my garden

[ERIC]

hey guys
when i was gone for a retreat my mother didnt turn on the aqaurium light for a week so my plants are half dead and is making my water nasty and no matter how many water changes i do the nastys are still there what should i do. for now i leave my light on for 11hrs a day and they are coming back but the plants have many holes on the leaves so iam not sure if i should just get more plants

[duck]

What are the nasties?
Do fertilize?
What are your spec's ie nitrate,phosphate,CO2?

[ERIC]

the nasties are the broken up leaves and some roots and stems that have died and i dont use fertilizer, but i was thinking about that biosand but expensive and i dont know what phosphate is and no co2 cuz its not heavily planted and water quality is perfect

[mcloughlin2]

Try for 12hrs a day of the lights being on...dont change too much water as it will just cause more dramas....

[jim from sydney]

Eric......your poor Mum, i bet she was not in you good books for a while....anyway not all is lost....dont go overboard you will loose the plants that way.....if you change the water too often you will only loose too much of the goodness the plants need....i would only increase the fertilser a little more (i use Seachem - Florish) By the way why not install a timer, Bunnings sells them for about 5 bucks, this week they had a special 3 for 10 bucks i think, real cheap i have them on all my tanks....get your mum to buy one (to make up)...LOL...JIm

[duck]

Doesn't need to be heavliy planted to have CO2,No matter.
Clean all the dead leave's and whatever that doesn't belong in there.
If your plants where growing good, why get biosand.
As Jim said and i agree buy a timer will help.

[keVerns]

Try for 12hrs a day of the lights being on...dont change too much water as it will just cause more dramas....

longer time of light usage doesnt really heap the plants to grow back in faster my opinion... i find that the leaving it on for long hours would kill some various thin leafed plants, eg. java ferns/spwrds ...they get burnt up leaves...its better to leave it at whatever number of hours you had previously... and just let it recover over time.

i'd say if u wanna revive ur plants quicker... use awhat others have said... seachem flourish... or else geoliquid for water plants.

[ERIC]

thanks guys ;]