rubra, and was hoping it would not melt as I was trying to get it started, (the one from Ebay). I already dosed Excel once so far, was going to do every other day, but your point about skipping the initial big dose opens more topic.

I don't really understand why flourish suggests to do a big initial dose after w/c since it dissipates after 24 hours anyway? I guess to give the plants more than they need to make up for lost liquid carbon maybe?

I happened to dose only a capful for 46g, so no big initial dose, I really don't want it to melt my vals!!! I might stop, or find out other's experience too. So, eaking, since Boredom had bad experience and I have not found out yet, maybe REALLY research the Excel. If your filters are not creating turbulence on the surface of the water, you could easily go with c02, you could look into diy c02, although I haven't done it yet myself and just settle for medium light and slower growth and the moment.

About your mosses, that's embarrassing on my part, it just sounded like that the way you were describing it. Sorry to make an issue about nothing. Your wendtii will grow nice and dark red in no time, I love that plant.

If you opt not to use the Excel, and are newer to plant, I would just go with less lighting (intense) or try it and see how things go,(just watch for algae) you have a nice tank, 54g corner, and you'd be surprised at how pretty plants grow and how fast even with a low tech setup. Doing plants in my tanks was the best thing I ever added to them.

 

[eaking]

Well I ended up taking a 45 min ride to one of my "LFS" last night and spoke with the owner/manager with 30+ years exp. We had a nice long chat. Very helpful to say the least. He did actually suggest the Florish and he also told me to prune the Val's of all the yellowish/brown parts on the leaves. He said that if its started to brown its pretty much "dead", and to prune off, which makes sense when you think about it. If you don't remove it it will just spread down eventually to the base and that would not be good.

The Wendtii I just took my finger nails and pinched off the bad looking leaves close to the base. I am already getting new leaves growing so not really concerned about the much...

He recommended the Flourish because I cant really drop the money on the C02 setup this minute, but I am going to get the setup that runs off paintball canisters. He said that I would probably get 1-4 months out of one tank which is sweet because I have a bunch from my younger years and I have a shop right down the street that only charges like 3 or 4 bucks to refill. I just don't have the $200 to drop on the set up. If my childrens mom knew I have already dropped close to $1000 in the last month I'd never hear the end of it.:twisted: lol

I am using root tabs in conjunction with the flourish.

Last but not least, the SolarMAX HO T5 I bought from them a few weeks ago has a 10K bulb and I had bought a 6700K. He ended up GIVING me another new 10K bulb:-D He explained to me that in his exp. The spectrum's that the 10K puts out will make the plants shoot up, my tank is roughly 22in tall, vs the 6700K will make the plants grown thicker. So right now I have two 10K bulbs in there if it doesn't play out well he said he'll just swap the bulb if I'm not happy.

I trust him so I'm gonna give it a try.
We shall see what happens...

 

[eaking]

Also iron supplement but be careful to much can be bad!!!!:-(