Anarchis leaves spread out

[Silock]

So, I'm having a dilemma. My Anarchis is growing like crazy. Have to trim it every three days as it starts peeking out of the top of the tank if I don't. But the stalks are very skinny and the leaves are very spread out. I really want to grow them so that they are bushy and compact. However, I'm seeing that that may be because of too little light.

Lighting is a coralife dual t5 with freshwater bulb, and a lower power full spectrum LED strip. I did have more lighting with a 55 watt CFL as well, but I was having a lot of algae problems with all the light. The plants just weren't out competing it, so I took it out.

Tank is a 30g long, dirted substrate, sand cap, potash, dolomite and clay in the dirt as well. Plant load is a couple of swords, two crypts, floating water sprite, dwarf hairgrass, and ludwigia peruensis.

Do I need to dose liquid ferts or something?

[MariaJade]

I'm not an expert, but most of your plants should grow fine without fertilizer. I just recently asked an expert. If you have problems with algae you could add a phosphate remover to your filter media. Then you could possibly use your old light again.

[Complexity]

Originally Posted by MariaJade

If you have problems with algae you could add a phosphate remover to your filter media. Then you could possibly use your old light again.

I'm not in agreement with this. However, since this thread isn't about algae, I'll leave it at that.

Regarding the question about anacharis, it's basically a weed. It does a great job of helping get tanks going and helping with plant mass when algae is a problem. However, once the tank is in good shape, there are usually better plants that can be used to replace the anacharis.

So my suggestion would be to not try to alter your tank conditions to make the anacharis work, but to find a different plant that fits your tank conditions. There are so many great stem plants, there's bound to be one you'll enjoy in place of the anacharis.

[Silock]

So, would too much lighting cause an algae problem no matter what? If so, I'll just take your advice and switch out the Anarchis for something else.

[Complexity]

By definition, "too much" lighting is, well, too much; therefore, yes, it would most likely cause algae.

However, high lighting may be okay as long as it is balanced with a number of other equally high elements. What is needed for high lighting is:

High CO2 levels (usually achieved through pressurized CO2 setups)
High fertilization (EI ferts most common)
High plant mass (tank is filled with lots of fast growing plants)

If any of those components are missing, then high lighting will lead to algae.

What's more important is that there are many wonderfully planted tanks with medium and low lighting. And these tanks are typically less expensive and require less maintenance. It's fun to have a "high tech" tank that grows plants like mad, but it's also very time consuming. It's a real joy to have a tank filled with beautiful plants that doesn't need constant attention to look good.