Lighting In Planted Tank

[Gh0st]

i have a 29gallon planted tank with a lifeglo t8 20watt bulb and a floraglo t8 20watt bulb and have been having problems with my plants growing/dying...i only have a fixture that holds one of the light bulbs at a time..after all the research ive done i believe my plant problems are a result of poor lighting..ive had many plants such as anacharis die, and my copragrass isnt spreading at all..i have cheap plant bulbs bought from petco that have grown very fast(odd)...i recently had no co2 but built a diy co2 reactor and diffusor..only been set up a few hours so dont know the results yet...my question is this..are my lights sufficient if maybe i swap them out every now and then or do i need a new fixture that can hold at least 2bulbs..if i do need a new fixture do they make them for the lights i already have bc i cant seem to find any that hold two t8s at a decent price..even with the two bulbs at once are they both strong enough lighting for my tank?? the most inexpensive way is the best with my budget but if it means spending a little i will bc i want a thriving planted tank

 

[aaronnorth]

copragrass?? Sounds non-aquatic to me. do you know the scientific name?

can you explain more rather than just "die"? What colour did they go etc. It might be a nutrient defficiency which you havent mentioned dosing anything.

 

[lljdma06]

copragrass?? Sounds non-aquatic to me. do you know the scientific name?

can you explain more rather than just "die"? What colour did they go etc. It might be a nutrient defficiency which you havent mentioned dosing anything.

I googled the name, Aaronnorth, seems to be another name for the pygmy swords, though both E. tennelus and Liliaopsis species are brought up, and they are very different.

Do you have a picture of your setup? How often do you change your water? What is your filtration? What is your water temperature? Anacharis prefers cooler temperatures and will die if it's too warm.

You can keep one buld, but you'll have to be very selective with your plants. Plants for you to try, which have grown well for me with just the single T8 tube that comes with the tank, include...

Anubias
mosses
Crytocorynes (especially wendtii)
Some larger amazon swords (but they need to be fed rootabs, the crypts do as well)
Maybe anacharis is your temperature isn't too high, but seeing as yours is dying, perhaps not. I had a 29g way back that I used to breed kribensis and I used anacharis and the plants above in the tank, and these did alright, but I had rootabs for the substrate. The growth will be very slow. You'll get better growth if you add the second T8 tube. If you have a glass cover, you can sit a second fixture next to the other.

Where are you?

llj

 

[Gh0st]

copragrass?? Sounds non-aquatic to me. do you know the scientific name?

can you explain more rather than just "die"? What colour did they go etc. It might be a nutrient defficiency which you havent mentioned dosing anything.

microsword is the other name for copragrass..not sure about the scientific name..the plant leaves turned brownish and slowly fell apart..the stems became brittle..i use ecocomplete substrate and dose with liquid fertilizer about every 4days(florapride)..from what ive been told from others and research ive done the way my plants are looking is an overall result of lighting..can have all the nutrients available but lighting can cause the plants to seem like they have nutrient deficiencies such as lack of carbon, iron, potassium/magnesium..poor lighting results in similar instances..some of my plants are doing pretty good while it seems like the very bottom plants arnt such as the microsword..thats y i think its a lighting issue..havnt been able to locate a fixture that holds two t8 bulbs or i wouldve tried that already..thanks for the input

 

[Gh0st]

copragrass?? Sounds non-aquatic to me. do you know the scientific name?

can you explain more rather than just "die"? What colour did they go etc. It might be a nutrient defficiency which you havent mentioned dosing anything.

I googled the name, Aaronnorth, seems to be another name for the pygmy swords, though both E. tennelus and Liliaopsis species are brought up, and they are very different.

Do you have a picture of your setup? How often do you change your water? What is your filtration? What is your water temperature? Anacharis prefers cooler temperatures and will die if it's too warm.

You can keep one buld, but you'll have to be very selective with your plants. Plants for you to try, which have grown well for me with just the single T8 tube that comes with the tank, include...

Anubias
mosses
Crytocorynes (especially wendtii)
Some larger amazon swords (but they need to be fed rootabs, the crypts do as well)
Maybe anacharis is your temperature isn't too high, but seeing as yours is dying, perhaps not. I had a 29g way back that I used to breed kribensis and I used anacharis and the plants above in the tank, and these did alright, but I had rootabs for the substrate. The growth will be very slow. You'll get better growth if you add the second T8 tube. If you have a glass cover, you can sit a second fixture next to the other.

Where are you?

llj

i have a penquin biowheel filtration system and a smaller basic carbon filtration..my temp is 76bc of the fish i have..i change my water about every 2weeks..my snails and plants that are growing well keep me from having to do lots of changes...i have very hard water though which i have recently began filtering thru peat moss which has helped a lot..ph is still high though..about 7.6-8.0...i have pics but are too big to upload..i only have an advanced digital camera and the smallest pixelation seems to be too big too upload the pics..gonna have to find a way to reduce it somehow...thanks for the info

 

[aaronnorth]

copragrass?? Sounds non-aquatic to me. do you know the scientific name?

can you explain more rather than just "die"? What colour did they go etc. It might be a nutrient defficiency which you havent mentioned dosing anything.

microsword is the other name for copragrass..not sure about the scientific name..the plant leaves turned brownish and slowly fell apart..the stems became brittle..i use ecocomplete substrate and dose with liquid fertilizer about every 4days(florapride)..from what ive been told from others and research ive done the way my plants are looking is an overall result of lighting..can have all the nutrients available but lighting can cause the plants to seem like they have nutrient deficiencies such as lack of carbon, iron, potassium/magnesium..poor lighting results in similar instances..some of my plants are doing pretty good while it seems like the very bottom plants arnt such as the microsword..thats y i think its a lighting issue..havnt been able to locate a fixture that holds two t8 bulbs or i wouldve tried that already..thanks for the input

thanks, echinodorous tenellus is the name if you are interested.

the light might not be penetrating deep enough then, how deep is the aquarium? If it is over 18" then you might need T5's to help the lower plants.




If you want to upload some pics, then sign up to photbucket or imageshack. Upload your pics to the site then copy the code and paste it on here. You dont get any rubbish emails coming through either :good:

for example this:
[code][IMG]http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii226/aaron_north1/DSCF0108-Copy.jpg[/code]

goes to this: