# need help with low-medium lightplants



## adrenaline (Jan 17, 2011)

So i've never had an issue growing anubias, java fern, and amazon swords before. For some reason they are all browning, and slowly dying on me. I can't figure out why. 

This is happening in 2 dfiferent tanks. one with T5NO 10k daylight/actinic bulbs, the oher with T5NO 10k daylight/full spectrum bulbs.

Both tanks are linked to the same timer, just shy of 8 hours a light per day. They are in my basement, it' a walkout, but they are not close to the door, nor do they get direct sunlight, just some ambient sunlight that comes into the room.

I've tried adding Flourite tabs in the root beds but it's made no difference. 

On the othe hand I have some anubias and java ferns in a 15 gallon fry grow out with Ikea Dioder LED lights, those are THRIVING, slow growth, but doing extremely well. 

Can anyone suggest a reason for this, or provide some suggestions as to how to aid this? I was thinking of maybe passing by a hydroponics store to get some ferts. I'm skeptical on CO2 as both tanks are stocked with cichlids.

Oh if fertilizers are the way to go any suggestions on which ones or where to get them? I'm not too knowledgable when it comes to aquarium plants.


----------



## Rmwbrown (Jan 22, 2009)

How old are the bulbs?


----------



## adrenaline (Jan 17, 2011)

the 10k/full spectrum are probably a little over a year old. the 10k/actinic is about 4 months old (this ones has a HUGE amazon sword that's slowly dying). I'm thinking my lights may not be adequate at this point...

To clear things up a bit, the anubias isn't dying really. it's just not growing at all and starting to get algae growth. the amazon sword and java ferns are slowly withering.

if it helps i have a 36" T5NO (actinic) on a 65 gallon tall, and the amazon sword is to the point where it's about 6 inches from the surface. and a 48" T5NO (full spectrum) over a 55 gallon.


----------



## Rmwbrown (Jan 22, 2009)

It is really hard to say... you have several pretty random factors at play - old bulbs, the wrong bulbs for plants and so forth. 

What i can say is this... in such a low light, slow growth tank, ferts are not the issue. If anything you could use the once/twice a week complete formulas by Seachem or Tropica... or something similar. That's all you really need. 

Root tabs will not work for rhizomes... i.e. if you have them stuck in the gravel, they are now starting to rot... they need to be attached to something in the water column. Root tabs work great for swords which are heavy root feeders.


----------



## adrenaline (Jan 17, 2011)

so i check the bulbs, the full spectrum set is a 6700k not 10k. I was thinking of picking up a 6700k T5HO set up (from a hydroponics store) to aid in plant growth.

I figured it was the bulb type, however i've never really had an issue keeping plants in the past. I've always had anubias, ferns and the occasional sword.

any recomendations for which bulbs to use? or would it be worthwhile to get the T5HO 6700K fixtures to add onto them?

my tanks will be rearranged/moved in the next two weeks once my new stands built and that set ups complete. I was going to transfer the T5NO full spectrum set up over to the new tank and add on some extra lighting to the 110 gallon (figured a T5HO would be beneficial for a larger tank)

I did pass by holland industry today and picked up some Floratronic B1 to supplement. I told the guys there about the plant conditions and how they looked and it's what they recomended. they said brown spots on the leaves and browning is usually a magnesium deficiency or iron. 

So i'm doing the bare minimum dose of that to see if it helps a little in the mean time. And if the plants need more light i'll pick up a new fixture on friday.

Back to the flourish tabs, I have crushed arogonite for the substrate, i know it's not the most plant friendly substrate but it's always worked for me in the past. So should i remove the tabs and and drop them in a HOB filter so they dissolve gradually in the water flow and feed my entire tank? or should i leave them buried by the plant roots?


----------



## jimmyjam (Nov 6, 2007)

Man it seems like you are doing a lot of things wrong...

1) change the lights to 6500, and preferably t5ho, but also remember, more lights=more growth, = more need for co2 and ferts
2) roots tabs are meant for roots, use them for your swords, dont let it leach into the tank, you dont know how much is leaching out per day. For ferns, you need water column nutrients. 
3) The ph of the tank is not exactly great for such plants, as most swords prefer low 6 to low 7ph... arog will def push up that ph... most likely above the swords desired ph
4) get co2 if you want decent growing plants, even DIY to start with is better than non. Before adding anymore ferts, add CO2, in most tanks heavily populated, and only a few plants, the ferts is not the issue.


----------



## adrenaline (Jan 17, 2011)

There's a descent amount of plants... I got tired of doing rockwork and driftwood only for my cichlids. 

I will be upgrading my lights this weekend. I'll pick up some T5HO fixtures from a hydroponics store. They are 6700k or 6500k, not sure which of the two. So much cheaper than big als. only downside is they are meant to be hung, so al ittle DIY will have to take place. 

As for the root tabs I'll leave the few in and around the amazons. But can anyone recomend a water column fert? Would I be correct in using something like flourish for that?

The anubias seems to be doing fine now, but is starting to get some algae on the leaves. that's with a circulation pump blowing over them. It's mainly the Amazons I'm having an issue with at the moment.

Thank you for the help, much appreciated!

Now for CO2, i'll check out some of the DIY set up to get started. I was worried it would affect my fish.

**EDIT** I currently have my lights on timer at 8 hours. any recomendations on how long to leave them on for? I was advised running them for 4 hours on, 2 hours off, then another few hours would help keep algae under control. not sure if that's true or not. Right now they run 8 hours straight. I have them on frmo 1:30-9:30pm as there is ambient light coming in in the morning.


----------



## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

The split timing is supposed to help with algae, with 4 hours on 2 off and 4 on, for example. The 6500K tubes work well for plants, as do 5000K, which is my preference. Actinic is of no use to plants. For sure, the aragonite isn't helping either. My preference in any tank is an inert substrate. Stronger lighting will help, even without CO2, up to a point.
Fixtures that are meant to be hung can often be laid on top of the tank or set on something that spans the width of the tank.


----------



## adrenaline (Jan 17, 2011)

split timing it is! I can construct something pretty quicky for temporary use to get the fixture mounted until i get a nice looking peice made up. That's not an issue there. I willg et the lights set up in the meantime. The actinic i have is just for the cichlids. makes the blues in them pop nicely  

thank you again for all the help!


----------



## jimmyjam (Nov 6, 2007)

flourish or tropica ferts is the go to, but also expensive. My pops make a really good fert combo that you can dose EI method or just regular dosage. THere is a combo macro, and micro. I would suggest that you run the co2 first , then if you are still seeing min growth then grab the ferts.


----------



## adrenaline (Jan 17, 2011)

Ok so T5HO 6400k added to the mix to start, we'll see how that works out. going to give it a week or so, and look for inprovement. If that's going well I'll add CO2 and give it a bit. I'll start doign this in stages now. but the T5HO makes a huge difference...


----------

