[Sweet Tee]

My Anubias Nana plants are the only ones in my newly planted tank that are forming yellow spots on all leaves. Ammonia at 0. Nitrites, Nitrates at 0, and pH is about 8. Tank has been up for about 4 weeks. 5 Zebra Danios have been in there since 3 weeks ago.

Any ideas as to what could be doing this? I'm running a low light, low tech tank, so there won't be any Co2 added and I have only 1wpg of light...sufficient for anubias. If I need fertilizers, what do I use and will it harm danios, rasboras, corys, and gouramis? I read some ferts may harm fish so I want to avoid that!







Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[DAS9]

I wish I could help, but I'm just a newcomer. However, am I correct in understanding you are only feeding the plants with what the Danios provide naturally? We've been adding some liquid plant food to our new tank, since it is new. Don't know if eventually we can stop that as we get more fish added and provide a better biomas for the plants to feed off of.

Also the small circular nature of these yellow spots makes me wonder if that is really a nutrition problem. Hope someone else is able to nail this down for you.

 

[Sweet Tee]

DAS9, thanks for your input. Yes, right now the only "food" for the plants is what ever is available in the tank. With anubias, they get their nutrition from the water, not from being planted into substrate like some of the higher light plants.

What kind of plant food are you adding to your tank?

 

[DAS9]

It is Kent's iron and manganese plant food. My 10 gal has two anubias, one wrendt?, and another I've forgotten the name of but send delicate 1" leaves to the surface. The 29 gal has 1 amazon sword, 3 or 4 white ribbons, 3 or 4 Kyoto grass. Will be looking to add some more top the 29 gal.

Good luck. I'll watch for responses to your querry. Hope someone has some answers for you.

 

[Sweet Tee]

Thanks again! I'm wondering if it isn't some kind of iron or potassium deficiency....

 

[choylifutsoccer]

One of my friends that work at the local fish shop told me that using Flourish root tablets almost instantly helped his yellowing plants turn green again.

 

[Sweet Tee]

Yeah, I've read that the Flourish line of products produce good results. I would try the tabs, but the anubias are attached to driftwood...their roots aren't established in the soil yet.

 

[susankat]

Root tabs won't help this situation, they are used for heavy root feeders. You need to be dosing a general fert and npk to help. Also a liquid iron. Flourish carries a full line of ferts that is good and if dosed per directions won't harm your fish. In a low light situation you can dose the tank once a week after your water change and it will help a lot.

 

[Sweet Tee]

Thanks so much. I will be going to my lps today to buy these.

 

[WhiteGloveAquatics]

Flourish or Kent have been the only two to visibly show results in a matter of days. You need to dose, I am using 1-0-0 and iron/mag from kent this past fert pickup and its showing faster results then flourish.

I got some anubias but thats all that I know that I have, I have no clue what the other plants are but I doubled the lights and started using kent and wow. I am trimming twice a week now.

 

[Sweet Tee]

If I'm dosing ferts from more than one bottle, do I add them all at the same time after my water changes??? Just how often should I be changing the water now that I have plants and am dosing? I was going to do 20% changes twice a week...

 

[Sweet Tee]

Oh, and what about the carbon in my filter? I've read it removes some nutirents from water... True or False? Will it remove my fert doses?

 

[Sweet Tee]

Ok, so here's an update, or lack there of *td I went to my lfs and not only was the guy I needed to talk to not there, but they had none of the Flourish product line in stock! Looks like I'll be ordering from good ole Drs Foster & Smith!!!!

I was going to get the Florish (reg.) and the NPT (the big three

Does this sound sufficient?

Thanks again for all the help
*c/p*

 

[susankat]

That would be good for ferts. On water changes I would do 30% once a week unless your tank is over stocked.

I dose a different route, I use dry ferts, but I also have 26 tanks so its cheaper for me to go this route. I also EI dose which is dosing everyday and doing 50% water changes each week.

If you can post picks of your plants we might be able to give you the names of the plants you have.

 

[Sweet Tee]

Ok thanks Susan. I'll order those. With that many tanks, i'm sure dry dosing would be less expensive. I start doing just 30% water changes once a week. Wow, that sounds very easy I'm glad I'm going the planted tank route.

p.s. I believe it was WhiteDevil who didn't know which types of Anubias he had. I have two nanas...I would love to get some nanas petite and use them for more "ground coverage" in the center of the tank.

 

[Sweet Tee]

I also removed the carbon from my filter, added a sponge in it's place...and added a prefilter to my intake. Looks like once I get those ferts in I'll be good to go

 

[Sweet Tee]

Is it safe to add the macro ferts the same time as micro??? I stumbled upon something saying that you couldn't but I had no luck find any more info on it.

 

[choylifutsoccer]

I also removed the carbon from my filter, added a sponge in it's place...and added a prefilter to my intake. Looks like once I get those ferts in I'll be good to go

What kind of sponge did you use? I may have to remove my carbon filter cartridge and use a sponge too. *w3

 

[Sweet Tee]

My filter is an AquaClear...so I used the sponge that fits those filters. Great filters BTW.

 

[susankat]

The way I do it is I dose the macros the day after I dose the the micros. But I dose everyday. You can dose them even an hour after dosing the other. Any kind of aquarium sponge that can be cut to fit can be used. I usually use aquaclear sponges in all of my filters. With cleaning them out during water changes they will last for a long time.