# Baby Dwarf Tears Turning Brown



## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

First you will need to provide some more info. Have you tested the water? Can you give use the ph, kh, gh, no3, really any other water parameters will help. Are you dosing ferts, if so what are you dosing?


----------



## Brandon Matsumoto (Aug 12, 2016)

Oops my bad, sorry for leaving that info out. So heres an update:

Ferts(I do the recommended bottle amount on Sundays after water changes ):

Flourish Comprehensive 
Flourish Iron

Water info:

Nitrate 20mg/l
Nitrite: .5mg/l
Total Hardness: 300GH
Alkalinity: 80 ppm
PH: 7.2


----------



## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

You don't dose macro nutrients, I would look into that. Also how's your flow?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Brandon Matsumoto (Aug 12, 2016)

Okay I kind of felt like I was lacking nutrients of some kind. I knew that the substrate I put in wasn't the most nutrient filled and plus I didnt mix in any ferts to start with. So what would be a good fertilizer to use? Which macros do I need? Should I buy the Green Leaf Aquarium basic set? Also my flow is from a HOB filter that seems pretty good. The flow seems to reach the bottom and causes activity on the top. Also I dont know if this matters but my baby dwarf tears pearl. Thank you very much to for the tip.


----------



## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Substrate nutrients aren't a big deal if you dose the water column effectively. The GLA EI set is good, or if you can find those salts from another cheaper vendor. I would look at some of the many dosing regimes online on how to dose effectively. (read: EI/PPS)
By the way, I think you meant inches not feet for your tank size. Yeah flow tends to be less of an issue on small tanks, so that is probably not the issue. But that's hard for me to estimate, that's up to you to decide whether it's adequate.
I've read pearling happens when oxygen is at max saturation in the tank, so that would probably confirm your surface agitation/flow is probably okay.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Brandon Matsumoto (Aug 12, 2016)

So you don't think its lighting right? Either way I will try looking for some fertilizers online or at my local LFS as shipping for GLA is expensive. Hopefully I can make this work into a carpet.


----------



## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

I'm quite conservative when it comes to lighting, and it usually isn't the issue when something isn't growing. We all tend to pump tonnes of light in our tanks anyway. But, I digress if you want to know for sure check the PAR values for your fixture online and refrence it to what HC needs. HC doesn't need a lot mind you. If it's dying (turning brown) I would think it's lack of nutrients.
Your HC is already lying flat and spreading which is good hopefully you can now get it to grow. Look at hydroponics stores as well for the fertilisers, Amazon too. The ones you want are KNO3, KH2PO4 and K2SO4. You can get CSM+B or an equivalent micro mix, but you already have Flourish Comprehensive which covers that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Brandon Matsumoto (Aug 12, 2016)

Okay thanks so much. The HC has been spreading and upon closer inspection I noticed some of the brown looked like an algae while others did look like dead leaves. Either way I'm looking into fertilizers and praying that with the info you guys gave me they will carpet. Thanks a again guys for the help.


----------



## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

If it's brown algae, probably Diatoms, it may just be because your tank is reasonably new. The HC may just get better on it's own but I think having your dosing covered is going to help anyway in the long term.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Brandon Matsumoto (Aug 12, 2016)

Okay cool, however how do i get rid of diatom on my hc. I read you can rub it off of moss but I dont really want to pull my hc out.


----------

