# Cabomba Falling Apart



## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

It sounds as if the Cabomba may simply be adjusting to its new conditions.

With that much lighting, I would suggest you cut down your lighting to 8 hours. In addition, you will need to dose more than just micronutrients (the Seachem Flourish). In addition, you will need to dose macronutrients (your NPKs).

As for CO2, as you already know, DIY CO2 will be difficult to control/use on a 55 gallon tank. While pressurized is the clear option, if you must use DIY CO2, you will need at least several bottles staggered so that a consistent CO2 level is produced. 

The pH/kH/CO2 relationship can only be used if carbonates/bicarbonates are the only buffering agent in your water contributing to alkalinity. Unfortunately, this is not the case in the majority of planted tanks. As such, your best bet for measuring CO2 is to use a drop checker with a 4 dkH (or any other) reference solution.


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## Postal Penguin (Mar 30, 2009)

Cabomba for me was a nightmare. Even when it was growing incredibly healthy and fast, the bottoms would still turn brown and shed leaves. I found myself with clogged filters all the time and I had to cut the cabomba and replant the tops. It may just be normal cabomba growth.


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## scootingblenny (Jun 13, 2010)

Thanks for the responses. What would you suggest using to dose the macros? I assumed once I put fish in that would take care of the nitrogen and phosphates and Flourish has potash which I was told takes care of potassium


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

You probably have medium light with that fixture, so I don't believe you need to reduce the lighting at all. With that size tank, DIY CO2 will do very little good unless you have several bottles going at once. With than amount of light you do need to dose all of the nutrients. I suggest you start with Flourish Nitrogen, Flourish Potassium and Flourish Phosphorous. That will very soon get expensive, so you can then order KNO3 and KH2PO4 from GLA, for example, and switch to them. Dosing Seachem Flourish Excel will also help a lot. But, Cabomba isn't my idea of an easy plant in any case.


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