plants dying HELP Plants are dying!

[JoeM]

bought All Plants i bought from aquarium coop.

This a newly established aquarium 29 gallon. its 21" tall ,24 wide ,12"deep

Water parameters.

Temperature :around 76F

HRPH: 8.2

ammonia: 0-.25

nitrite: 0

nitrates: 40-80 

GH:  0

KH: its high.. i don't know

I use stress coat to condition tap water for changes, and let the water sit in a bucket for a few days.

(Sorry about the cloudy water in photo.Doing a water change today. Just recently added 5 cory cats and had a bacterial bloom then my son accidentally turned off my sponge filter for a few hours i didn't know. 😮

So the plants Looked good on arrival, They got caught in that recent snowstorm somewhere during transit, but still arrived looking nice. (Props to aquarium coop for awesome shipping.) 

I Use the easy green and iron.

Java Fern: I glued them to rocks and plants weights ,started having black spots in a few days now almost completely blackish brown now.

Amazon sword: Planted in substrate with root tabs. leaves turned yellow in a few days, now almost see-through and brownish yellow. but the shoot still green.

Micro grass: planted in substrate just melted and disappeared gone.

Water sprite : planted but just melted and disappeared vanished.

banana plant and moss ball are ok it seems.

Running a brand new finnex 24" low light led. on a timer (i know micro grass is high light but thought it might ok.)

Lots of money Not much success.And frustrating 

Would it better to condition my water for plants or just find plants that can handle my water conditions? (high ph and such) If so what plants would that be?

..I have a water softener system for my house that i use the tap water for tanks. And a separate r.o. system for drinking water. my ph runs high. 

Talk to me.

 

[Kalita]

You said your light is on a timer - How long is your light on? You said you have finnex 24". Which model?

As I understand, melting is a common response when plants are introduced to new water parameters. Corey has said he has soft water with lower pH so it would be quite a change to go from his store to your tanks. The plants, like the sword, may just be re-adjusting.  

How long have you had these plants?

 

Edited March 9, 2021 by Kalita

[JoeM]

I have the finnex stingray led 24" on a 10 hr. timer.  7-5.

Ive had them about 2 weeks

 I have soft water but high ph. i think that may be a problem . but im not sure about kh and gh. gh is pretty much 0 and kh is really high. thanks

[JoeM]

mabeye the fluval 3.0 would be better as its a tall tank? but if its not a lighting problem i don't want to drop 150.0 on another light.🤔

 

[Jennifer V]

It could be that some -- like the sword -- are just melting and will grow back healthy when they adjust to the tank. 

[Koi]

Did you say your gh is 0 or is that a mistake? If it is actually 0  you need to add minerals into your water. Things like wondershell or crushed coral but if your water truly has no minerals you might want to consider something like Seachem Equilibrium. There are some other homemade concoctions you can use to raise you calcium and magnesium(gh) in a pinch but make sure that gh reading is correct.

I don't fully know how water softeners work but I figure its job is to strip out the calcium from your water which could be your issue.

[JoeM]

Gh is zero as far as API test strips are concerned. Double checked. What now?

[CT_]

I'd try the api liquid test for gh.  I have soft water and my test strips act weird for gh kh.  I'm a big fan of equilibrium too it's got a lot of the minerals you need beyond Ca Mg like Potassium.

[Koi]

I double what @CT_ said about getting the api liquid GH KH test kit whenever you get the chance. I have a friend with the same thing where the GH and KH readings were very off.

But sounds like you might need to get equilibrium or anything thats like that when possible. There are some really ghetto ways we can add calcium and magnesium but if you can wait till tomorrow or go to the store today( depending what time it is for you) that would be a better option.

Have you tried testing your tap water outside? I don't know much about water softeners but I would think it isn't connected to that. If gh is present in there you can change out some water and replace it with the tap outside.

Do you have unscented epsom salt?

Edited March 10, 2021 by Koi

[JoeM]

I haven't tried testing outside tap water from spicketbecause of it being winter and i started this fish thing in december. but ill check it now with the warmer weather.

Going to the store today to get api liquid gh and kh kit. And seachem equilibrium.

Would a wondershell be good too in conjunction with equllibrium or just one or the other?

i have  aquarium salt? what does unscented epson salt do?

[Koi]

You won't really need wonder shell since you are already getting equilibrium. But that solely depends on if you plan to add any other fish in addition to your cories. Any kind of livebearers, shrimps, or snails would benefit from it but I think it would be easier to measure out how much calcium/magnesium you add to the tank with equilibrium. The choice is up to you really you could always buy one wonder shell as a backup when you run out of equilibrium but the kinda do the same thing.

Just be sure just mix the equilibrium in a bucket and test the gh before adding it to your tank. It probably would be better to slowly introduce the minerals over the course of a few weeks through your water changes so you don't shock your fish.

Epsom salt is just a source of magnesium but you don't need it, it was just a backup questions if for some reason you weren't able to go to the store.

Do you have root tabs?

[JoeM]

Ok. I have a Molly , 5 kilifish and 2 gold zebra loaches with the 5 cories. Not adding anymore fish.

 Local store didn't have equillibrium, wondershell or gh test kit.lol go figure.  so amazon it is.

I do use the root tabs, loaded the amazon swords and spread out across all substrate. Have the easy green ,iron. Just picked up a bio-stone not that it will help.my problem but it sounded good... 

[Daniel]

34 minutes ago, Joe Masci said:

 Local store didn't have equillibrium, wondershell or gh test kit.lol go figure.  so amazon it is.

Our generous host sells all the items you are looking for

 

[Hobbit]

I would be careful with WonderShell because I believe it will raise pH and KH, which you don’t need in your case. Equilibrium doesn’t raise KH or pH as far as I know, so I would start with that.

[JoeM]

I will start with equal. Thank you.

 I tested my ph out of kitchen tap water which is what i use to fill buckets and do water changes.out of tap  the ph is  around 7.6-8. But I tested the same water thats been in a bucket for 24 hrs. And it reads 8.2 . and around 8.3 in  the 29 gl fish tank. It appears ph is going up as it sits.

Whats up with that? 

Ps.I can't use well water it's all going through the system. 

[Koi]

Most likely co2 is being pumped into your water to bring the ph down. And as you let that bucket sit, the co2 will off gas bringing the ph up. Most likely your waters actual ph could be even higher. You can test this by putting an air stone in the bucket and test the next day.

But I wouldn’t worry about your ph. Ph naturally fluctuates throughout the day. As long as it moves gradually there’s nothing to worry about. But if for some reason it drops a full point and continues to drop then you should be concerned.

I think gh should be addressed at the moment and I am a little skeptical about the kh reading from the api test strips. But as long as you have some kh you should be good.

[JoeM]

Ph stays around 8.3. I did find an API liquid kh test. It took 30 drops to turn yellow. 

 

 

[Plutoids Mom]

I also have the same situation: well water going through a softener, with a PH of 8.2, GH of 0, and KH of 11.  I'm experimenting with using water straight from the well (PH of 8.2, GH of 20, KH of 11) that I'm letting sit for 3-ish days so that a lot of the iron precipitates out.  I'm combining the well water with RO water from the grocery store, so that I still have some minerals but a lower KH and PH.  I just started this experiment and am still playing with the percentages.  With 25% RO water, I have a PH of 8.0, GH of 12, and KH of 9.  Not sure yet if the plants will like this or not.  I'm trying it with val, cypts, anubias, and a water lily.

When my water comes out of the faucet, it has a PH of 7.8, but a lot of gas gets released since it's not under pressure underground, which is why the PH changes.

The softener removes iron and some other minerals.  It leaves the baking soda in the water, which is why the KH is high and the GH is low.  On the plus side, you know the softener is doing it's job. 🙂

[JoeM]

I have my equilibrium should I just  take out out like 2qts of water and mix recommended 1tbs per 20 gallon so ide do 1.5 tbs for my 29. And just pour it back in?or do half the dosage?

Or do a 20 ,25%water change and introduce half the recomended dosage? Or full amount?

[Koi]

Definitely just add in while you do your water change. I would try raising to 1dGH just to start (around 20 ppm).

I honestly don’t think much would happen raising the gh higher cause I think shooting around 4-5 dGH is ideal. But I don’t want you to blame me for killing your fish so slowly easing it in through water changes would be ideal in case of any adverse reactions.

Here  is a dosing calculator you can use. Just look under directions

https://www.seachem.com/equilibrium.php

Edited March 14, 2021 by Koi

[JoeM]

i tested my well water and the gh is 13, kh 11 and ph 7.6. Very hard water but a better ph this came out of the crock in the basement. So that's good for plants yeah?ill just use that water instead. mix it in slowly? or do 50/50 , tap/well?? 

[Koi]

Yes you can just mix your well water in with water changes. I would say exchange 20% first and test where you water sits while monitoring fish and plants. Over the course of a few months you can slowly increase gh/kh to where you want it but I think dGH/dKH of 5 should be decent enough but don’t focus too hard and trying to match it so closely, just reach for somewhere around there.

At least all is not lost with equilibrium. It can be used later down the line for an extra source of potassium just be sure to not use as much well water when adding that in.

[JoeM]

Thanks for all the help

[JoeM]

So I did a 20%water change with well water and a added little equilibrium. Now tank is super super cloudy.. left over night still really cloudy . the equill. bottle says it should clear in 15 -30 minutes. But looks like white powder crap all over bottom of the tank. I probably didn't even need it. is there something i can do to clear it or just wait. another water change with no equilibrium? 

On the bright side,my gh is up and ph down , and my golden wonder killifish are laying eggs. i just cant see them at the moment. I hope it just clears up. lol

[Hobbit]

Hmmm. Is it a really really fine white powder? I’ve had that after a water change before and I think it was just the bacteria getting a little extra happy. I’m really not sure, but whatever it was it did go away on its own.