Plant help, Lighting problem maybe?

[mercsoulja]

My tank has been doing well, except for one thing. After trimming my anacharis, the new growth seems to have small leaves and it isn't thick. After a little research, it seems i should have a lighting problem. But I have 28w of T5 lighting, which comes out to more than 2wpg (because it's t5 i was told)

Some info about my tank:
20g high
DIY Jell-o CO2
2.75" Eco-Complete substrate
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 1
Ph - 7.2
GH/KH - 5
I dose Kent Freshwater plant (K/Fe included) and Kent Pro-Plant (N/Mg included) twice weekly.

You can see in the pic at the tops where they're growth seem sparse

If it does have to do with less lighting, i saw a Coralife fixture here (http://cgi.ebay.com/CORALIFE-24-INCH-DUAL-PC-LIGHT_W0QQitemZ7749886997QQcategoryZ46314QQrdZ1QQc mdZViewItem) It has two 65 bulbs??? doesn't that seem a bit much???

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e299/jtd1216/anacharis2.jpg
Sorry for such a long post, but i need some help :)

[kyle3]

new growth on plants does tend to be a bit scrwny on plants that aren't getting enough light but that can have to do with missing ferts- what do you dose as far as macros and micros?

as for the lighting youhave it's more important to know what K it is is it 6700K, 10000K, 8800K?

and the other thing is how long has the new growth been around? it sould just need time to fill in.

GH and KH aren't the same thing there should be a reading for each- do they just happen to be the same?

if your kh is 5 you only have 9ppm of CO2 and that is low so. . . .

[mercsoulja]

Well, like i said, i dose the Kent Freshwater Plant (http://www.kentmarine.com/freshwater/prp.html) and Kent Pro Plant (http://www.kentmarine.com/freshwater/prp.html).
The light fixture contains 1 14w colormax full-spectrum t5, and 1 14w 6700k t5 plant lamp.
The new growth has been around maybe a few days.
I also realize that they (GH and KH) aren't the same thing. What I meant was that they were both 5. I think the reason my CO2 is low is because i had some leakage problems with my DIY, and it's being fixed right now.

[kyle3]

sorry i missed the ferts

the CO2 will make a difference

if you don't upgrade replace the colormax for a 6700K or 8000K

i have 36 watts of t-5 on a 20 long and i'm on the low end

your tank is deeper than mine and you have less watts so you might consider more light but if you do make sure you DIY can put out anough CO2 for you plants to use all the light or you'll get algae

[mercsoulja]

I'm just curious, but why should i change the colormax for the 6700 or 8000? Wouldn't Coralife put in the best combination of lights when they made it? I don't know anything about it, so any info is good =)

And about the wpg... with the T5 lighting, 36w for 20g is not on the low end. I'm not sure if you read the post on another site, but here is a calculator attached.

[kyle3]

if your read a lot about lights and light bulbs you will find that lumens are a measure geared towards the perception of the human eye

as far as the K ratings go 6700 and 8800 are more readily absorbed by plants 10000 is not- it has to do with the color spectrum(not something your eye will be able to distinguish but your plants will)

i don't know whay coralife sells them like that- that's how mine can too -i think it is so that people don't look at the tank and say oh my fish aren't as pretty.

but i'll read your post and see how it compares to the other things i've read

there is no doubt that there is a lot of debate about what's what with lighting and the bottom line for me is if it grows plants then it's good even if it doesn't match conventional recomendations.

there are alot of good informative links on www.plantedtank.net when you search the forum check it out - sure boggled my mind and i can't say i've absorbed every bit of info by any means

[Hound]

I'm not 100% certain, but from what I gather corals in saltwater tanks like 10k lighting. That being said it seems that many manufacturers sell lights that highlight the color of fish / corals / plants to our eyes and not necessarily what's good for the tank residents.

[mercsoulja]

that makes sense to me , thanks =)