this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2023
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Aquariums and Fish Keeping

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My some red root floaters seem to be dying. No pump, water at 25c/78f with a heater, a small grow light is keeping them lit during the day. Would tannins from driftwood potentially make them unhappy? (pawb.social)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/aquariums
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I just did a 50% water change just to see if it seems to slow things down and potentially bring the pH back to normal. The clerk said most people have had bad luck with RRFs except one customer. Now I'm starting to wonder if I'm gonna join the ranks of those who have killed them. Small tank, 4.2 gal/ ~16L

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Just to clarify, the driftwood is spiderwood and was presoaked and washed before being put into the tank.

[–] blueday 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Late to the game, but I have some with same wood, and are doing fine. My PH is like 7.3 even with the tannins though. Mine were slow going, but once I removed the bulk of water lettuce, RRF prospered. Is the plant competing with anything? Is it an actual grow light? How is it dying? Is it staying on the surface or getting tossed around by current?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I needed fertilizers! I got some co2 + other stuff that frees up iron (flourish excel) and the RRFs exploded happily. They went from dying to sending out new leaves like crazy in about a week. Quite the turnaround. I think the water was just nutrient-poor for floating/non soil plants.

[–] blueday 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Great to hear!!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Yeah! I'm really happy with them now. I actually had to remove a few just because they were taking over, haha. The tank needs at least a little light to filter down to the bottom.

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