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Lighting for HC

2K views 23 replies 11 participants last post by  nokturnalkid 
#1 ·
I bought some dwarf baby's tears a week or two ago and, like many, have watched much of it turn brown. I have a 55g, inject co2, dose dry ferts with EI, and have 2 T5HO bulbs (10k and PG) about 6-8" above surface. I think I might switch out the PG bulb for a 6500k though. Is this lighting sufficient? I also have the ability to add one or two more bulbs, which is probably too much. Any help please
 
#6 ·
thats where your problem is. even with good reflectors, you're probably getting ~50 par.
although people have grown hc in about 40 par, it will do much better in higher light (100). it is trickier to grow in lower light.
with enough light, it will also demand a lot of co2 and o2
 
#15 ·
Why not? I've grown hc to a nice carpet in a 55gal with a single t5 bulb around the same height as the op. I only added the burst when I wanted more color out of my plants. But, I did have a mag3 with a nw on it's own loop just for co2.

@ evan.m Did the hc you bought grown emersed? If it was, it could just be converting. I've done the dsm a few times and sometimes the hc melted quite a bit before fully converting back to submersed form.
 
#20 ·
If you bought it in a pot and it was still nice and green chances are it was still in its emersed form. I say this because that is how most fish stores get them and most fish stores don't have them in their their tanks long enough for them to convert to their submersed form. They don't last long in their tanks because they are either sold soon after getting them or they die before the plant converts to the emersed form because their tanks are not set up to grow HC. The leaves of the emersed form are smaller and thinner. Sounds like your HC is just converting over to its emersed form.
 
#18 ·
it can take HC some time to get acclimated to your tank.

When i fresh buy HC, i lose about 20-30% of it... and then it regrows like wild fire under good conditions.

But then again... i have MASSIVE amount of lights, and im injecting a lot of CO2 (drop checker is at lime green), i also use osmocotte plus root tabs every month to keep with the ferts.

Heres how it looks now...


HC loves light... u can tell because the island i made has a more saturated growth then the floor...
 
#21 ·
it can take HC some time to get acclimated to your tank.

When i fresh buy HC, i lose about 20-30% of it... and then it regrows like wild fire under good conditions.

But then again... i have MASSIVE amount of lights, and im injecting a lot of CO2 (drop checker is at lime green), i also use osmocotte plus root tabs every month to keep with the ferts.

Heres how it looks now...
HC loves light... u can tell because the island i made has a more saturated growth then the floor...
Nice setup
1) What's the blue stuff? Is it floss filter?
2) What's anchoring the HC in suction cup? planter
 
#24 ·
Alot of plants will go through a melt down stage when first introduced into a new tank. Just keep the ferts and co2 up. If the plants were emmersed, the melt is evem worse. Lighting wisr, i think you should have enough to grow most plants. You should also look into modding your ph into a needlewheel. Its basically snipping the impellar blades of your powerhead. Works great at diffusing co2
 
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