Can you explain further how you come to the wattage needed for the tanks. That is a LOT of light.
Something is seriously wrong with my plants..
- Thread starter Jag1980
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Can you explain further how you come to the wattage needed for the tanks. That is a LOT of light.
Immediately my thoughts go to changes in water hardness.
Also, what is the plant in the first pic? I saw some at a LFS the other day and it was amazing.
Also, what is the plant in the first pic? I saw some at a LFS the other day and it was amazing.
Think you are definately having some green water problems there. With green water, or the start of it, the higher light plants will take a huge hit from lack of light.
Who can ever say what is "needed" we are talking about living things that are very hard to break down into one independent variable, I am just saying that this is based on wattage that Amano has used, and he seems to have pretty good success. I personally have 60 watts over my 10 gallon and my swords are kicking butt and propagating!
I also said it because I knew it would spark conversation.
The line of thinking here is "light falls on an area, not a volume" so the volume of the tank is not as important as the surface area of lighting requirements.
Did you find the website interesting?
I had some trouble with the ferts you are using initially too and screwed around a lot before finding a balance point. You are pre-mixing with water right? just checking.
Another possibility is that those stems are depleted so you need to take top cuttings and replant. This is typically needed with ludwigias and though I have no experience with these plants in particular it is a common thing that you need to do with stem plants.
If you have green water problems perhaps instead of dosing liquid work with undergravel fert tabs until growth is rapid enough to uptake the nutrients fast enough.
regarding the light issue:
Amano believes that wpg is a bad measure of actual light energy that plants receive and therefore uses something like lux/sq in or something. He uses a TON of CO2, ferts and light to promote extremely rapid growth that without expert handling quickly goes out of balance. Most of us would do just as well, as sploke suggests, with less.
His methods would also dictate fewer wpg as tank size increases being that sq. in. of surface area increases at a slower rate than total volume. After 24" of depth you have to switch to halides though.
just my 2 cents
Another possibility is that those stems are depleted so you need to take top cuttings and replant. This is typically needed with ludwigias and though I have no experience with these plants in particular it is a common thing that you need to do with stem plants.
If you have green water problems perhaps instead of dosing liquid work with undergravel fert tabs until growth is rapid enough to uptake the nutrients fast enough.
regarding the light issue:
Amano believes that wpg is a bad measure of actual light energy that plants receive and therefore uses something like lux/sq in or something. He uses a TON of CO2, ferts and light to promote extremely rapid growth that without expert handling quickly goes out of balance. Most of us would do just as well, as sploke suggests, with less.
His methods would also dictate fewer wpg as tank size increases being that sq. in. of surface area increases at a slower rate than total volume. After 24" of depth you have to switch to halides though.
just my 2 cents
