# Melting wisteria



## Bikeridinguckgirl14 (Oct 22, 2013)

I don't have a green thumb. The anubias, java moss, and uuh, leafy plant are doing fine, but my year old wisteria is suddenly very unhappy. I kept ammonia below .25 and added root tabs and more light but it's still sad. Also, the tank is next to the window but I haven't had any algea grow, which shows that there is no sun, so while I have it lit as best I can (2 120v 10w bulbs for at least 10 hours a day plus the room light) idk what else to do. How do I make it happy again?


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## Tress (Jun 6, 2014)

Honestly, I said good riddens to my wisteria after a few months. It came to me in emersed form and rough shape and I swear the harder I tried to save it the more it died. Weird that it was fine for a year and then is giving you trouble. Has anything changed in the last few weeks?


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## Bikeridinguckgirl14 (Oct 22, 2013)

Yeah, it's in New tank. it was in a 10 gallon at college, and I took it home and I put a bowl with a bunch of other plants, a grow out bowl, and it was fine, since coming back to college and putting it in my fully divided 10 gallon (so more like 2 5gs since there's no water exchange) it's just been melting


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## Tress (Jun 6, 2014)

maybe it got shocked from cold/water diff? Could it possibly have gotten dried out even a little? Mine melted after it's leaves got dried while I was rescaping. Came back but not as good and eventually I tossed it lol


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## Bikeridinguckgirl14 (Oct 22, 2013)

Hmmm, well it was floating in the grow out, and it was in a plastic bag for 2 days during travel, but I made sure to warm up the tank water before adding anything. It did have to go through a fish-in cycle, but then it did that the first time. Do you think my lighting is too low?


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## Tress (Jun 6, 2014)

The lighting probably is the problem then. You could get a clamp/desk lamp and a 6000k+ CFL bulb. I use clamp + 6,500k CFL for my 5g and it works great! That's just a cheap way but you can look into LED strips (I think the Stingray kind is recommended a lot here *cough*Russell*cough*) as well. Probably some other options more experienced planted tankers can offer you.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

It's more likely the different water than the lighting since Water Wisteria can practically be thrown in a dark, damp basement and still grow lol But yes, having at least 6,500K or even 5,000K for the light bulbs will help out a bunch.


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## Bikeridinguckgirl14 (Oct 22, 2013)

(Confused as to what K is, can you translate that into watts sorry)


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

It doesn't translate to watts, it's completely different. Wattage is how much electicity that your bulb is using. K is Kelvin which is the color rating. Here's a chart for the colors. Ideally for planted tanks you want 5,000K at least which is an light bluish color. 6,500K is the best for planted tanks for low-medium light plants.










Most bulbs don't display K on their actual body like they would wattage, it'd be on the box and even then sometimes it's not said which I honestly think is stupid. But if you go to wal-mart in the regular light section, you'll see boxes marked with Soft White, Clear White and then Daylight. You want to look at the blue boxes; daylight. Look on the back and you should see a small little scale and it will tell you if it's 5,000K or 6,500K. I use mini spiral CFLs Daylight from wal-mart, pack of three mini spirals is only 2.88 at my store


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## Bikeridinguckgirl14 (Oct 22, 2013)

Ah, I'll try my best. Thank you


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## InfiniteGlory (Dec 17, 2012)

My wisteria melts every now and then. No idea what causes it either and I use the API kit and can't find anything to explain. I have had to let mine float for a bit to recover then stick it back in the sand and it is fine. My substrate is only black betta sand from Petsmart

My tank sits near a window too and occasionally I get an algae bloom so I just turn up the blinds and scrub the tank. but the wisteria loves the light as you tell and my tank only had LED's for lighting.

I've had the wisteria since early 2013. Here is the most recent pic back on Jan 28


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