Issues with s. repens in two tanks

I’ve got two tanks with s. repens a 10 gallon community tank and a 3-5 gallon shrimp only bowl. They are two different packs of s. repens that I got from Petsmart and both are growing at the top fine… but they lost all their lower leaves. The 10 gallon tank has had them for a while. That tank has CO2 and I use APT3 as a liquid fertilizer; dosed daily as instructed except on water change days. There is also fluval stratum under the sand. They have long roots but only grow leaves from the top and have bare stems below. The bowl has no CO2, has fluval stratum under the sand, but only gets top-ups of water with Thrive+ once a week.

All other plants are doing fine. I do have a stag horn algae issue in the 10 gallon due to the CO2 turning itself off but I’m not sure what I could be missing with the s. repens. 10 gallon has a fluval sky light set for 8hrs and the bowl has a LED light on for equal amount of time.

 

My first thought is your lighting may be inadequate.

The aquarium in the first picture does not appear as healthy. Does this tank get enough filtration and flow? Also, unstable CO2 levels when the lights are on (you mentioned your CO2 system turning itself off) are really hard on your plants.

 

My first thought is your lighting may be inadequate.

The aquarium in the first picture does not appear as healthy. Does this tank get enough filtration and flow? Also, unstable CO2 levels when the lights are on (you mentioned your CO2 system turning itself off) are really hard on your plants.

The first picture is my 10 gallon. I get staghorn algae because the CO2 likes to turn off. I am home most of the time and adjust it when I see it's not pumping out as much as it should. The flow has slowed in that tank because of floating plants getting caught which I'm going to move to another tank tomorrow. I'm seeing string algae in there too but had a bad mishap happen last week with the CO2 canister being empty all week while I was away house sitting (sister tried to replace the canister and did it wrong. CO2 leaked and was empty after a day) which caused a bad algae outbreak (string, green, staghorn, and diatoms). That's why that tank looks bad as I'm trying to get the CO2 back on track. I'll post an image of the whole tank below.

The lighting for the 10 gallon is on from 10am to 6pm with slow transitions the first and last half hour from off to blue/red to bright lights to blue/red to off. It's a Fluval AquaSky light and It was on longer than that and brighter before I adjusted it. I've also tried it being on for only 6hrs or having a siesta in the middle and the plants suffered. The current setting is the one that's worked for me best.

The bowl has little to no flow. There's a mini sponge filter in the back and that's it. The light is a USB LED light from amazon with this information:

- Voltage+ frequency: АС 100- 240B/5V
- Color temperature: 6500K
- Power: 1W
- Luminous flux: 100lm

It also gets sunlight from my window and light from the light in my room. All other plants in the bowl are doing well, it's just the s. repens. I'll put a picture of it as well.

 

My s. repens are still dying off. I see new growth on the top of the ones in the 10 gallon often. The bowl ones are slower growing but still growing. Yet, the lower leaves are all dropping off. They're not yellow or anything. They just pop off. A few are ragged at the tip but everything else in my bowl is growing good. The 10 gallon is also surprisingly okay. The two red plants in the middle are old and I just haven't replaced them, which is why they don't look good.

I was considering just taking the s. repens (and the old red plants) out and replacing it with Alternanthera Reineckii 'Mini' in both tanks. I figure I just need a sturdier midground plant and s. repens just isn't it. I am testing a theory in my bowl though. I've moved the light closer so it hits the s. repens more directly to see if it's a lighting issue. not sure what else it could be at this point. Googling it just comes up with people saying "it happens" "some plants just don't work" etc. I like s. repens and just wish it would grow low and wide, but it always seems to do this so guess it's just one that won't work for me.

 

If possible, you can give them some RO water or softened water. Plants like to grow in such a water environment, and it can also reduce the flooding of algae. CO2 equipment can use a solenoid valve to add CO2 through a time switch. Do not arbitrarily add fertilizer, remember! It can only be a burden to your fish tank.

 

Dear bored411,

I would cut the healthy tops, disregard the bottoms, plant the tops back where there is good light and flow, then keep my lighting consistent from 10 to 8 everyday.

Happy Fish Keeping

 

Dear bored411,

I would cut the healthy tops, disregard the bottoms, plant the tops back where there is good light and flow, then keep my lighting consistent from 10 to 8 everyday.

Happy Fish Keeping

I'll try that. My lighting is on a timer so it's consistent. I actually turned up the brightness about 10% (it's a Fluval Aquasky so I can adjust it as needed, just took my usual settings and upped everything by 10%) to see if it's a lighting issue. I'll move the tops closer to the front so there's more flow as well. They're just very stubborn plants for me apparently. Those ones in the 10-gallon I've had for ages but they've been like this the whole time. Still alive, still growing, but losing leaves as new ones grow. I do have some a. reinickii mini coming in that I'll put where they were though.

 

Fluval Aquasky would be considered low, maybe lower end of medium light. I would run it at it's full power.