davis101 Posted February 12, 2014 Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 I have a small planted fluval ebi and i have a couple of plants that all the leaves are falling off of. One is hornwort and the other I'm not sure what it is. My water temp is about 76-77 and i have a few guppies, cherry shrimp and some unidentified snails. What could be causing this and if the plant garbage worthy once all the leaves fall off? The attached pictures are of the unidentified plant. Also should i did all the fallen leaves out? They have made a small pile under my driftwood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted February 12, 2014 Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 I find when hornwort doesn't get enough light, it tends to lose its leaves. The same may be true of your Elodea. I've never kept any of the "new" Fluval mini tanks, but I had a 1st Gen Edge, and I can tell you that the stock lights couldn't grow much worthwhile - the same may go for your Ebi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremoose Posted February 12, 2014 Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 I actually found my EBI to throw some pretty decent light, but not for long. It needed replacing after 2, maybe 3 months. As Jvision said, it's probably a lighting problem. But they're not garbage when the leaves fall off, they can be brought back. The only time I find plants are truly garbage is when they've browned and rotted to the point where if you touch them they break apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyfisher Posted February 12, 2014 Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 Hornwort has been a mystery to me too.When I first tried some it grew like crazy easily filling my 75g and I ended up throwing half of it away every week at WC time.Then it stop growing and haven't been able to grow it since.Now I only use it during quarantine in my 10g,only needs to last a month then gets tossed. It can be sensitive to Excel & does not like H2O2 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davis101 Posted February 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 I tried to move it out so its directly under the light. hopefully that will help. The hornwort was growing really good too. Same with the stuff in the picture too, but some of them started loosing their leaves while others are branching out maybe because some of it was shadowed by my driftwood.. Thanks for the advice. Do you think a co2 diffuser would help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremoose Posted February 12, 2014 Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 I tried to move it out so its directly under the light. hopefully that will help. The hornwort was growing really good too. Same with the stuff in the picture too, but some of them started loosing their leaves while others are branching out maybe because some of it was shadowed by my driftwood.. Thanks for the advice. Do you think a co2 diffuser would help? How old is the bulb on your EBI? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davis101 Posted February 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 No idea. I bought it used about 2 months ago or so. Can I put another light over top of the tank? Like a desk light or something? Or do they need a specific kind of light? Also should i pull all the fallen leaves out of the tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekbottom Posted February 12, 2014 Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 You can use a regular desk lamp with a CFL bulb in it. Use the 6500K ones. I find staples or walmart good places to get the lamp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davis101 Posted February 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 Sorry what does CFL stand for? lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekbottom Posted February 12, 2014 Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 Compact Flourescent Light bulb. The twisty screw in light bulbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davis101 Posted February 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 Okay thanks! I will have a look around and see what I can find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted February 12, 2014 Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 I tried to move it out so its directly under the light. hopefully that will help. The hornwort was growing really good too. Same with the stuff in the picture too, but some of them started loosing their leaves while others are branching out maybe because some of it was shadowed by my driftwood.. Thanks for the advice. Do you think a co2 diffuser would help? I have a 10gal tank that has become packed with hornwort. The top plants are bright green and healthy, but the ones on the bottom of the tank are yellowing, soft and losing leaves. It's pretty normal for almost all stem plants to lose their lower leaves b/c of shading. Go ahead and remove the leaves that have fallen off, as well as the bare stems. If your plants are growing, no need to keep the parts that aren't. Also, in a tiny tank like that, you'll want to remove as much decaying matter as possible; otherwise, you could end up with a tank crash down the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremoose Posted February 13, 2014 Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 You can use a regular desk lamp with a CFL bulb in it. Use the 6500K ones. I find staples or walmart good places to get the lamp. I've done this on a 10g I had awhile back and it works great. You can get everything you need for like 15$ too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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