[tankedave]

I am sure its not ideal...

Im new at this...

I have 2x 150W Halides on my 130g, running 8-10 hours a day:icon_cool. With pressurised CO2. The plant growth is not great<< and I think its because my lights are on to long, and are to high..?

Can I run them for less time to make things work better?

Help plz:icon_ques

 

[Steve001]

I am sure its not ideal...

Im new at this...

I have 2x 150W Halides on my 130g, running 8-10 hours a day:icon_cool. With pressurised CO2. The plant growth is not great<< and I think its because my lights are on to long, and are to high..?

Can I run them for less time to make things work better?

Help plz:icon_ques

No you are time wise in the right duration.
Are you absolutely certain you have enough co2 in the water ?
How are you certain there is ?

Have you seen this thread ?
plants able to grow in extreme low light (4umols of PAR)

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/146254-plants-able-grow-extreme-low-light.html


As you can see plants can grow in very low light. The limiting factor to plant growth is always first carbon.

 

[BBradbury]

Your Lighting Question

Good morning tank...

Not familiar with CO2. Never used it in any of my planted tanks. You have plenty of light. 1 to 2 watts of light per gallon of tank size will grow most of the aquatic plants on the market.

Aquatic plants are tropical and used to long hours of daylight. If you have your tank lights on timers, then 10 hours would be the minimum. I have mine set for 12 on and 12 hours off.

Nutrients are almost as important as lighting. You need a source for macro and micro nutrients. The macro are easy, just do frequent and large water changes and let the fish add their part.

The micro need to come from a commercial source, either dry or liquid. I prefer liquids, they're easy to dose and inexpensive if you shop around.

B

 

[2in10]

Are you fertilizing and how much CO2 are you introducing? I think those are the areas of concern. Also are you using root fertilizers.

 

[Abrium]

Remember light drives the need for fertilization. If you aren't getting great growth with that much light you need to ensure that your Co2 saturation is optimal. For a tank your size I would use the fish as my drop checker. Run your Co2 upping it each hour until your fish seem visibly stressed at the top of the water and than back it off approx a quarter turn. Once you have the right Co2 lefts start introducing fertilization by way of your perferred method. Most people use the EI method and this can be researched on this site.

 

[tankedave]

Thanks for all your helpful replies. I have been using ferts on and off.

I have hardly been using the c02, but cranked it up today - causing the fish to gasp at the surface for air after about 4 hours of it running, then backed it down.

The main reason why I thought the growth was not that great is because I was getting staghorn algae all over the plants. So I linked that to an unbalance in the tank leading to less than great growth.