Old stressed plants.

I recently purchased a 240 gallon tank to replace my 135 gallon. Prior to the new tank, I redid my floor which forced my to move my 135 gallon tank twice. During the move I used tupperware filled with substrate and planted into these. I intended on moving the tank, completing the floor then moving the tank back to its original spot. Long story short I lagged and most of my plants melted or got severely stressed out.

When I purchased the new tank and set it up, I bought a few plant packages to fill in the tank. I have noticed that most of the plants from the old tank either melted in the new set-up or are now doing very poorly.

For instance my HM flourished in my old tank to the point of being a pain. After the stress period and the move they ended up melting. Other plants like Ludwigia repens which in my old tank would grow inches a day and required weekly hacking (trims), is now stunted. I have 3 plants that are only 4 inches tall. They haven't grown in 4+ weeks and the little new growth I see is green instead of the deep red I'm used to. Another "old" plant that did really well was Hydro "sunset". It was bright green with that magenta color we all love. Now the plant is bright white.

My question is: Have I stunted my plants through severe shock or does this sound like deficiencies in nutrients? I've tried upping my iron to get the sunset red again but this hasn't worked. My Nitrate and phospho levels are in line and CO2 drop checker is lime green. My next step is to increase my dosing of micros and see if that helps out. Figuring out the dosing of this larger tank sounded easy in theory but is proving more difficult. This is probably due to nutrient flow, maybe I have some dead spots in the tank making it difficult to get even distribution of nutrients. Another possibility is the new plants are outcompeting for nutrients causing deficiencies. Basically having an 8 foot long tank is great but I'm having issues getting everything back in balance.

I currently do the following:

CO2 at a million bps (kidding)
Dose Potassium Sulfate 3 tsps 3x a week
Dose Potassium Nitrate at water change (Nitrates hover around 5-20 ppm) I have 3 large fish that supply plenty of N and P.
Dose 1/4 tsp ferrous gluconate 3x a week
Dose 1 tsp of CSM + B 3x a week
At water change I add 2 tbs of baking soda and 1 tsp on barrs GH mix. PH = 6.6-7.0 depending the time of day.

Does any of this look funny for a 240 gallon tank? Any advice is welcome.

 

Hello Biollante,

The tank is new but I used the canister filter from my 135 so there shouldn't have been any cycling. The main stress point was cramming plants in the tupperware. The roots and leaves were crowded and that I believe caused the melting and such. In addition my fertilization during the move was lacking cause I was so busy.

I live in Sacramento. Living in the city I imagine the water source varies and thus water report could be unreliable. I know that I lucked out living here because the water is in general very soft. Great for both of my favorite hobbies Brewing Beer and Aqua-gardening.

In addition to the 2 tbs of baking soda, I also add barr's gh booster. I mispoke earlier when I said 1 tsp, I actually add 2.5 tsps at water change.

The more I think about it the more I think it is the circulation in the tank and overall levels of nutrients. But it is weird that the old plants are still doing more poorly than the new ones. I know stress can do strange things to all organism so I hypothosis that this maybe playing a factor. I was hoping someone could validify this assumption. Perhaps if I pull the plants out and grow them emersed they can "repair". No idea, just trying to make sense of what I'm seeing.

Changes that I have made since the original post are:
Increased Micros to 1.5 tsps 3x a week.
Moved my canister filter outlet. It now is blowing across the top causing slight rippling. Hoping to get a big circle going.

Challenges:
Big tank hard to get proper water circulation. Power heads can increase the flow but can blow over stem plants if placed wrong. I wish I could afford an MP60. One of my powerheads does change to a fan but it makes way too much eratic turbulance in the tank.

CO2 needle valve keeps slowing down. I've tried two needle valves and I still get eventual slow down. I'm guessing that the solanoid valve turning on and off is causing this. I probably need to spend the cash to get a better needle valve.

Temperature in my tank is on the higher end around 78 degrees F not sure if that could be an issue with some species....