# Anacharis issues?



## aMawds

Have a fully cycled and stocked 15 gallon tank with fish. My anacharis is... weird. New sprouts grow like wild, whole stalks are anchoring themselves quickly with roots from all over the place. But older parts of the plant are turning brown. Those same parts have that fuzzy mold you get on uneaten fish food indicating those leaves are dying/dead. New sprouts will readily grow out of these apparently dying stems. One stem has grown to about 8 inches and the first inch of that stem is beginning to die while the rest is growing a good inch every week.

Light - T8 15W, low quality reflector on from 6 Am to 11 PM on timer for viewing pleasure. If that's a problem I will happily change it.

No ferts, but overfeeding in an attempt to condition Cory's to breed

Heavy gravel vac weekly due to the overfeeding

No CO2. Good water movement.

Green algae on glass, needs to be cleaned every couple weeks or so. Not much algae in my opinion. Growing on glass decorations on bottom of tank and such as well. Figured a note that algae does grow, but not heavily and only green surface algae would be important.

Any help is greatly appreciated


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## Fuzz

algae isn't bad, but isn't "good". It is just unsightly and people seem to see it as "poor tank maintainance". 

usually 6-10 hours of light is plenty...definitely not any more than 12(probably why you're getting algae). 

As for the anacharis, I have no idea. I've never had it...but I'm sure another plant guy will be on here within 12 hours with some help.


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## BettaGuy

I think you might need to start fertilizing co2 and fertz. I think there is enough nutrients in your water to keep the plant growing, but not enough to sustain the already grown leaves. I would also shorten the photoperiod to 9h a day, and get a stronger light. Theres a sticky in the planted section with a chart that will tell you exactly what strength of light you need, I would get a light that gives you medium output. 

For co2 I would start the diy route, and check out corry1990's post in the diy section. It has information to get you started and you can find the rest by looking online. If that seems to messy for you you can buy a bottle of liquid carbon (flourish excel) and use that instead. Not to expensive either, and it works for me. For fertilizers I would start of with a bottle from the petstore that says aquarium plant fertilizer on it or something similar. This will get you started and you can always upgrade once you get more into plants.


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## aMawds

I know algae isn't bad. I mainly mentioned it as an indicator that there is enough light and nutrients to sustain plant life of at least the simplest variety.

I finally got annoyed enough to drop the photo period to 10 hours. My understanding is that the more light you have, the more you need CO2 and ferts. My guess is that because I was running so much duration, that it was mimicking a higher light scenario allowing the plants to sprout off, but then die off because they weren't absorbing enough of either of the other two requirements to stay alive. Lower the light, and the plants should grow slower but actually survive. That's my hope at least. I literally just bought this light hood setup, and definitely don't want to have to add ferts and CO2 if I don't absolutely have to. So I'm going to try this little experiment out and see what comes of it. I have a few new sprouts that are really green at the top, but browning at the base so I should be able to tell if there's any improvement in a couple weeks.

But please, if I'm completely wrong in my assumptions chime in. Obviously I'm still learning here.


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## BettaGuy

No, I would say your right. Dropping the photo period is definitely a good idea. I would maybe even drop it to 9h but you can start with 10. If you don't want to dose fertz the reduced lighting should help. You wont get the fastest plant growth but low light plants should do fine.


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## Fuzz

Plants need a night cycle as well as a day cycle...I feel that might have been part of your problem. At night time, the plants flip a switch. During this time, they absorb oxygen in the water column and release Co2. 

More light does increase plant growth, but you're thinking about time. 16 hours of low light isn't the same as 8 hours of high light. What they mean by "more light" is how bright your tank is while the lights are on. Higher light doesn't necessarily look that much brighter to the human eye, but science tells us that it is.


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## aMawds

BettaGuy said:


> No, I would say your right. Dropping the photo period is definitely a good idea. I would maybe even drop it to 9h but you can start with 10. If you don't want to dose fertz the reduced lighting should help. You wont get the fastest plant growth but low light plants should do fine.


Awesome I'll fill everyone in on how this goes. I'm using an Aqueon Deluxe hood. I bought it because I got it for 20 bucks since someone had bought it, punched out one of the openings in the back, and returned it without even switching it on. It comes with a bulb with no light ratings but is claimed to be an "all around" light, while there's also bulbs meant specifically for plant growth, and another meant to make fish look more pronounced in color. I'm planning to stick a 6500k light in. I'm guessing that's what the "plant growth" bulb from aqueon is rated at, but it isn't listed on the boxes. So I'll buy the bulb from a different company.


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## Fuzz

aMawds said:


> Awesome I'll fill everyone in on how this goes. I'm using an Aqueon Deluxe hood. I bought it because I got it for 20 bucks since someone had bought it, punched out one of the openings in the back, and returned it without even switching it on. It comes with a bulb with no light ratings but is claimed to be an "all around" light, while there's also bulbs meant specifically for plant growth, and another meant to make fish look more pronounced in color. I'm planning to stick a 6500k light in. I'm guessing that's what the "plant growth" bulb from aqueon is rated at, but it isn't listed on the boxes. So I'll buy the bulb from a different company.


Those plant bulbs are actually pink in color, but your tank won't look pink when they're on. They're high in the red spectrum, which is good for green plants. we all learned in art class that the color that you see is actually the color that is reflected. as in, green plants absorb all light except for blue and yellow(blue+yellow=green)...so basically, the pink bulbs are ideal because they're mostly in the red spectrum. daylight bulbs are also in the red spectrum, but have some in the yellow spectrum as well. 

In all honesty, you won't notice a huge difference between the daylights and the pink, but you'll notice a difference between a 12,000 and a pink or a 12,000 and a daylight. (10,000 and 12,000's are meant more for reef tanks)

those Aqueon hoods aren't meant for tanks that need higher light. they only have one bulb and the bulbs that fit won't put out enough light to get you into the medium range(unless you have a tank thats shorter than 10 inches).


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## aMawds

Fuzz said:


> Those plant bulbs are actually pink in color, but your tank won't look pink when they're on. They're high in the red spectrum, which is good for green plants. we all learned in art class that the color that you see is actually the color that is reflected. as in, green plants absorb all light except for blue and yellow(blue+yellow=green)...so basically, the pink bulbs are ideal because they're mostly in the red spectrum. daylight bulbs are also in the red spectrum, but have some in the yellow spectrum as well.
> 
> In all honesty, you won't notice a huge difference between the daylights and the pink, but you'll notice a difference between a 12,000 and a pink or a 12,000 and a daylight. (10,000 and 12,000's are meant more for reef tanks)
> 
> those Aqueon hoods aren't meant for tanks that need higher light. they only have one bulb and the bulbs that fit won't put out enough light to get you into the medium range(unless you have a tank thats shorter than 10 inches).


This is why I love this forum. I knew absolutely none of that. Other than the fact that the aqueon hood wasn't exactly designed with plant growers in mind, and the fact that plants don't absorb green light.

So my tank is 12 inches with 2 inches substrate. Don't I technically fall into the category of medium light at that point? Also mentioning the fact that the closer to the light, the faster the plants seem to grow but the leafs are still turning brown behind the new growth. They never seem to all out die and fall off, but they are wilted and ugly.

Update on the lower lighting test, nothing seems to have changed. Same growth rate, new browning behind new stems. New stem growth seems to have decreased and I don't see any new anchor roots. I'm wondering if I should go to the opposite extreme and just leave the light on 24/7 for a few nights. Or close to it.


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## Fuzz

> I'm wondering if I should go to the opposite extreme and just leave the light on 24/7 for a few nights. Or close to it.


please dont...

I read up on anacharis a little bit for you. It is a medium to high light plant. keep your water between 50 and 77 degrees. Keep it in hard water with a neutral pH. 

I would trim the dying parts off the bottom of the plant and keep the good stuff. The older stuff might have been the stuff that was acclimated to the store's water. It obviously grows in your tank, so you shouldn't have to change the lighting. The thing about plants is that the old stuff will eventually die and new stuff replaces it. 

If you aren't fertilizing or doing regular water changes, I suggest it. Plants enjoy water changes much more than fish do. I do weekly 25-50% water changes on both of my planted tanks. I see a small amount of decay in my plants, but it is only the older leaves that have been around for a long time. 

Plants that grow fast(like Anacharis) need more nutrients than other plants. Hard tap water will have most of what plants need as far as trace elements. Having a higher fish load will increase the Nitrogen in your tank, another major nutrient for plants.


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## aMawds

Hmm... interesting. I was told to lower the amount of water changes to avoid getting rid of too much nutrients. I'll increase the frequency of water changes. What about gravel vacs? And I'll take your advice and trim the dead off of half the plants as an experiment, leaving a control. Just to see if they do better. 

Hard water? I most likely have that. Well water. Filtered and run through a UV tube thing but still well water.


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## lohachata

turn off the UV...
if you need more nutrients , add more fish...


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## aMawds

lohachata said:


> turn off the UV...
> if you need more nutrients , add more fish...


Sorry the UV is in the well house. All the water runs through it before getting to the house. It isn't for the tanks. It's for our own personal safety in the house.
But more fish? I like the way you think! I think I'll go back to overfeeding a bit and only doing gravel vacs every other water change. The plants were growing much faster then. So I think you're right, it's a lack of nutrients. Hopefully that'll be remedied by the load of platy fry I'm expecting and the fact that the Cory cats are still growing. Seems to me like if I leave the plants alone, they aren't going to actually die. For every stem that dies, two more grow off. Also a couple of the stems look really good, and are sprouting. So I might have a mix of different types of Anacharis? Who knows.


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## BettaGuy

Big water changes are good for planted tanks as there is nutrients in tap water that we don't fertilize. You can always add more nutrients after you did a big water change.


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## Fuzz

BettaGuy said:


> Big water changes are good for planted tanks as there is nutrients in tap water that we don't fertilize. You can always add more nutrients after you did a big water change.


+1. There is no way to find out how much residual fertilizer you have in your tank. After a few weeks of fertilizing with no water changes, you might do some harm to your fish. Think of a water change as a "reset" on your fertilizer. 

I don't know what you're doing for water changes, but they're really easy. 5 gallon buckets are cheap and fairly self-explanatory how to use. Otherwise, there is a thing that people call a "python", which aqueon and a few other companies make.

As I've said before, I do weekly 50% water changes on both of my planted tanks and it only takes about half an hour. 30 minutes is more than enough time to get rid of any algae you might have, trim plants, or clean your filter. #killingtwobirdswithonestone


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## lohachata

Alex.....sorry guy , i thought you were using it just in the tanks...didn't realize it was a house unit...UV is great for killing a lot of nasties in the aquarium ; and also good stuff like the beneficial bacteria....but having pretreated water is not a problem...


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## aMawds

Plants started to look better, then started curling up a bit again. Just did another water change. Looks like you guys might be on the money on water changes. I think there must be something in my well water that they like, and they slowly run out of it over the course of a week. I'll probably buy some ferts soon and see if that helps as well. No new sprouts lately though. Weird.


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## lohachata

could be iron if it's well water..plants , as well as fish require trace elements...regular water changes help to replenish the used up trace elements...


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## aMawds

Exactly what I was thinking. The well is also not very deep. I think 20 feet. So really there isn't much time for the water to absorb large amounts of trace elements like iron before it's at pump level. Still need to go buy ferts. Ended up setting up that third tank. Have a bigger heater on order for the 15 gallon so I can move the 50 watt into the 12 tall that I'll be using as a breeder/growout. Completely forgot about the ferts. Should have added it to the order. Speaking of which, any suggested brand or stuff I need to look for on the label?


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## Fuzz

i just buy dry ferts online and follow the Estimative Index method by Tom Barr...its cheap and works for me


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