[lewisarbucks]

Not an expert in plants, only got a few real ones. Today, one is showing black spots and marks on leaves. No idea what to do! 30 gallon freshwater aquarium with good lighting. I don't have fertiliser but I may need to buy some!

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[Rip]

what type of plants have the black spots? some pics and more info would help. what is your "good lighting?"

the leaves on my anubias plants occasionally get black around the edges and on the leaf itself, and i've always assumed it was due to too much light for this low light plant. this is just the first thing that comes to my mind.

sometimes when cleaning the substrate, it can stir things up, and debris can settle on the leaves. if left on the leaves for a few days it can cause a stained appearance, or dark spots where the debris was or still is.

also, if they're newer plants, it could just be the older leaves dying off, adjusting to it's new surroundings.

 

[SeaHorse]

It could easily be the lack of fertilizer. I dose mine 2x a week sometimes. (when I remember). I always have the older established leaves die off after I put them into my tank but with the ferts I get lots of new growth and that usually starts with dark spots. What are the numbers/codes on your light bulbs?

 

[lewisarbucks]

I have the Juwel Rekord 800 tank with one Juwel 'day lite' and one Juwel 'warm lite'. Both are fluorescent, 18 watts. And spend around 9 or 10 hours per day switched on!

 

[lewisarbucks]

This site describes the lights in the tank,
http://www.seapets.co.uk/products/a...kord-aquariums/juwel-rekord-800-aquarium.html

 

[ZivaD]

What type of plants is it you have? Can you get pictures of your set up in general and the plants specifically to show the areas you are concerned with? How long have these plants been in your tank?

 

[JDM]

They look like they should be adequate for plants... Daylight and warm light bulbs. But I'm not well versed in fluorescents, I like LEDs.

Need to know the plant species, for example java fern typically have black spots on the leaves as this is part of how they reproduce. Pictures would be helpful.

Fertilizer can't hurt. Something like seachem's flourish comprehensive once a week is a good start and covers most of what you might need.

It would be good to know the hardness of the water as if it is too soft it can impact plant health... not sure it it would result in black spots though, more likely thin or clear looking leaves.

Jeff.

 

[Byron]

The light mentiuoned is fine for the tank (110 litre, or 29 gallon). We need to know the plant species as others have mentioned. A photo of the plant with the black would also help.

And, what is the GH of your source (tap) water? Some plant nutrients come from this, others from fish foods. Liquid fertilizers will usually help, but we need all this data to have the complete picture.

Welcome to Tropical Fish Keeping, by the way.:wave:

Byron.

 

[lewisarbucks]

My mobile doesn't seem to let me upload pics here, any advice?
Thanks

 

[JDM]

If you have a camera on the device, go ahead and try the attachment manager as your may be able to just take a picture and upload it directly. I do that with the iPad and it works well.

Jeff.

 

[Boredomb]

My mobile doesn't seem to let me upload pics here, any advice?
Thanks

You can use Photobucket. I use my phone 98% of the time to do stuff on this forum. I upload photos to photobucket from my phone then get the link from photobucket and paste it here for a pic. I can also upload directly here from phone but I have to use the website and not the mobile site which tends to take longer soo photobucket is fast for me.
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[MoneyMitch]

i just re discovers the "go advanced button" this is where u can upload pics directly from your comp instead of having to use photo bucket imageshack etc etc. once you click go advanced towards the bottom theres a button that says manage attachments.

 

[JDM]

i just re discovers the "go advanced button" this is where u can upload pics directly from your comp instead of having to use photo bucket imageshack etc etc. once you click go advanced towards the bottom theres a button that says manage attachments.

... and if you are on a mobile device with a camera, depending upon the device, you get another option to take a picture or choose existing when you select "choose file". With an ipad you can only do one picture per post though, bit of a pain. With an iphone the file is too large.

Jeff.

 

[lewisarbucks]

http://i1330.photobucket.com/albums/w565/lewisuae/rps20130414_094759_zps226ecb4a.jpg

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[SeaHorse]

I looked at the picture... thanks.
I'm not seeing any new bright vivid green growth, no fresh new leaves on the tips. My opinion is this will slowly die off if you don't give it some fertilizer. Get a small bottle to start or a sample pack if the store has them, and dose properly to your water volume. Keep watch... I usually see new growth, a full new leaf on every plant within 2 days. If it works then keep your eyes open for a bigger bottle on sale... you will need it. It can be expensive so once I get to about a half a bottle left I start watching the sales so I don't run out.

 

[JDM]

I looked at the picture... thanks.
I'm not seeing any new bright vivid green growth, no fresh new leaves on the tips. My opinion is this will slowly die off if you don't give it some fertilizer. Get a small bottle to start or a sample pack if the store has them, and dose properly to your water volume. Keep watch... I usually see new growth, a full new leaf on every plant within 2 days. If it works then keep your eyes open for a bigger bottle on sale... you will need it. It can be expensive so once I get to about a half a bottle left I start watching the sales so I don't run out.

Ditto, it's not catastrophic

With a 29 gallon the amount of fertilization you need will be about 1/2 a capful per week... a small bottle will do you for some time and it's not expensive unless you are dosing a large tank. I think it was around $10 for a 250 ml... maybe it was the 100ml, I just bought the smallest they had on the shelf at the time. The dose is 5ml for 60 gallons.... even the 50ml will give you almost 6 months but you CAN buy it in 5 gallon jugs...

Jeff.

 

[Byron]

The "black spots" I can see on the green leaves is probably algae, although the photo is small, but I'm fairly sure this is algae. I agree you should use a complete liquid fertilizer like Flourish Comprehensive Supplement once a week, but we also need to look into the light situation.

You have two T8 tubes over this 29g tank, and they are on for 9-10 hours daily. I would get some floating plants to reduce the light a bit. Might also need to reduce the photoperiod. But I would like a closer photo of that leaf to be certain. But I'm almost certain this is a red/green algae (which looks black); I have this here and there, always on leaves closest to the light except in one tank when I was over-fertilizing.

Byron.

 

[lewisarbucks]

Thanks alot guys for the help! Will get some fertiliser asap!
Byron, what floating plants would you suggest for this aquarium and how could I solve the lighting problem? If it is algae, is that solved by simply lowering the light intensity or not having it on as long as I am? Thanks again

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[JDM]

The floating plants will help the potential lighting issue as they will provide shade over the water.

I have a very hard time getting true floating plants where I am, other than duckweed , but even that works and has it's advantages. I am starting to use pennywort as a floater instead of a stem and finding that I like it. It's controllable as all the leaves are on stems so you can sort of place it or even capture the stem against the glass.

Otherwise, dwarf water lettuce (long roots though), amazon frogbit , hornwort , salvinia , and water sprite are all in the profile (click on highlighted names to go there). There are others that you can grow as floaters, some stems can be left floating and do not too badly.

Do the spots rub off?

Jeff.

 

[Byron]

Thanks alot guys for the help! Will get some fertiliser asap!
Byron, what floating plants would you suggest for this aquarium and how could I solve the lighting problem? If it is algae, is that solved by simply lowering the light intensity or not having it on as long as I am? Thanks again

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The green and red types of algae occur naturally in any aquarium. With live plants, we simply want to find the balance of lighting/nutrients to keep algae under control. Algae is not at all bad, except when it spreads on plant leaves which will smother the leaf and kill the plant.

I have one T8 tube over my 29g tank, and that is moderate light. You are a bit above this with two tubes, so it is important to ensure there are sufficient nutreints for the plants to use this light; the duration of the light period can be altered in achieving this balance. It is somewhat experimental, as every aquarium is biologically different. You have stem plants, and they are fast growing which means more nutrients and more light needed, so we should be able to find the balance.

If this were my tank, I would reduce the daily light to 8 hours. The best way to do this is with one of those lamp timers. You can have the photoperiod any time you want, when you are normally home to view the tank obviously. Ambient light such as daylight and room lights is also part of the equation.

Floating plants like Water Sprite are ideal. Click the name for the profile with photos. Brazilian Pennywort also does well left floating.

Flourish Comp once weekly, floating plants, and reducing the light should work.

Byron.