[aquatickid]

My anubius has stated to yellow too, it was nice and green before in my 10G it's been in here for about two 1/2 weeks.

 

[aquatickid]

unsure, it came witht the fixture. wanna say it's between 6500k-10000K but i doubt its the latter. they say 39w aquablue+ giesemann.

 

[aquatickid]

the brown stuff looks to be diatoms, and is perfectly normal on a new tank. it should go away on its own eventually. the giesemann aqua blue+ won't do much for the plants.

That has to be the problem because all my other tanks have the same treatments and i've never had an issue. I have some 6700k's on the way so i hope that solves it! Also, have any of you guys used or know about colormax bulbs? Are they good for plants as far as spectrum?

 

[aquatickid]

the brown stuff looks to be diatoms, and is perfectly normal on a new tank. it should go away on its own eventually. the giesemann aqua blue+ won't do much for the plants.

It all makes sense to me now! On sat i did a 25% water change and did my weekly dose of leaf zone. Since the light isnt the right spectrum the plants are not photosynthesizing properly hence the exposion of diatoms! I think that when i get the light up tomorrow it will be on the right tract. I is a fairly new tank but i've never had this much diatoms, i feel this is the reason. Thanks for the input.

 

[aquatickid]

Well, i just got two Geis...aqua flora and two colormax in. I ordered two more aqua flora also so i think that willdo. I've had the aquaflora in for two days and i can already see the difference. I'm grateful for all the input! Also on a side note my convicts just breeded for the first time. Not too bad but i got about 20 fry. It's the first batch so im sure next one will be more. At least they aint eating them! Well, when it's all said and done i'll have 4 aquaflora and two colormax. This should be enough! Today i also noticed that the diatons are not as intense in color, i hope it's fading.

 

[aquatickid]

i took a very dim shot of my bulbs for color reference
from left to right
ge starcoat 6500
geiseman aquaflora
wavepoint red (is purple, lots of blue)
geiseman midday


plants grow phenominal, and fish color is not sacrificed the plants use morel ight frm the wavepoint than the aquaflora its mostly red and blue. gives the tank a natural look as well when mixed with a midday or 6500 k bulb. fish look awesome under it as well
also as u can see the geise midday is very green. looks very bright. its no brighter than the ge starcoat and plant growth appears to be the same under either bulb

so we can see that different bulbs can get the job done.. i used to fret over bulbs a while back as well. now i just pick ones that look good and have a decent spectrum


have u tested ur nitrate or phosphate levels? plants basically looked starved for nutrients. this could also be carbon shortage as well. liquid co2 is a poor supplement in my opinion. lower ur light levels a little, drop to one bulb for 10 hours a day until things get healthy, or ur gonna continually fight algae and poor looking plants

I dont have a test kit for phosphates but i have a freshwater master test kit. All my amonia and nitrate nitrite are non existing. Weekly water changes and i dont over feed. I just cant afford co2 injection at the moment so i figure liquid is better than nothing. The only algae problem i have is diatoms and i think its because it's kind of a new tank, less than 2months. Since i changes the bulbs to aquaflora and colormax the plants have showed immediate improvement.

 

[aquatickid]

Cool, so what's the best way to introduce all these different things into the aquarium? Is seachem flourish any better than leaf zone. Money is an issue because I don't have an unlimited amount to put into the hobby because I have five kids! Enough said on that, lol. Does anyone know of a mix or a way to mix a good solution for the plants? I can even order online if need be, gotta love bill me later!!:icon_roll I'm addicted to this hobby now and I just want to do what's right. I was looking into a way to get testers for all these substances but I couldn't find anything really. Just ph, kh, stuff like that.

 

[aquatickid]

a good place to start is green leaf aquariums. its a forum sponsor. they have a green fert package that has everything u'll need in an easy to dose dry form for about 20 bux.

dry fertilizers are very cost effective. that package will likely last more than a year for u

edit: you will likely want to invest in a decent teaspoon measuring kit.. or a cheap teaspoon measuring kit.

I definately gonna check that out! Thanks

 

[aquatickid]

a good place to start is green leaf aquariums. its a forum sponsor. they have a green fert package that has everything u'll need in an easy to dose dry form for about 20 bux.

dry fertilizers are very cost effective. that package will likely last more than a year for u

edit: you will likely want to invest in a decent teaspoon measuring kit.. or a cheap teaspoon measuring kit.

Well, i ordered the package but now what?! It didnt come with any instructions. I dont have a co2 system but i dose liquid co2 daily when lights come on. My plants are definatly deficient. they are growing but yellowing and even slighly browning on the edges. I have two colormax and 4 giesemann 39w aquaflora bulbs. What do you suggest? Does anyone have any input? Do i just add it to the water in powder form? THANKS!

 

[aquatickid]

Ei dosing is a good place to start, there is a calculator if you Google petalphile, I don't have the link offhand

Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk 2

does it make a difference if i use co2 gas or not?

 

[aquatickid]

Thanks Blazin! I'm gonna go through this thing and figure it out. I run an air stone at night that comes on when the lights go out automatically. I turned all the bulbs off except two 39W aquafloras and soon im taking out one colormax and then turning one back on. For a total of three bulbs, i also raised the light fixture a bit and it sits about 24 inches from the substrate.....what do you think?