Plants gradually going brown?

It seems that over time my plants are starting to go brown. (Mostly on the edges) I don't think it is algae as it doesn't rub off...
I noticed the grassy plant to the right of the center turned almost completely brown first (See pic)

Could it be the tinted water?
Is it possible that my lighting is "burning" the plants?

Lighting is provided by 3 6500K and 1 20 000k T5 tubes
Photo period is 9.5 hours.
The tank is 55cms deep
Plants are growing at an amazing rate, could they perhaps be starved for nutrients?

For now i have turned off one 6500k and the 20 000k as a test

Any ideas?

Will post an updated pic tonight.

 

on the grass it looks like algea.... are you feeding the tank with a plant fert at all?

 

Yeah, it does look like algae doesn't it (Saw that only when i looked at the pic)
I couldn't reach the grass for a rub down test. So i used one of the other plants.

I used those Sera tablet ferts... one tablet under each of the plants.

 

Hey Liftcrazy,

Were you able to figure out what the problem was?
I'm starting to see the same thing happen to my L. Sessifilora. and I'm wondering if the lights aren't maybe too close to the water.

 

It was definitely algae... it got worse and i eventually removed all of the L. Sessifilora. Someone once told me that this plant goes through a cycle where it dies off (This was probably BS in hindsight). The algae was most likely blocking the light which caused the plant to die off. This in turn caused a huge mess of dead plant matter on the substrate.

It got worse still on the remaining plants until i put in two small Ancistrus. Within 2 days they cleaned all the plants.

Unfortunately as the Ancistrus get bigger they tend to destroy the plants.

I am not sure this is a solution for you though, this plant is very delicate. Perhaps a few Otocinclus?

How long has your tank been running and how often do you carry out water changes?

 

Hmm, I don't know if its algae. I'll check tonight.

Tank has been running for a few weeks now with very little algae. The algae that is present is caused by the afternoon sun hitting the side glass. Would LOVE to get Oto's but I can't find any so sad.

I do water changes once a week. Percentage depends on how the nitrate levels are.

 

Cool, post the results of your findings.

Back when i took these pics, my tank's water was relatively new... basically i managed the algae symptoms until things settled in. My photo period has remained relatively the same throughout, could be 30 mins shorter at the moment.

 

Will do yeah. Have also shortened the photoperiod in our tank. Bought a nice blue LED lamp thingy which we're using as a moon light now.

 

Here's a pic of the browning:


I "wiped" the leaves and it felt slimy. A teeny bit of the brown came off, but not alot. Could it be algae then?

 

Hi Linxie,
I think that is Diatom algae,also known as brown algae.It is more common in newly setup tanks or tanks with low light.Reducing your light will not treat the problem and could even help the algae grow.

 

Thanks Rudi,
Someone mentioned it could also be the plants adapting to the new light.
I think it could be a mixture of both ?

 

Diatom algae is caused by exess silicic acid(SiO2)found in silica sand or pool filter sand.
You can remove it,the algae, by hand,add Otocinclus or increase the lighting.

 

Def algae. Work out where you're excess nutrients are building up... But in the mean time just up the frequency of your water changes. Otocinclus are simply the best cleaners in the world... BUT they are mostly wild caught using very bad practices, I was upset to discover that I supported this only after I'd bought the fish... :-(

Absolutely stunning tank btw liftcrazy - just get those plants out of the pots ya lazy bum! ;-)

 

Thanks so much for the help and info guys!

 

Eish, missed all the comments...

 

Also, the leaves of the amazon swords look like the plants have a case of chlorosis, I believe it's called... Too little iron, potassium and other nutrients... So, your algae issues may be an imbalance in the tank, which causes the algae to flourish...