Plants slowly dying with LED hood.

[FreshyFresh]

Just an update;

Since 'upgrading' to the incandescent strip light with Zoo Med CFLs for this 10gal, my plants have been growing nicely. The most growth being from the anacharis, with the amazon sword and java fern being second/third for growth rate. The anubias nana has perked up, but shows very slow growth.

I gotta say though, I don't like the glass versa-top on a 10gal. It's just real cumbersome on such a small tank.

FWIW, I've also been dosing with API's liquid CO2.

 

[kreesdqban]

Since 'upgrading' to the incandescent strip light with Zoo Med CFLs for this 10gal, my plants have been growing nicely.

What are the specs on your bulbs? And is there a difference between API's formula and Seachem's Flourish Excel?

 

[FreshyFresh]

Zoo Med Day Light 6500K CFLs are the lamps. Google may offer more specs on them.

The API liquid plant fert is just a liquid carbon additive (C02). I believe Seachem's flourish has more stuff in it, but may not contain carbon.

 

[platytudes]

Have you considering maybe just using sturdy clip on desk lamps? One on each side would just hang there, leaving the top open for you to feed your fish, do maintenance, etc. There would be more evaporation, and fish might jump out...so there's that to consider.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Yeah, I did look into that and even have a clip-on desk lamp somewhere in the house, but I can't visualize a way of safely/securely clipping those to the tank, without fabbing some type of cross-member or bracket. There's no way I'd trust clipping one directly to the sides or back of the tank.

 

[platytudes]

Yeah, I held them back with zip ties. Made them pretty sturdy. Took a little fiddling with, and definitely wasn't as attractive as a hood, but it was a budget option

 

[authmal]

Flourish Excel is a liquid carbon and has an algicide that's not copper based. It's why spot dosing Flourish Excel on algae and letting it sit for a few minutes can kill off stuff like BBA. Flourish is a different product altogether, often used in conjunction with Flourish Excel.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Not the best pic, but here's my 10g ~6months later, I've done some re-scaping. The only plant in it's original location is the "amazon sword" that just kind of sat there for months, then started taking off some weeks ago.