# plants lost all their leaves now dying



## panjaby (Apr 18, 2011)

after setting up diy co2 (sugar+yeast) in a few days all the plants lost their leaves and now dying, amazon sword leaves look like spider web.water has a green tint nitrate 80 everything else normal. i also changed my 4ft light tube to 10k recently and added 1ft 16k.
any suggestions what is happening i am a bit worried about adding more plants.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Green water is an algae bloom. Best way to kill is a total blackout (tank covered) for 2-3 days. The 16k light will not do much for plants. Need to stay in the 6500k to 10000k range to get the best results.

What sized tank is it and wattage of light?


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## mec102778 (Feb 17, 2011)

No idea, I use 6500 CFL bulbs and standard FL bulb. Dosing standard plant food 1xweek as directed on the pactage.


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## panjaby (Apr 18, 2011)

light is 4ft 36 watt and 1 ft 15 watt


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Nitrates are to high you need to do at least a 50% water change. Add root tabs under the sword as they are heavy root feeders. Do as Ben says to get rid of green water then you need to start dosing some ferts. With high light and diy co2 the plants aren't getting enough nutrients but the algae is.


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

Alot of flags here:

- 80 NitrAtes! Ick! Water changes needed pretty quick. Don't let get over 40.
- DIY CO2 on a 55g I pressume? How many bottles are you running on this? Will be tough to get the appropriate level needed with DIY unless you are running multiple bottles.
- Lighting. Way too high. I would absolutely recommend changing out your bulbs to 6500k. Absolutely get rid of the 16k. While the 10k is just ... "ok", I would advise dropping both down to the 6500 range for best results. Anything higher, you should definately start looking into a pressurized CO2 system to add to the stability.

As it stands right now, your tank is an algae play ground. Sry.


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## panjaby (Apr 18, 2011)

well i only started off with one bottle after about 3-4 days the leaves were gone so i took it out and i was also using AZOO (brand) iron+co2 liquid did that for over a week and the stopped along with the co2 bottle.
i would love to bring it below 40 but i am scared of big water changes,
last night i cleaned the canister filter and added some wool and foam left the ceramic stuff as is. in the three months since i started the tank filter water was really dark/black colored dont know if that is normal or not. 

tested the water this morning no3 80 no2 .25 kh 120 ph 7.2


6500k cfl bulbs are they the same ones we use in homes in everyday life or something diffrent.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

There should be no issue doing regular 25-50% water changes. I do 50% weekly. You really need to do about a 50% change to get your nitrates lower. From there you can test weekly and when they reach a certain threshold, do your water change. A better option may be to get some plants in there to help you.

High nitrates can/will start affecting your fish negatively.


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## panjaby (Apr 18, 2011)

good news my current test results are

ph 7.0
ammonia 0
no3 40


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## panjaby (Apr 18, 2011)

great news my current test results 2 days after cleaning the filter and adding stress zyme (55 ml/55gal) and water change 15-20%

but my water is even more greener than before is that ok
ph 7.0
ammonia 0
no3 40
no2 0
kh 40
gh 120 or just under

no3 as posted earlier is good around 40 (james0816) 

is kh and gh ok 
gh around 120 isnt it too high it used to be around 60 untill recently


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

The green water needs to be treated by covering the tank and doing a total blackout for 2-3 days.


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

I would do one more 25% wc in two days and as JR mentioned, do a complete 3 day blackout. No lights and cover tank as well with a large towel or sheet. Another 25% wc after the blackout is over.


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## panjaby (Apr 18, 2011)

did a complete blackout for 3 days still no change,
if i use activated carbon will it get rid of the algae,

or any other suggestions im getting frustrated with this algae thing


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

panjaby said:


> did a complete blackout for 3 days still no change,
> if i use activated carbon will it get rid of the algae,
> 
> or any other suggestions im getting frustrated with this algae thing


Wait a few more days. the tank will rapidily start clearing at some time. But with heavy cloudy water, it can take some time. But it will clear up.


my .02


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## giddetm (Apr 30, 2011)

James0816 said:


> - Lighting. Way too high. I would absolutely recommend changing out your bulbs to 6500k. Absolutely get rid of the 16k. While the 10k is just ... "ok", I would advise dropping both down to the 6500 range for best results.


Am I missing something here,with a 15 watt and a 36 watt is 51 total watts. On a 55 gal. that is a little over 1 watt per gal. I understand without CO2 the Kelvin should be closer to 6500 K than 10,000K. I would think that the low watts per gal. and the high nitrates would be causing the bloom. What am I overlooking here?


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

giddetm said:


> Am I missing something here,with a 15 watt and a 36 watt is 51 total watts. On a 55 gal. that is a little over 1 watt per gal. I understand without CO2 the Kelvin should be closer to 6500 K than 10,000K. I would think that the low watts per gal. and the high nitrates would be causing the bloom. What am I overlooking here?


I think you're confusing wattage with color temperature.

4' and 1' flourescent is probably not enough with at least 1 or preferable 2 4' utility 2 tube fixtures really needed.

But the 10K is color temperature not the wattage. and it is IMHO too high (blue). I would use 6500K tubes. 

Plus continue the blackout until the water is clear.

Hopefully with higher wattage 6500k lighting your plants will recover nicely.

my .02


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Yeah, a 16k light will do wonders for algae, but not much for plants.


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## insight2663 (Feb 6, 2021)

I suggest you check the phosphate levels. I have a 20 gal and kept loosing plants and getting huge algae blooms. Turns out all tanks parameters were correct, but, my tap water has tons of phosphates. the dying plants made it worse. now using phos sorb from seachem and it is now coming under control. plants doing better


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