I've been trying for about 6 months now to bring on Amazon Swords in my SA setup.

I've done the following:

changed the substrate to laterite (Eco-complete)
introduced EI dosing regime
additional light tube to get up to 1.8wpg
added pressurised co2 system
daily dosing excel to control any algae

And the end result, they still look crap.

The other day I saw one of my Festivums ripping into one of them, not sure that this is just their behaviour or that fact that the leaves are in poor condition so they have a nibble.

As you can guess from my post I'm at the end of my wick now. The amount of money and time I've put into this with no end result, not good for someone like me. Hand me a sledgehammer and I'll sort the tank today.

What would you do now, if it was you?

Don't give up. Whats the problem with the swords?

hi creighton, thanks for getting back

the problems are:

lots of holes
poor growth
i trimmed back the bad leaves but i'm not seeing many new leaves
biggest leaf in the tank is 4" long, most are about 1 1/2"; i've have some of these for 6 months, others 1-2 months

the fauna is angels, festivums, rams, pictus + 1 bristlenose, took out a rubbernose pleco two weeks ago i thought was eating plants

no snails

peat filtered water, pH of 6.2

1 internal filter + 2 external

co2 reads green to light green on the sera permanent test, full ei dosing; causing a little algae, i gues becuase the plants are not taking up the nutrients, but using excel to control so not out of hand or smothering plants

thanks again for the prompt reply!

Just curious, Do you have or did you replace the Eco-Complete.


How long have you been doing?


Is this T5 lighting? (looked back on your threads)


How long has this been running, any reactor?


If you need this for algae control, something is a miss


Hang in there, We will find you help

The Sera permanent test is, I think, a drop checker. If so, are you using 4 dKH distilled or deionized water in it? The peat filtering of the water will add tannins to the water, making a pH/KH test for CO2 be inaccurate. It seems like you have low CO2 concentration, based on what you reported. It could also be that the water circulation in the tank is poor, and that is causing uneven distribution of the CO2 in the tank, so the swords aren't getting access to CO2. Swords just aren't that fussy, so something is wrong for sure.

thankks!!!

thanks for help guys - keep it comin'!!!

The holes may be from Mg. I keep saying this to soo many people, but I the holes happend to me and Epsom salts fixed my problem. Maybe just try adding like 2-3 grams and see what happens.

I was just going to ask what your GH is....I don't have experience with swords but that was the only other thing I could think of that you could be missing (calcium/magnesium).

Are you seeing any pearling?

If light and fertz are as you say, it has to be CO2 and/or lack of circulation as Vaughn mentioned. I can experience awesome growth with good CO2 and poor growth without. I see that the power head method has been mentioned and the DIY reactor is also a good option. The cheap/easiest is the power head and no need to drill the impeller for now, just try it for a week or two to see if there is a difference. You will get better CO2 dissolution and increased flow at the same time.

BTW - I use T8's on non-carbon tanks at 1 wpg and PC's on Excel and CO2 tanks at around 1.8 wpg. But you should get some kind of growth out of your lighting.
I have taken 2 Excel tanks and moved them to pressurized CO2 with great and fast results, one with plain gravel and one with Eco-complete. Tank for tank the Eco is outperforming the plain gravel as it should. Excel is no longer used on these.

Non limiting nutrients, light and steady non limiting CO2 are the keys.

Good luck and let us know how it goes