{"id":148027,"date":"2020-03-30T22:03:51","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T20:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/planted-box.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/aquariumplanten-doorzichtig\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T12:08:46","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T10:08:46","slug":"aquarium-plants-leaves-turning-transparent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planted-box.com\/en\/blog\/algae\/aquarium-plants-leaves-turning-transparent\/","title":{"rendered":"Help, aquarium plants leaves turning transparent!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are your aquarium plants going transparent? This happens pretty often in tanks. First the leaves lose color, then they turn transparent and eventually get slimy and waste away. Not what you want in a planted tank, of course.<\/p>\n

But what\u2019s the cause of aquarium plants leaves turning transparent? Well, this is a classic CO2 problem! Most of the time you\u2019re adding too little CO2, or you\u2019ve got too much light over your tank.<\/p>\n

Tip<\/strong>: download my free e-book about CO2 deficiencies<\/a> on my site.<\/p>\n

The solution to aquarium plants leaves turning transparent<\/h2>\n

There are several ways to solve this. Below I\u2019ll walk you through, step by step, what you can do against aquatic plants transparent leaves<\/p>\n

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  1. If you have a CO2 regulator<\/a>: slowly increase the amount of CO2 in your tank bit by bit, week after week. Keep a very close eye on your fish and shrimp while you do this. If they act weird (gasping at the surface, hiding, \u2026) you\u2019re probably too high and should dial it back.<\/li>\n
  2. Lower the amount of light over your tank.<\/li>\n
  3. Doing both is most effective: more CO2 and less light!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Most important to remember: more light means your plants grow faster<\/strong>. That\u2019s nice, but don\u2019t forget that stronger plant growth also raises demand for nutrients and CO2. If you don\u2019t meet that demand, you\u2019ll get poor plant growth (e.g., aquarium plants turning transparent) and algae\u2014very often black beard algae<\/a> and thread algae<\/a>. By dimming your light, you\u2019re artificially lowering the demand for nutrients and CO2, which means less risk of algae, weak growth, or aquarium plants going transparent.<\/p>\n

    \"aquarium
    HC gets transparent leaves from too little CO2. Source: APT<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    A few tips against aquarium plants going transparent<\/h2>\n

    Here are a few extra tips I can share:<\/p>\n