[aquaticaddict]

It's my first planted tank and it's coming along, but I'm not really getting much growth. I have mostly low light plants planted (i.e. anubias, java fern, crypt, etc.). I've started dosing with Excel every other day and Flourish once a week. My substrate is just Caribsea peace river gravel. Is the light keeping me from getting any real growth? I was hoping to get growth and keep the tank as low maintenance as possible. I'll try to update with a current pic later tonight.

Thanks!

 

[end3r.P]

It's my first planted tank and it's coming along, but I'm not really getting much growth. I have mostly low light plants planted (i.e. anubias, java fern, crypt, etc.). I've started dosing with Excel every other day and Flourish once a week. My substrate is just Caribsea peace river gravel. Is the light keeping me from getting any real growth? I was hoping to get growth and keep the tank as low maintenance as possible. I'll try to update with a current pic later tonight.

Thanks!

All of the plants you list are quite slow growers, and the stock light on the Spec V is certainly "low" light, so you're not going to get anything more than slow growth. To maximize growth, you'll want to use the Excel daily (it only lasts about 12 hours, so you want to dose it so that it's available when the tank is lit).

If you're going for low maintenance, I'm not sure you need to do anything else, especially if you have fish in the tank (along with Flourish comprehensive, they'll supply all the nutrients you need for these plants, other than perhaps potassium).

 

[aquaticaddict]

Thanks your response helps alot. I'll bump the excel dosing to daily and use it in the morning when I feed and turn on the light. I'm getting quite a bit of brown/black algae growth (assuming it's algae here) on the plant leaves (especially the Anubias) so it just seems like things are "stagnant" so to speak when I'm not seeing new growth. I did have the Anubias congensis put out a new leave that went to 4" in about a week or so, but that was it. :/

 

[end3r.P]

Thanks your response helps alot. I'll bump the excel dosing to daily and use it in the morning when I feed and turn on the light. I'm getting quite a bit of brown/black algae growth (assuming it's algae here) on the plant leaves (especially the Anubias) so it just seems like things are "stagnant" so to speak when I'm not seeing new growth. I did have the Anubias congensis put out a new leave that went to 4" in about a week or so, but that was it. :/

How often are you doing water changes? And how much?

And how long is your light on? Too-long photoperiods can be a cause of algae. Brown "algae" is usually brown diatoms, and it's common in newly cycled tanks.

 

[aquaticaddict]

Weekly water changes, ~ 25-30%. Tank is cycled, water parms are good, running matrix and purigen. When I did my tank maintenance last night I ended up rescaping a bit and pulled a lot of plants and driftwood out. I noticed a lot of debris/detrius in the gravel when I stirred things up. Makes me want to vacuum it, but isn't it beneficial for the plants?

Usually I turn the light on in the morning (6:30AM) and turn it off at night (10PM). Figured since it's a low output light it's probably not hurting anything. Should I adjust this and maybe run a timer?

Thanks again!