winterweatherguy Posted May 30 Share Posted May 30 Hello everyone, newbie to the forum. Need some advice, have been doing freshwater tanks for a few years and almost a year ago got a 55 gal tank. Fully stocked and have some java fern and some swords. Am having black spots and been trimming, but can't seem to get them to grow even with co2. Did recently see some little pearling going on and have my bps around 3-4. Drop checker is typically light blue, and did homemade co2. 600g of citric acid and baking soda and 900 ml of water. If I increase the co2 too much, my platy and molly go to the surface to breath. I have dosed the tank with Thrive all in one fertilizer and doesn't seem to help. I'm using a Fluval 3.0 plant light and if too high I get algae. I tried 100% on the lighted colors, except 1-10% blue and 60-80% red, Right now my lights are reduced to pink 60 blue 10, cool white 75, pure white 75, warm white 75 to keep the algae down. PH is around 6.8 when co2 is running and around 7.6 when not. Nitrate is a bit high around 40-60ppm and ammonia and nitrates look good. Water change 2 weeks ago, Filter is marineland which looks good. Any ideas how to get my plants going again? I have the lights on for 9 hours and co2 on for 8. I have 3 10 gal tanks and in 2 of them my plants are going well with no co2, the other one I have no plants in. Thanks for taking the time to read and assist in ideas. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecloud09 Posted May 30 Share Posted May 30 (edited) Welcome to the forum @winterweatherguy! @Mmiller2001 or @Seattle_Aquarist are our plant experts I believe, they should help. Did I missread or do you not have any root tabs? For swords that can be very important. Looks like your java fern is in the substrate and if so that can cause rotting because it is a rhizome plant, it should not be buried. You can glue it to driftwood or decor but not in gravel. Black spots = lack of nutrients. Agree with @CoryWithAKatana Edited May 30 by Whitecloud09 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoryWithAKatana Posted May 30 Share Posted May 30 (edited) Welcome to the forum! Java ferns are stem plants that have a rhizome and feed on the water column. Black spots can be a sign of lack of nutrients. My recommendation would be to take your ferns out of your substrate and attach them to your wood using string or aquarium safe glue. Or just shove them in a hole in a rock like I did lol Black spots could also be a sign that your java fern is getting ready to reproduce new baby plantlets. But I do not think your situation is this. You have a beautiful tank and your fish look very healthy! Feel free to ask any questions and visit the store 😄 Edited May 30 by CoryWithAKatana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seattle_Aquarist Posted May 30 Share Posted May 30 (edited) Hi @winterweatherguy, Welcome to the forum! Can you please provide some water parameters for us? pH, dKH, dGH, and nitrates (NO3) would be helpful. Yes, there are a couple of issues going on in the tank. Also @CoryWithAKatana is correct, although java fern species can grow across the substrate with the rhizome above the substrate surface for our purposes it is easier to attach the rhizome to hardscape (stones, wood, etc.). I like to use a drop or two of Super Glue Gel to attach my java ferns, anubias, and bucephalandra. -Roy Edited May 30 by Seattle_Aquarist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterweatherguy Posted May 30 Author Share Posted May 30 (edited) Thank you for the info @Whitecloud09 @CoryWithAKatana @Seattle_Aquarist. I will update with water parameters tonight. The Java Fern, I should have known (my fault) about not being buried. With the swords, I thought they were fairly hardy but can't seem to get good growth. I'll get back tonight on the other items. Yes @CoryWithAKatana you are correct, I don't think that is the case with the Java, but I'll replant on my driftwood. Any thoughts on my lighting parameters? Thank you! Edited May 30 by winterweatherguy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoryWithAKatana Posted May 30 Share Posted May 30 On 5/30/2024 at 1:48 PM, winterweatherguy said: Thank you for the info @Whitecloud09 @CoryWithAKatana @Seattle_Aquarist. I will update with water parameters tonight. The Java Fern, I should have known (my fault) about not being buried. With the swords, I thought they were fairly hardy but can't seem to get good growth. I'll get back tonight on the other items. Yes @CoryWithAKatana you are correct, I don't think that is the case with the Java, but I'll replant on my driftwood. Any thoughts on my lighting parameters? Thank you! Amazon Swords are Moderate light plants. Too much light may turn the leaves brown or translucent if the light is too weak they may appear stretched and grow slowly. Java Ferns are Low light plants. They can handle a wide range of light but too much light can make them "melt" or turn brown. They do well in low light but may grow slowly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecloud09 Posted May 30 Share Posted May 30 On 5/30/2024 at 2:29 PM, CoryWithAKatana said: Amazon Swords are Moderate light plants. Too much light may turn the leaves brown or translucent if the light is too weak they may appear stretched and grow slowly. Java Ferns are Low light plants. They can handle a wide range of light but too much light can make them "melt" or turn brown. They do well in low light but may grow slowly. Yes, to much light, melt. Too little, does not make a difference for this plant. I have never seen a plant that likes low light as much as Java fern. But medium light is fine as well. On 5/30/2024 at 1:48 PM, winterweatherguy said: Thank you for the info @Whitecloud09 @CoryWithAKatana @Seattle_Aquarist. I will update with water parameters tonight. The Java Fern, I should have known (my fault) about not being buried. With the swords, I thought they were fairly hardy but can't seem to get good growth. I'll get back tonight on the other items. Yes @CoryWithAKatana you are correct, I don't think that is the case with the Java, but I'll replant on my driftwood. Any thoughts on my lighting parameters? Thank you! Yes forgot to mention if it’s above the gravel (the rhizome) then it will be fine. But on driftwood it thrives! It and Anubias love to be on a rock/driftwood/decor etc, so for best turn out, your Java fern should be gel glued to your desired piece of decor @winterweatherguy. When it starts thriving you will get mini ferns growing out of leaves. Like @CoryWithAKatana mentioned above you can get black spots (not sure of another way to describe) then you get more ferns! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterweatherguy Posted May 30 Author Share Posted May 30 Thanks @Whitecloud09for the Java Fern advice, I have attached it now to driftwood and lowered my lights from 75% to 35%. I don't have KH and GH test strips @Seattle_Aquarist but will get some. I do have a RO that I've been using for about 6 months now and tested the TDS which is below 20. Here is the PH and NO3. The other 3 tanks are my 10 Gal ones. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seattle_Aquarist Posted May 31 Share Posted May 31 Hi @winterweatherguy (Kevin), The fact that you are using RO water may explain some of the problems we are seeing in the tanks. May I ask why you are using RO water? Also, if you are on municipal water what is the name of your water company and in what city, state? (This will allow me to look up the water quality analysis - if it is online. Thank you, -Roy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterweatherguy Posted May 31 Author Share Posted May 31 On 5/30/2024 at 8:11 PM, Seattle_Aquarist said: Hi @winterweatherguy (Kevin), The fact that you are using RO water may explain some of the problems we are seeing in the tanks. May I ask why you are using RO water? Also, if you are on municipal water what is the name of your water company and in what city, state? (This will allow me to look up the water quality analysis - if it is online. Thank you, -Roy I'm using well water and DM you a message, my TDS reading of the well water is 474. I was getting pretty hard readings for GH previously and that is mainly why I was using RO. TDS is at 451 in the 55 gal if that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seattle_Aquarist Posted May 31 Share Posted May 31 Hi @winterweatherguy (Kevin), Unfortunately TDS basically measures conductivity and Total Dissolved Solids. It cannot be accurately converted over to dGH. dGH will provide me the amount of dissolved calcium and magnesium in the water, both of which are secondary nutrients required for healthy growth of plants. Please try picking up a dKH and dGH test kits and provide me some readings with those. -Roy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterweatherguy Posted June 4 Author Share Posted June 4 Well here is my GH and KH and NO3, @Seattle_Aquarist. Let me know your thoughts. Thank you very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kunersbettas Posted June 4 Share Posted June 4 On 5/30/2024 at 10:04 AM, winterweatherguy said: Hello everyone, newbie to the forum. Need some advice, have been doing freshwater tanks for a few years and almost a year ago got a 55 gal tank. Fully stocked and have some java fern and some swords. Am having black spots and been trimming, but can't seem to get them to grow even with co2. Did recently see some little pearling going on and have my bps around 3-4. Drop checker is typically light blue, and did homemade co2. 600g of citric acid and baking soda and 900 ml of water. If I increase the co2 too much, my platy and molly go to the surface to breath. I have dosed the tank with Thrive all in one fertilizer and doesn't seem to help. I'm using a Fluval 3.0 plant light and if too high I get algae. I tried 100% on the lighted colors, except 1-10% blue and 60-80% red, Right now my lights are reduced to pink 60 blue 10, cool white 75, pure white 75, warm white 75 to keep the algae down. PH is around 6.8 when co2 is running and around 7.6 when not. Nitrate is a bit high around 40-60ppm and ammonia and nitrates look good. Water change 2 weeks ago, Filter is marineland which looks good. Any ideas how to get my plants going again? I have the lights on for 9 hours and co2 on for 8. I have 3 10 gal tanks and in 2 of them my plants are going well with no co2, the other one I have no plants in. Thanks for taking the time to read and assist in ideas. Your name is Kevin? Cool, that's the name of my ropefish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterweatherguy Posted June 5 Author Share Posted June 5 (edited) On 6/4/2024 at 12:13 PM, Kunersbettas said: Your name is Kevin? Cool, that's the name of my ropefish! Well.... I'll take that as a compliment LOL ..........I think😀 Edited June 5 by winterweatherguy mispelling 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterweatherguy Posted June 5 Author Share Posted June 5 On 6/5/2024 at 3:13 PM, redcherrychrimp said: Hi Kevin Beautiful tank Can you list all the fish that you have( I only have red shrimp and a few snails Your name is the same as my snail Kevin You should have started with a few basic fish including the cherry shrimp and Guppies snails of cores pelico Hello, thanks for the compliment, apparently my name is destined for non-humans LOL. I have 2 angel fish, a albino shark, 2 algae eaters, tiger bard, molly, platty, 2, glow fish, and 6 neon tetras. I tried shrimp but they get eaten by someone, not sure how I can stop that. I had 2 snails, but they have died. I agree as I might have kept my shrimp alive, but I didn't. My other 10 gallon tanks have had some snails for over a year and some shrimp. they seem to do better in the 10 gallon tank, but I believe @Seattle_Aquarist was asking for some GH and KH parameters that might be my issue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svachon9 Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seattle_Aquarist Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 On 6/3/2024 at 5:31 PM, winterweatherguy said: Well here is my GH and KH and NO3, @Seattle_Aquarist. Let me know your thoughts. Thank you very much. Hi @winterweatherguy I see the colors and it looks like the last square is pH but cannot read the descriptions of what the other colors represent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterweatherguy Posted June 6 Author Share Posted June 6 On 6/5/2024 at 9:26 PM, Seattle_Aquarist said: Hi @winterweatherguy I see the colors and it looks like the last square is pH but cannot read the descriptions of what the other colors represent. Thank you, yes here is the order from top to bottom NO3 NO2 CL GH TA KH PH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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