Hey,

A bit of a 180° from the usual Java Moss problems - mine doesn't grow like wildfire! I've also had a few other plants, but they don't seem to do too well. I had a large one with big leaves, but the bases turned to mush and the leaves went transparent/brown and fell off. Gave the water a yellow/brown hue.

Spoon gave me a handful of Java Moss about 6 months ago, and I stuffed it into the cracks in my driftwood. Since then it hasn't spread, grown or done anything interesting.

I used to have my tank light on for about 8 hours a day, but now that I'm flatting it's only on about 3 or 4 hours a day. Current water temperature in my "cold water" tank is around 20°c - 24°c.

My light unit is an AquaOne 80cm that Spoon gave me - I'm not 100% sure what kind of bulb I've got in it either. May be interested in getting a new one if it'll provide a tangible benefit.

Don't use any fertilizers, but would be happy to as long as it doesn't harm my Koura/Inanga.

Setup:

80x30x30

50 litres currently

500lph internal filter with venturi tube

One 10cm crayfish, two 12cm+ whitebait/Inanga

What can I do to help my plants grow?

Thanks in advance.

It takes about 3 hours for plants to work out that the lights are on ---not enough light.

alanmin4304

True, but it never seemed to grow when the lights were on for 8-10 hours a day either?

There's no point running my lights all day if they're not even going to help the situation.

could ur crayfish be eating the the nice fresh soft moss?

RE Nemines

Nah, I can't spot any signs that it's being grazed. It just doesn't seem to want to spread ;[.

it will grow slower in cold water the reports you hear about it spreading like wildfire are normally in tropical tanks . ferts shouldnt be necessary, try replacing the tube in your lite as well dont know how old the 1 u got off me was , they lose most of thier useful light output after 8 months , a year(didnt know you would be having plants at the time) . a marine white would give a nice hue to ur tank i can tell you of a lighting wholesaler that will have these a lot cheaper than the lfs. other thing i have heard is that they like to have a bit of current around them so maybe point ur filter at them also. note: was in a drs surgery today next to eastgate mall the tank in there has the biggest jave fern ive ever seen the leaves are the size of my swords! but it has a big air pump with both outlets going into 1 tube and a silly ornament which lets up huge bubbles agitating the surface like a spa pool!

Are we discussing Java Moss or Java Fern?

Java fern from the sounds of it

oops dosent really matter tho they tend to grow together

Thanks for the advice, I used to have some java fern, but it turned black and died. What was left of the fern went into the goldfish tank and is doing ok.

Can anyone be more specific about what type of bulb I'll need?

The overall light unit is 80cm wide, has the following specifications on the side.

220~240V, 50Hz - 20W

It's a single tube.

Cheers,

Romeo

You could possibly pick up a replacement tube from Mitre 10, or the likes, or from an electrical wholesaler.

You should look for something in the lines of 6000k (colour temperature in deg Kelvin) Commonly referred to as Colour 84, 86 or 9x something - can't remember at the moment. In the hardware stores they are referred to as Warm Daylight. Do not get Cool Daylight, this is normally only 2700 degK in light output.

The tubes should not cost you more than $10.00 each.

You can also get Grolux tubes from Switched on Gardener if you have one in your area, they give a pinker light, which your natives probably won't mind.

Last time I looked these were around $7.00 for a two foot tube.

On my smaller tanks I have taken to using a cheap desk lamp and Osram Duluxstar Mini Twist compact fluorescent lamps that are 23w Daylight from Mitre10. These are around $7.00 each. The only thing to be careful of is that the fitting you get will take a CF lamp, sometimes the base that contains the running gear for the lamp is so big that it won't fit into the bayonet holder very well.

HTH

The best I could find today was a Philips Cool White (840 4000K Cool White).

He told me it was around 6000k when I bought it, didn't mention anything on the package about kelvin, so I took his word for it.

Will this do? It's giving off quite a yellow light, wheras my old tube gave off a very clinical white light.

Cheers,

Romeo

I htink 4000k would be too low, i use 6500-6700 on all my tanks, i think the yellow lights produce algae

The 40000k is kelvin as is the 40 part of the 840.

I use them in conjunction with growlux for 17 hours/day without algae problems. On its own it would not be good enough. daylight or growlux would be better.

Had a look at the grolux, but they're bright pink! Since my light fitting is only a single bulb it would look rather silly.

I'll have another look tomorrow.

Cheers,

Romeo

marine white i reckon nice bright tube try lamp specialists 20 leed street quite close to you they wholesale bulbs u will need to take cash as they have no eftpost