Hey guys 
I've been keeping fish in planted tanks for five months or so now. The plants do all right, but I think there are things I can do to make them get better and am looking for a beginner's "how-to" type thing.
Here's my situation...
I have a 75 gallon tank with angelfish, cories, some livebearers and a dwarf gourami. The tank has 120 watts of lighting... but 80 of that is from a shoplight without an aquarium type reflector. Increasing the lighting isn't an option for the next 4 or 5 months. The tank has a sand substrate with no special plant-growth material of any type. I don't dose any kind of fertilizers, CO2, or anything else specifically for the plants at this point. The water conditions are Nitrate 20 ppm, ammonia and nitrite at 0, ph at 7.4, GH at 1D, and KH at 6D. I do a 50% water change every week, occasionally twice a week.
The plants are some swords, some long stringy plants with pine-needle looking things, and tall woody plants that grow roots even above the substrate. Now, the swords seem to be doing all-right... one plant has a long runner out, and a medium and small plant growing off it (it's on top of a rock so I can see the roots increasing) but the random plants and the woody ones are quite brown, and the swords definantly look like they could be doing a lot better. The pine needle thing lost almost every needle originally... but after I added the shoplight it has regrown, but they are still brownish instead of green. In addition, I get brownish algea growth on the walls of the aquarium and on all the rocks telling me that the plants need help to use up all the available nutrients.
SO. On the longterm, I know that when I finally get the extra couple hundred bucks to buy quality lighting that will help immensely. But until then, what can I do to help the plants that I allready have to be healthier and grow better? There's lots of stuff about fertilizers, DIY CO2, and other stuff... but what would you guys recommend for me to do in this specific situation?
Thanks for anyone that read all the way through this, and in advance for your advice
I've been keeping fish in planted tanks for five months or so now. The plants do all right, but I think there are things I can do to make them get better and am looking for a beginner's "how-to" type thing.Here's my situation...
I have a 75 gallon tank with angelfish, cories, some livebearers and a dwarf gourami. The tank has 120 watts of lighting... but 80 of that is from a shoplight without an aquarium type reflector. Increasing the lighting isn't an option for the next 4 or 5 months. The tank has a sand substrate with no special plant-growth material of any type. I don't dose any kind of fertilizers, CO2, or anything else specifically for the plants at this point. The water conditions are Nitrate 20 ppm, ammonia and nitrite at 0, ph at 7.4, GH at 1D, and KH at 6D. I do a 50% water change every week, occasionally twice a week.
The plants are some swords, some long stringy plants with pine-needle looking things, and tall woody plants that grow roots even above the substrate. Now, the swords seem to be doing all-right... one plant has a long runner out, and a medium and small plant growing off it (it's on top of a rock so I can see the roots increasing) but the random plants and the woody ones are quite brown, and the swords definantly look like they could be doing a lot better. The pine needle thing lost almost every needle originally... but after I added the shoplight it has regrown, but they are still brownish instead of green. In addition, I get brownish algea growth on the walls of the aquarium and on all the rocks telling me that the plants need help to use up all the available nutrients.
SO. On the longterm, I know that when I finally get the extra couple hundred bucks to buy quality lighting that will help immensely. But until then, what can I do to help the plants that I allready have to be healthier and grow better? There's lots of stuff about fertilizers, DIY CO2, and other stuff... but what would you guys recommend for me to do in this specific situation?
Thanks for anyone that read all the way through this, and in advance for your advice
