# Yellowing Hemianthus callitrichoides 'Cuba'



## Reckon

Hopefully some guys who have planted HC 'cuba' can lend me a hand. 1st 2 weeks, HC looked great and grew like crazy. Last 0.5 week they're starting to yellow and even brown a bit. 
I'm starting to think I'm not ferting enough using the PPS-Pro method since I'm only Macro and Micro feeding 5mL per day in my starting to be heavily planted 22gal.
I fert in the morning around 7:00 before I got to work. Lights come on at 12:00pm. Should I fert at night?

My "difficult" stem plants seem to be doing well, but Ranunculus inundatas and Pogostemon helferi aren't looking that great either.

pH swinging between 7.1 - 7.8 (read my Maple Ridge water post)
CO2 1 bubble per sec using an atomizer.
8 hours photoperiod, using Odyessea 36" from Canadian Aquatics. I use 2 bulbs for 5 hours, 1 bulb for 3 hours
Water parameters tested this morning: 
0 Ammonia
< 0.25 Nitrite (very slight purple tinge with API)
< 5.00 Nitrate (between yellow and orange with API)

I did change my filter to a 2236 mid last week. Will new substrate affect this?

Also, if there's a deficiency in ferts this will lead to growth in brown algae right?


----------



## vdub

Is that gravel?


----------



## TheBigCheese

I'm new to the forum so first comment on here. How old is the tank? That almost looks like Diatoms? 
Yellowing could be a sign of an Iron deficiency and from my experience If your HC is growing up 
instead of sideways you might not have enough light. I'd start by increasing CO2 as well.


----------



## Reckon

Hey! Welcome to BCA! Wow, I'm impressed you are already diving into the technical threads.

That is Eco Complete. The tank is 3 weeks old so there'll definately be some diatoms. I've increased iron as part of my micro dosing, but only 1 week ago. As of this morning I've gone to 1.5 bubbles per sec. Light is considerable. 22gal tank, 80 watts for 5 hours, 40 watts for 3 hours. Are you thinking I should go with more hours of light or actually more wattage?

Today I went with 10ml of macro and micro ferting. Pulled up the dying HC and replanted the nodes in lower density.



TheBigCheese said:


> I'm new to the forum so first comment on here. How old is the tank? That almost looks like Diatoms?
> Yellowing could be a sign of an Iron deficiency and from my experience If your HC is growing up
> instead of sideways you might not have enough light. I'd start by increasing CO2 as well.


----------



## TheBigCheese

Thanks, I'm just new to the forum, not new to planted tanks.

I'd say it's just diatoms and it should clear on its own in a few weeks. There could be a possibility 
that if the HC you got was grown emersed, how most nurseries grow it, that it's going through a change
from emersed to submerged form where the plant is vulnerable. Anyone can feel free to correct me if I'm 
wrong. I'm sure if you stick with it and are patient it'll come through. Sounds like you're doing everything
right.

This is my HC lawn:


----------



## Reckon

The HC I got was from Aquaflora. Yes, I saw your pictures in the intro forum, very nice! Do you remember your tank parameters? Light, fert, hardness, etc? Thanks for your help!

Btw, youtube says the video is private and it can't be watched.


----------



## TheBigCheese

I did a similar start to what you're doing. Submerged start in Seachem Flourite. I didnt dose any ferts
or GH booster until the tank was cycled because I was doing frequent water changes. Using 1 T5HO bulb. 
I did have a hard fight with diatoms for the first few weeks and was feeling defeated. It just takes time 
with new tank setups. Thanks, just changed the settings on the video.

When I started my HC didnt look the greatest. This is a week or so after planting in July.


----------



## Reckon

Yow, that looks like a lot of work to trim them. Well, there's still a lot of HC so I'm sure they'll pull through. I just want to minimize loss. Anyone else have any suggestions?


----------

