It was an established tropical fresh water tank, the fish were fine Thought 
i'd add some plants. For the first wo months the plants grew like mad, to 
the point where I had to trim them back. Last month, there wasn't alot of 
new growth - which I was grateful for. This month, they seem to be dropping 
their leaves and looking yellowish and straggly.

Fish remain fine.

As far as I know, I haven't changed anything, so any ideas what might 
happening to the plants and how to fix it?

Yowie
-- 
If you're paddling upstream in a canoe and a wheel falls off, how many 
pancakes can you fit in a doghouse? None, icecream doesn't have bones.

"Marksfish"  wrote in message 
news:5ZednTZBrtjMcvnanZ2dnUVZ8sSrnZ2d@brightview.com...
>> It was an established tropical fresh water tank, the fish were fine 
>> Thought i'd add some plants. For the first wo months the plants grew like 
>> mad, to the point where I had to trim them back. Last month, there wasn't 
>> alot of new growth - which I was grateful for. This month, they seem to 
>> be dropping their leaves and looking yellowish and straggly.
>>
>> Fish remain fine.
>>
>> As far as I know, I haven't changed anything, so any ideas what might 
>> happening to the plants and how to fix it?
>>
>>
> What sort of plants are they? Stem plants regularly need cutting back and 
> the tops re- planting to grow again. Rooted plants will take their 
> nourishment from the substrate if it is available, although they will also 
> use the nitrogenous compounds that are available in an aquarium.

They are rooted plants. I just bought a 'mixed bunch'. I'm tryin to find 
photos of them on the 'net so I can find out their names, but aren't having 
much luck.

> What sort of substrate do you have?

Gravel, ranging from small pebbles down to coarse sand. Looks like a river 
bottom

> I use sand in mine to allow the roots to find their way easily. I have 
> added some substrate fertiliser this time too, but don't really know if it 
> of benefit or not just yet. Do you use any liquid fertiliser at all?

Nope, i was blissfully unware that such a product existed until now. I just 
went out and bought some.

> Looking yellowish can mean an iron deficiency (depending on plants) so a 
> good all round product should be okay. How long are the lights on for and 
> what sort of light is it?

Its an 'Aqua-Glo' fluorescent light. I tend to have the light on during the 
night and turn it off during the day, but the tank is kept in a realtively 
dark room. Unfortunatley there is a kid in the hosue that likes turning the 
light on to watch the fishies and like most kids doesn't turn it off again, 
so the light/dark cycle tends to be about 18 hours of light, 6 hours of dusk 
or dark. Not ideal, I know, but I know other tanks that seem to have the 
ligh ton 24/7 and the plants don't seem to drop their leaves.

> I am not a great plant grower and I find rooted plants are the way to go 
> as they tend to be sturdier IMO.

I'll see how this fertiliser stuff works out. Am still trying to work out 
what plants species I actually have.

Thanks for the reply.

Yowie

> Its an 'Aqua-Glo' fluorescent light. I tend to have the light on during 
> the night and turn it off during the day, but the tank is kept in a 
> realtively dark room. Unfortunatley there is a kid in the hosue that likes 
> turning the light on to watch the fishies and like most kids doesn't turn 
> it off again, so the light/dark cycle tends to be about 18 hours of light, 
> 6 hours of dusk or dark. Not ideal, I know, but I know other tanks that 
> seem to have the ligh ton 24/7 and the plants don't seem to drop their 
> leaves.
>
I have my lights on a timer so that the lighting cycle is constant. The 
lights come on at about 12pm and go off at 10pm. I have two T5 tubes over my 
four foot tank, one is still a marine white, but one is one of the softer 
tropical lights (can't remember which off hand). The plants really need a 
minimum of 8- 10 hors light a day, plus, don't forget all the time they are 
in the dark they absorb oxygen not produce it as when in light.

When you put new plants into a tank, they have normally been grown with 
their leaves out of the water. When they are put in water, these leaves 
can't "breathe" properly and so shed the leaves, normally to a bare crown. A 
lot of hobbyists will then throw them away thinking they are dead. A week or 
so later, new growth should start appearing, only this time with the correct 
leaves. I have a crypt that shed all of its' leaves when put in the tank two 
months ago, the stump is now producing some new leaves.

A good liquid fertiliser will help to bring them on, but make sure you don't 
have any carbon in your filter otherwise it will be removed straight away. I 
use Flourish which is high in iron, but there are many other products on the 
market too.

HTH

Mark
www.marksfish.me.uk

"Marksfish"  wrote in message 
news:8cydnX-agu9JxeLanZ2dnUVZ8uidnZ2d@brightview.com...
>> Its an 'Aqua-Glo' fluorescent light. I tend to have the light on during 
>> the night and turn it off during the day, but the tank is kept in a 
>> realtively dark room. Unfortunatley there is a kid in the hosue that 
>> likes turning the light on to watch the fishies and like most kids 
>> doesn't turn it off again, so the light/dark cycle tends to be about 18 
>> hours of light, 6 hours of dusk or dark. Not ideal, I know, but I know 
>> other tanks that seem to have the ligh ton 24/7 and the plants don't seem 
>> to drop their leaves.
>>
> I have my lights on a timer so that the lighting cycle is constant. The 
> lights come on at about 12pm and go off at 10pm. I have two T5 tubes over 
> my four foot tank, one is still a marine white, but one is one of the 
> softer tropical lights (can't remember which off hand). The plants really 
> need a minimum of 8- 10 hors light a day, plus, don't forget all the time 
> they are in the dark they absorb oxygen not produce it as when in light.
>
> When you put new plants into a tank, they have normally been grown with 
> their leaves out of the water. When they are put in water, these leaves 
> can't "breathe" properly and so shed the leaves, normally to a bare crown. 
> A lot of hobbyists will then throw them away thinking they are dead. A 
> week or so later, new growth should start appearing, only this time with 
> the correct leaves. I have a crypt that shed all of its' leaves when put 
> in the tank two months ago, the stump is now producing some new leaves.
>
> A good liquid fertiliser will help to bring them on, but make sure you 
> don't have any carbon in your filter otherwise it will be removed straight 
> away. I use Flourish which is high in iron, but there are many other 
> products on the market too.

Ah, thanks for your help - it is indeed the bottom leaves shedding, not hte 
new growth (by and large) and my filter did have carbon in it (most has been 
removed recently, because it all fell out and I didn't know who to put it 
back in).

Yowie