# Root tabs turned water mucky!



## Gracie8890 (Feb 25, 2012)

So i bought some api root tabs hoping to save my plants and i woke up this morning and my water is brown and cloudy. It was crystal clear before i put them in! I just did an almost 100% water change and it was looking clear for a few moments but now its back to the same color. It looks like somebody made tea in my aquarium. What can i do? The root tabs have turned into a powder under my gravel and i cant just take them out.will it clear up on its own?


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

it will take some time to clear up. as you probably have a nitrite spike and now a bacterial bloom. I really don't advise people to use too many root tabs at once. and that if they do, to make sure that they are not using it with gravel substrate that cant hold the nutrients in. can you do a gravel vaccum?


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

If you can still see the root tab-your gravel is too large in diameter to use root tabs. You shouldn't be able to see the root tabs once you cram them into the substrate-otherwise, too much nutrients and the root tab itself gets in the water column and will cause problems.

What I would recommend-deep vacuum to get as much of it out as you can.

Most plant problems are due to the wrong color temp bulb-when its not related to old bulbs, improper planting, poor light penetration, wrong photoperiod, non-aquatic plants. Some plant problems can be due to a normal leaf change over-from above water leaf growth to underwater leaf growth...emersed-v-submersed....

How big is the tank, type/size of substrate, how deep, type of filter, how many and what species of plants and how planted.
Lights-what type, age of bulb, watts, kelvin and photoperiod.
How long has the tank be setup and plants planted-also what is the stocking and any ferts used-other than the root tabs


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## Gracie8890 (Feb 25, 2012)

I have a 10g with normal sized gravel and bigger gravel sprinkled on top. The gravel is about 1 1/2 inches deep. Idk about water depth. O have an aqua tech 5-15 power filter and about 9 plants and 6 species: java fern attached to rock, amazon sword planted in gravel, brazilian sword planted in gravel, water wisteria planted in gravel, anibias biteri? Planted in gravel and i believe is cardinals planted in gravel. I have 2 zoomed ultra sun light bulbs 10w each and 6500k. My tank has been setup for about a month, however i added plants only a week amd a half ago. I have 1 betta and 2 adfs. And i have some api liquid fertilizer in there as well. Thanks for help! I will vacuuming the gravel to get out the root tabs.


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## Gracie8890 (Feb 25, 2012)

Heres a pic of my plants, i do believe that there dying and if i need to i will post a pic of my entire tank


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## Friendlyfishies (Aug 16, 2012)

I just put the flourish root tabs in my tank and I have seen them turn to mush within a few hours of being in the aquarium...but mine didnt turn the water brown, so thats quite puzzling??! When I disturb the substrate it all crumbles and floats through the tank but then it settles...maybe its the difference between the API And flourish?


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## Gracie8890 (Feb 25, 2012)

I might change to flourish then! Sounds better!


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

API's is not good compared to Seachem's. The excess of phosphorous in them often make it easy to get water quality issues.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

and algae XD


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## bettasaur (Sep 17, 2012)

Gracie8890 said:


> I have a 10g with normal sized gravel and bigger gravel sprinkled on top.
> I have 2 zoomed ultra sun light bulbs 10w each and 6500k.



This is completely off topic, but what kind of hood do you have for your 10 gallon? I want to get those bulbs for my 2 10 gallons, but they won't fit in the hoods that I have.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Since the plants are new-it might be emersed-v-submersed growth change over.

On your swords and any rosette plants, I would pull them up a bit and get their crown above the substrate. Pinch off the yellowing/dead leaves. If I understood correctly-you have one of the anubias planted-if so, it needs to be attached to something.

You may have posted this and I missed it...but what is the photoperiod or how long are the lights on.

Root tabs should be crammed as far as they can go into the substrate and fully covered by the substrate.


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## Gracie8890 (Feb 25, 2012)

Thanks to all! I dont know what the hood brand is, it came with my 10g in a kit at walmart. My photoperiod is about 12+ hours, depending on what time i get home. I will do that to my plants and i have them crammed in pretty far, maybe my gravel isnt deep enough or i didnt do it enough.


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