What am I doing wrong with plants?

MH is very hot and needs to be elevated over the tank. When you raise lighting it causes a glare, which to me, is hard on the eyes, and also wastes light that escapes out the sides.
A better option is CF which penetrates water well, is pleasing to the eye and, IMO much more efficient all around.
I know there are outlets in the UK for CF lighting, but off the top of my head I can't think of any of them now. I would check on line and consider them over MH lighting.
You need to know your the kH of your water and it must be above 3.0°H to safely inject. When you know your kH, you can determine the CO2ppm by testing your pH and comparing kH/pH on a chart.

Len
 
Last edited:
Thanks, I already checked the KH, it was 9 (though this may be incorrect as the instructions said that for each drop if testing fluid, the results should be multiplied by 17 for KH which means that KH would be 153 which sounds incredibly high). My PH is high at about 8.

What does CF stand for?
 
Compact fluorecent (or power compacts, it's sometimes abbreviated as PC bulbs as well).

Test your KH again following the instructions to the letter. 153 is not absurd, but it does reason to double check if you're unsure. The last thing you want is a pH crash that'll kill all your fish, and it won't do your plants any favours either.
 
Are you injecting already then? If not, I wouldn't expect pH to change much over the course of a day, especially if you're dilligent with water changes. If your KH is 9 degrees, then you really won't see any fluctuations over the week, that's a really good buffer.
 
A kH of 9 is fine for plants, and as happychem mentions is a very nice buffer.
With a pH of 8, you are only pushing 3ppm/CO3. You want to get closer to 10 - 15ppm/CO2. This will do wonders for your plants under your present wattage.
I would suggest that you check for leaks, most likely around the top of the bottle where the tubing comes out.
You also may be gassing off some of the CO2. What kind of filtration are you using and are you using air stones or an under gravel filter?
If you can find a couple of tubes that give 25 watts you'd have enough light for a low light tank and there are a few plants that you'd be able to grow under it, with the CO2 at or near the above numbers.
It's kind of a difficult situation with a 29, in that it's a relatively deep tank and there's a lot of water for the light to penetrate to reach the bottom. It is do-able however.

Len
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom