Why do my plants....

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fishcrazy2

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Mar 24, 2013
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Does anyone know why my plants don't grow tall, but send off new plants/runners? Matter of fact they don't really grow.
 

ROYWS3

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That's really not enough info at all to get any good feedback. You need to give us specifics if you want any help - what kind of plants what kind of light, how big is your tank, etc., etc.
 

fishcrazy2

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The tank is a 29 g. It has Amazon Swords, Wistera, Anacharis, Cabomba, and some other plants. Those four are mainly the ones I am talking about. My light is just a T8 daylight 6500 k light. The Amazon Sword is about 6 inches tall and it has several new plant growths. Some of the Anacharis is pretty tall max "18 inches" but the rest are short. I cut the new growths they grow a bit then a new planlet shoots off of that. I use API plant food and API co2 booster(sometimes) and that's it.
 

tanker

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Wattage of bulb?? How long lights on?? Swords need root food. Cabomba needs LOTS of light.
 

fishcrazy2

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Not sure on wattage I believe it's like 17. I don't think it has the wattage on the tube. I used to a have a 10000k bulb that was more wattage but it blew. I keep the light on like 24/7 which I know is bad. I kept Cabomba on low light in my 75 gallon and it grew super tall. The Amazon Sword is growing new plants with roots on the top stems. I might have to take a picture to show.
 

FreshyFresh

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Not enough lighting PAR. 29's are tall w/ not a whole lot of footprint.

You need a light cycle too, like on for 8hrs/day.

That sounds like it could get way too crowded with plants. An amazon sword by itself could basically fill a 29g.
 

fishcrazy2

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I have only had the Amazon Sword like two weeks. When I got it I trimmed the old roots. I had to move it around because I didn't like where it was and the roots are like 5-6 inches long. Thanks I'm not sure where to get a strong light because every time I search I only see the 17 w ones. I am going to get it on a night/day cycle.
 

ROYWS3

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all the lamps designed to fit your fixture, with the ballast it has will all be a specific wattage. Wattage only increases as size does. You can't buy a higher wattage fluorescent tube like you can an incandescent bulb. A T12 2ft lamp will be 20wt. A 3ft lamp will be 30 wt. A 4ft lamp will be 40wt, etc. The wattage of T8 lamps are a little less, but increases similarly with size. To increase light, your going to need to increase quantity ( a fixture with two or more lamps) or quality (higher efficiency lamps like compact fluorescents, T5's or LEDs)
 

Byron Amazonas

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There are a few issues here. Starting with your initial question on the swords: The "runners" I will assume are inflorescences (commonly, flower stalks), since you seem to have one of the "Amazon" swords (Echinodorus species) as opposed to the chain swords in Helanthium. These will have been "prompted" by the plants before you got them. When grown submersed (the parent plant I mean) flowers seldom develop but adventitious plants do.

As for the size of the parent plant, this depends upon several factors including the variant of the species, the lighting, the nutrients, and water parameters to a lesser degree. The "Amazon sword" species is E. grisebachii which has several forms that used to be classified as distinct species (E. bleherae, E. amazonicus, A. parviflorus and E. grisebachii) until Lehtonen (2006) did his phylogenetic analysis and established there is only one true species with various "forms." I won't go into all that. But plant height is related to light and nutrients.

I agree with those recommending substrate fertilization. Seachem's Flourish Tabs are what I use; the API tab is not as good. Liquid fertilization is also important because some nutrients are primarily taken up via the leaves. A comprehensive liquid like Flourish Comprehensive Supplement works here. The API product you mentioned only contains potassium and iron, so the other 15 nutrients are missing. You can grow swords with just the liquid, but adding the substrate tabs does make quite a difference.

Light. This single tube can work but only with a good tube. I have a 29g among my several tanks, and this plant does well with a Life-Glo T8 tube but nothing else that I've tried. The ZooMed UltraSun is another that will work. Either of these will give you low-moderate lighting. There are no T8 tubes that will improve on this.

Increasing duration will not compensate for intensity being too minimum. And lights 24/7 are bad for plants and fish. Both need darkness for a few hours or they will have real problems.

I doubt very much that Cabomba will last, as another member mentioned. I can't grow this in my tanks, with moderate light. But your swords will settle in and be healthy with the suggested light and fertilizers.

Byron.
 

fishcrazy2

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Thanks for your help Byron and the information. The runners I am referring to is a new plant growing on a stem with it's own root system and leaves. I could cut it off and it would be a new amazon sword plant. I will look into getting one of the two bulbs you mentioned. I believe the light I have now is ZooMed but I not for sure if it's UltraSun. It's weird because you all said Cabomba wouldn't grow in light, but at point that was the only plant that grew in my 75 gallon with extremely low light. I looked at one of my old pictures and it was a few inches from the top of my 75 gallon. I lived in a different city so my starting water parameters were different such as hardness and pH. Again thanks for your help it is much appreciated.
 
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