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I am having real trouble with growing my plants. I have had java fern, Moss. They are living but not growing and 3 blue stricta plants which have died. I dont know what else to do.

I have my light on a timer which is only on for 8 hrs a day. The light is an aqua glow 40w

I have 2 silver sharks, 4 loaches, 5 x-ray tetras, 6 yellow tetras, and 6 glow tetras, and 4 bristle nose. In a 4 foot tank.

I have tried liquid plant food and that didn't do anything it Was Plant grow made by nutrafin.

I have also tried slow release tablets they are terrapur tablets. They have been in the tank for over a month now, and have lost my blue stricta scince.

i have been advised a C02 machine. But i want to try and use the two things i have first eg the tablets and the liquid plant grow stuff.

Water tests done tonight

Nitrie = 0
Ammonia=0
Ph= 6.4
Nitrate=0

water temp = 26-30

I dont know what to do please HELP !!!!!!


[span class="edited"][Edited by digiclear 2004-08-26 07:04][/span]

HI!!

Glad to see you finally posted

I think you may need the light on for longer and that you may also need 2+ watts per gallon on the lighting front.

...cant think of anything else at this point.

Hi,
Yep.Sounds like lighting problem. You don't say how many gals your tank is but if is a 4 ft probably 55gal ? That would give you less then 1 watt per gallon, which quite frankly would be useless for anything but the fern and moss.

Without sufficient light putting in ferts would be completely useless and a waste of money. Better to save money on ferts and invest in lights.Also at this point CO2 would be a waste. Get the lighting right and then think about ferts and co2 later.

Another light strip would be a big help. If you get up to 2 watts of light for each gallon on water you will be good to go for most plants.

If you can't get more light over the tank then stick to low light plants - Java Fern, Moss, Anubias and Crypts these will grow albeit slowly.And no need for fertilizers. Light, Ferts and CO2 need to be balanced,without light the other 2 are wasted.

I noticed you posted 0 nitrates, this in itself could be a problem as nitrate are used by plants as a nutrient. 10ppm is a nice balance that will feed the plants and have no adverse effects on even the most sensitive fish.

HTH and welcome aboard

---

Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

One easy way to increase the light towards your plants is by simply installing reflectors on the lamps, you can get them from several different companies. I have mine from Sera and Juwel, supposedly they increase your light output by 100%, though that is probably a bit optimistic. In any case, they do help quite a lot. Take for instance my case, I have three TLs of 38 watts each, adding to a total of 114 watts over my 63 gallon tank, which means I have only 1.8 wpg, yet with the reflectors installed even the Althernanthera reineckii "roseafolea" is growing great.

Java Ferns and low requirement plants need a 1 wpg minumum. Even with 50 or 55 watts of light, (and paint the inside of your strip light flat white) you'll see a huge difference.

The Amazon Nut...

bensaf - ] its a 48g tank so its just under 1 wpg. my hood wouldn't fit another light which is crap.

Bonke - ] would reflectors they use on fire tankers would that be ok ill add in the light unit ???. I assume that would increas the light and reduce the loss of light.

Thanks for your help guys.

By the way, "PlantGro" by Nutrafin (I think it's Nutrafin) is supposed to be the worst fertilizer. It has way too much phosphate and causes huge algae problems. (It happened to me!)

How's the Flourish Exel ?

The Amazon Nut...

DIY CO2 is still supposed to be better, but if you don't have CO2 injection, you may try Fluorish Excel as an alternative.

However, if you have CO2, regular Fluorish is probably the best bet.

To be honest I have no idea what kind of reflecters they use on fire tankers, but here is a link to the kind that I mean:
here
You mount these reflectors straight onto the lamp, so they're about 1 cm away, and since they're high polishe, you'd end up with 100% or more light directed into your tank.

edit: fixed the link

[span class="edited"][Edited by Bonke 2004-08-27 02:21][/span]

Well i have brought myself a double tube reflector set. With a power glo light and an aqua glow light, in it so i should see some difference soon i hope.