Power compact lighting question/ plant health...

[Blown 346]

I am still new to planted tanks, and want to care for my plants so they are healthy and lush. I want to do this low tech.

I setup my 90 gallon this last March, once cycled I added fish slowly until I had my full stock. I then got a bunch of plants,which were doing great.

My lighting consists of 4 40 watt daylight flourescents.

I first added....

2 Portions Crypt. balansae
Hygro. corymbosa 'angustifolia'
Echinodorus angustifolia 'vesuvius'
E. tennellus 'micro'
2 Val. nana
3 Amazon swords

Everything was doing great. The Balansae portions were growing, and a new plant even started to grow a few inches away from the others.
The Vals started to get new growth at the top and bottom.
Then they all seemed to stop growing, and the leaves started to to not look so green on the val Nana's. The leaves kinda look wahed out. There is a very small amout of algae on the outside edges of the leaves.

The swords didnt grow at all, their leaves are turning yellowish but still have some green pigment.

I added 3 large Anubias to the tank a few days ago. I only started to add Flourish.


My lighting question is this.... I have 1 24 Watt Power compact over my 12 gallon no ferts. I have 2 swords and after a weeks time they have sprouted 5 or 6 leaves each.

I want to add 4 65 watt Power compacts over my 90 since they seem to be working for my 12 gallon. This would bring my tank to 260 watts which is 2.8 WPG. Since I would be using 50/50 bulbs (were half of each bulb is Actinic and the other is Daylight) and I know Actinic doesnt do anything for plants, would this be too much light for a low tech tank, with no ferts and C02??

You might be able to see the coloration of the Vals and the swords.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b115/plyboy1917/DSCN1638.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b115/plyboy1917/DSCN1639.jpg

12 Gallon growth over a 2 weeks time.
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b115/plyboy1917/DSCN1642.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b115/plyboy1917/DSCN1643.jpg

[Jaykit]

You mentioned they were growing great at the beginning and now nothing which to me sounds as though they used up all the nutrients in the tank and are just lacking in nutrients prohibiting their growth now which is allowing the algae to take over again. Instead of dosing flourish, you could try dry ferts and you might see some results after a couple weeks.
You could try upgrading your lights if you wanted, but its not needed. If you did upgrade to pc lights I would recommend finding bulbs that didn't have the 50/50 as you wouldn't actually be getting the 260 watts that you mentioned. Also, if you do plan on upgrading and can afford a bit more I would recommend finding a t5ho fixture as it would be far superior to the pc lights.

[El Exorcisto]

Most plants you buy are grown emersed, meaning half out of the water. Once you submerge them, you will have new growth, but the old growth dies away and decays. Take a pair of scissors and hack and slash all the dying old growth. That will speed up recovery and get rid of the eyesore. As to lighting, if you plant densely enough in a low-tech tank then algae isn't an issue. Low-tech requires dense planting which unfortunately tends to preclude any "aquascaping." Good luck.

[Blown 346]

You mentioned they were growing great at the beginning and now nothing which to me sounds as though they used up all the nutrients in the tank and are just lacking in nutrients prohibiting their growth now which is allowing the algae to take over again. Instead of dosing flourish, you could try dry ferts and you might see some results after a couple weeks.
You could try upgrading your lights if you wanted, but its not needed. If you did upgrade to pc lights I would recommend finding bulbs that didn't have the 50/50 as you wouldn't actually be getting the 260 watts that you mentioned. Also, if you do plan on upgrading and can afford a bit more I would recommend finding a t5ho fixture as it would be far superior to the pc lights.



Thanks for the reply....

My main reason for using the 50/50 bulbs for the fact that I wouldnt have the ful 260 watts. I think if I did have 260 watts that really dosing and adding co2 would be not to far in the future. I want to avoid as much of that as possible. The actinic side would be just for looks and to help bring out the color in the fish.

I already have a PC fixture that I could use,I can find bulbs for $40 shipped to me. Maybe I will try that route and see what happens. If need be Ill buy some dry ferts.

[Jaykit]

The only reason I suggest dry ferts is just because dosing flourish and excel can become quite costly going through bottles every couple weeks.

[Blown 346]

I totally agree. The bottles arent cheap. I am almost done with the Flourish and have only had it for a little over 2 months, dosing once a week.

[Slappy*McFish]

I highly recommend to those folks who use Excel to buy the 2 liter bottles. Don't waste your money on the little bottles.

[ghengis]

^ seconded. I was using the 500ml bottles, that cost me ~$30-ish (everything is expensive in Australia). Now I stepped up to a 2L, which was ~$75... Much better value, not to mention the saving in postage. I dose 10ml every day, which gives me 200 days out of a bottle...

As to your plants, definitely nutrient deficiency. I had a similar issue with a Hygrophila, I once had. Massive nutrient sponge, that not only starved itself, but all the plants around it. Once I diced that plant, I was able to get somewhere with the other plants.

[Blown 346]

Maybe I will move the swords out of the 90 and into the 12 gallon. Maybe my other plants will have a chance for some nutrients.

[coach_z]

are you using compact fluorescent lights? are the lights rated at 40W or 40W Equivalent?

[Blown 346]

Currently I am using Compact Flourescents,T-8's. They are rated at 40 watts a piece, and color temp is 6500K

[Blown 346]

Bump...

How can I get this tank low tech to the point of not having to add ferts or C02 and have my plants thirve?

[Bravofleet4]

I suppose you have some test kits available?

Test nitrate and phosphate levels using nitrate and phosphate kits. The only other macronutrient is potassium which is expensive to test for but can be dosed cheaply using salt substitute and can be found in any supermarket (KCl instead of NaCl).

Test GH and KH. Low values mean that you might have to dose epsom salt for magnesium and calcium carbonate for calcium (or you can just buy booster GH). For all other micronutrients, you can just use Flourish Traces to dose.

In the meantime, you can also just lower the photocycle or remove some lights like 1 or 2 of the 40 watt bulbs (a lot of low light tanks approach closer to 1 wpg than 2 wpg). I don't know about all of the plants but I don't think they will die. They'll just sort of be stunted in growth or even resume growing but at a slower rate. However, it would give nutrients some more time to build up.