# ok i need help lol



## offalmangler (Jan 17, 2010)

I am at a loss, i am having one hell of a time trying to get my plants to grow,

120 gallon freshwater tank.

No fish that i have are plant eaters.

I currently have

1 wiseria
1 java fern
1 java moss
2 java something or others "its a moss, cant remember the name"
and 1 assorted plant which is almost dead

I have a eheim 2213 and a Rena xp4 running and a unnamed powerhead

for substrate i have a half tank of blue resin gravel and the other half is 2 bags of flourite which the plants are planted in. except the java moss which is tied off to a huge peice of driftwood

My wisetria looks very sickly, java fern looks like garbage, roots and shoots turning to brown mush.

i am dosing twice a week with seachem. 

I am out of ideas, i do not have the cash for a co2 unit and from what i was reading a DIY c02 would be almost out of the question.

My water is hardish, and my ph is neutral. ideas? or just go with crappy looking plastic plants which i dont wanna do.

Oh, lighting is 1 t8 daylight bulb at 6500k
and 1 t8 aquarium plant blub on the red end of the spectrum.


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

What's the wattage of those t8s? The standard 48" ones are 32 watts.

You need a lot more light to grow plants in a tank that size and depth.

There's no point in fertilizing or providing CO2 if the plants don't have enough light to grow.


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## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

Those two light bulb are definitely not enough for your big aquarium. If you bulbs are 40W, you have 40*2/120 = 0.6 WPG

What kind of flashlight do you use to see your fishes?

Sorry, it was trying to make a joke above 

But, I guess, you see the point. You need more light.


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## davesolo29 (Dec 2, 2008)

offalmangler said:


> from what i was reading a DIY c02 would be almost out of the question.


Why? What have you read? I used a DIY co2 on my 90gallon plant tank with great results.

Which Seachem product are you using? Excel? If so, it is a great CO2 supplement, but it also tends to cause melting in some plants.

Where are your powerhead and canister spraybars located? If they create too much surface agitation then you lose CO2 in the water.

I also agree.. not nearly enough light on the tank.


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## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

davesolo29 said:


> Why? What have you read? I used a DIY co2 on my 90gallon plant tank with great results.


How do you know that you have great results? Was that a big difference in you plant growth?

How many bottles do you have for 90g tank?


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## davesolo29 (Dec 2, 2008)

igor.kanshyn said:


> How do you know that you have great results? Was that a big difference in you plant growth?
> 
> How many bottles do you have for 90g tank?


I had 2 reactors.. 2 bottles/reactor. So 4 bottles. Change 2 every other week. 
Yes... i had very significant growth. I was trimming and giving plants away almost every week. The only thing i couldnt get to grow nice and lush was UG.


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## offalmangler (Jan 17, 2010)

So i guess i should shop around for T5's or just abandon plants altogether lol


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## okoolo (Nov 1, 2009)

I'd suggest getting t5ho .. I've got 4x54w t5ho in a 55g and dyi co2 (2 bottles) and growth is pretty good


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## qwerty (Dec 15, 2009)

I have no idea what you're dosing... Seachem is a company... I'm going to take a wild guess here and go out on a limb and assume you're not dosing an entire corporation, employees, desks, computers, sales representatives, telephones, research department and all... Mind you 120gal is a pretty big tank, so please correct me if I'm wrong... ^_^

I would be dosing at LEAST Seachem comprehensive if nothing else...

Java Fern actually does much better (usually) rooted to driftwood... Mainly because people tend to bury it too deep. This plant is actually never found emersed in the wild.

As already mentioned, it's probably your lights... You got a big tank, so yeah, lighting is going cost a pretty penny... I would search classifieds to look for second hand lighting, or just bite the bullet... Planted aquariums are MUCH more stable than unplanted aquariums. Well worth the effort and money IMO.

(Sorry, had to add this in as an edit... Java isn't found *submerged* in the wild, not emersed... Deploy facepalm...)


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## offalmangler (Jan 17, 2010)

yeah seachem hates when i dose them, the mailroom clerks naver make it out, sucks to be on the bottom.


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## okoolo (Nov 1, 2009)

actually I think the gas would go stright right to the top .. so I wouldn't wanna be CEO of that company..

as to the lights try fishneedit .. pretty cheap ... also consider metal halide lights ..


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