length of bulb-issue or not

874 Views 6 Replies 3 Participants Last post by Seattle_Aquarist, Aug 22, 2012

mizzoutank

Discussion Starter · Aug 22, 2012

Hi all,

New to this forum! Have had my 40gal breeder set up for 8months or so.
Stocking is all good-and have explored the realm of a planted tank!
I was gifted 2 light fixtures. they are 24in long, but the bulbs are 22in long.
They are sitting right on top of the tank. So in all, I have 4 t5ho bulbs, 3 6500k, 1 10000k.

Substrate is the typical gravel that the big chain stores sell-avg depth of 2-2.5inches.
Plants:
5 amazon swords
2 anubias
3 "compacta"-all the container said...they are dying off :/
3 other swords.

All my plants are struggling and not thriving.
I have flourish tabs in the substrate, and every once in a while dose w/ api co2 booster.

any thoughts to what is going on or why I can't grow my plants?? I'm good at keeping the fish happy, now I need the plants to be happy

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fplata

· #2 · Aug 22, 2012

The substrate could be the culprit, make sure your bulbs arenas than 18 months old

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mizzoutank

Discussion Starter · #3 · Aug 22, 2012

part of me thinks it could be the substrate as well, but i've seen numerous people with gravel substrate and have great plants...

I replaced all the bulbs when I was given the fixtures, so each are about 6months old.

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Seattle_Aquarist

· #4 · Aug 22, 2012

Hi mizzoutank,

As an ex-Missourian I am obligated to answer! So it sounds like you have 4 each 24 watt bulbs over a 40 gallon tank which as a 17" depth and 2+" of substrate. According to this chart you have extremely high light. With that much light and no CO2 the likely result is an algae farm. You didn't indicate how long your photoperiod is, how long to you run your lights?

If it were me I would only use one fixture, the one with the 6500K / 10000K combination and I would start with a 5 hour photoperiod. In addition to the root tabs, pick up some Seachem Flourish Comprehensive and start dosing per the instructions on the bottle. Lastly start dosing your liquid CO2 daily. Most of your plants are slow growing types but you should start seeing a new leaf every couple of weeks if the problem has been corrected. Keep us posted!

Send Steak 'n Shake; Ted Drews; anything from the Hill!

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mizzoutank

Discussion Starter · #5 · Aug 22, 2012

haha, i see you are from the east side of the state! I'll be your bitter rival in the KC area-go chiefs

so i'll send the best bbq in the nation. lol

Speaking of algae farm...prior to adding the second fixture-I dosed with some api liquid fert and grew green hair algae on this piece of driftwood--it went crazy. So i took that piece out-let it dry, scrubbed it down, reboiled it, and added it back.
Then the second fixture came (after friend tore down his last tank) and I have had basically no algae in the tank.

Back to your questions tho:
I'm bad at keeping a consistent photoperiod b/c of work. it varies from 7hrs to 5hrs a day. Then sometimes I've left it on overnight. oops!
I guess I should swing by some hardware store for a timer to make life easy.

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mizzoutank

Discussion Starter · #6 · Aug 22, 2012

So you are saying that the short length of the bulbs, being 22in, compared to the 36in long tank...is NOT an issue? or reason to go get a fixture that is 36in long?

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Seattle_Aquarist

· #7 · Aug 22, 2012

Hi Missoutank,

The light intensity may be less on the sides than the center but that shouldn't drastically effect the growth. Keep in mind it is all about balance; excessive/too little light or excessive/too little ferts can effect the growth of the plants.

You're right KC has great BBQ....been there done that!

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