PETEYPLECO Posted January 17, 2006 Report Share Posted January 17, 2006 To give you some background, my tank is 130 ltr 700x380x600, PH 6.6, 27 Deg with a fluval 204 external with standard biomax in the lower and carbon in the middle, one 10" air stone for the air curtain look, an aqua one twin tube light w/ 15w 15000K UV and 15w 6800K fluro which are both on for 12 to 13 hours a day and I also leave the UV light on all night, I do weekly partial water changes and gravel vac. My problems are my plants (forgotten the types I have) look terible eg not much new foliage and the leaves on my sword are going brown and curly. They are just not flourishing (have also bought some plastic ones just to make myself feel better). HELP I WANT THAT LUSH LOOK ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilknieval69 Posted January 17, 2006 Report Share Posted January 17, 2006 hey you might want to look into making your own CO2 injector or buying a flash one. have a google search for DIY CO2 injectors or similiar.that will give you heaps of info about how to make them and how they work etc. be careful that it doesnt affect your PH to much though because it should lower it and may affect your fish badly.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PETEYPLECO Posted January 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2006 Have thought about Co2 like the homemade yeast mix setup and also the soda stream thingy sounds DIY enough for me but I think I will lay low for now and see what short term fixes there are. Any other thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilknieval69 Posted January 17, 2006 Report Share Posted January 17, 2006 not really. have you got a fertiliser or some food source on/in them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 17, 2006 Report Share Posted January 17, 2006 It would help if we knew what the plants were as different plants like different conditions. How deep is your substrate? How long have you had the plants? A lot of the plants found in your lfs have been grown emersed so it takes them time to get used to being submerged. Quite a few will drop old leaves, have a period to recover, then shoot off new ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PETEYPLECO Posted January 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2006 I have just bought some "aqua master liquid plant food" and added the recomended dose p/ltr to see if this type of treatment improves the plants. Will the carbon in my filter remove the nutrients in this out of the water? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowman Posted January 17, 2006 Report Share Posted January 17, 2006 If you have your bubble wand going to hard it may be dissipating the CO2 out of the water, surface disruption increase oxygenation but decreases CO2 content. I have found that changing to 6500k tubes makes the plants grow a lot better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LYNDYLOO Posted January 17, 2006 Report Share Posted January 17, 2006 Probably might find that the Carbon will take out the fertiliiser you putting in, I used the Aquamaster with not much luck, ended up making my water cloudy, have now changed over to Seachem Flourish, great stuff. Good Luck. Lynda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted January 17, 2006 Report Share Posted January 17, 2006 I would guess the most likely reason is inadequate/unsuitable lighting. (plants wont be able to make use of CO2 or fertiliser very well if they aren't getting the light they require). I'm assuming your tank dimensions of 700x380x600 are Length x breadth x water depth. 15W fluoro tubes are roughly 18 inches long, your tank would be better suited to a fitting taking 18w tubes (roughly 24 inches long) - that way you'd have a greater length of the tank lit. Also penetrating that depth of water is going to mean less light getting to the plants compared to a shallower tank. All of my planted tanks have a similar depth to yours and I run 4 tubes on them (2 twin fittings) and get acceptable plants growth (without CO2 but with occasional liquid fertiliser). As already suggested I'd replace the 15,000K tube with a 6,500K tube. Also how old are the tubes - the quality of light they put out deteriorates with time so they should be replaced every 6-9months (expensive if you're buying from petshop but tubes with the codes 86 or 865 (or 96 if you can get them) are a good substitute and can be bought cheaply from electrical supply houses etc). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiverJohn Posted January 17, 2006 Report Share Posted January 17, 2006 A twin 2foot setup would probably help, I run a mixture of 965's and 865's but have recently been trying 8000K tubes with some success. As already said, if the tubes are more than 9 months old they will be past their prime. If the "15000K" tube is on all the time it will be due for replacement in about 4 months. HTH John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanksman Posted January 17, 2006 Report Share Posted January 17, 2006 and I also leave the UV light on all night, Ahem - Why would you do this - dont plants want to sleep as well when they respire normally and... well sleep - wouldn't this just keep them awake?? Maybe they're just buggered - When I havn't slept in a while I get a bit brown :evil: . Be interested to hear more tho - I'm no expert. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PETEYPLECO Posted January 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2006 So I guess I will try turning my "bubble curtain" down a bit, remove the carbon from my filter so I can use my plant growing additive, turn the UV light off at night and save those hard earned pennies for another twin tube light unit and we'll see how we go. Thanks alot guys. :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted January 17, 2006 Report Share Posted January 17, 2006 Are you talking about a UV light over the tank (i.e. to make the fluro colours of the fish come out) or a UV in the tube that you run the water through to kill algae etc?? If its the latter just leave it running 24/7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stagger lee Posted January 18, 2006 Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 i totally agree with Rob, get your lighting right first and then everything will start falling into place. Once that's sorted try diy CO2, and some plant ferts like flourish and before you know it your plants will be beautiful! Oh, and if you have any red coloured plants they will love you for ever if you give them stronger light Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LYNDYLOO Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 Have just changed from using Aquamaster to using Flourish, wonderful stuff, plants are looking great. Dose twice a week. Lynda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PETEYPLECO Posted January 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 Carbon's gone, filled up the remaining 2 media baskets in the filter with ceramic noodles, the "wall of bubbles" has turned into a trickle, leaving the allmighty 30w of light on for 13 hours a day and all off at night for the plants to rest, I'm feeding the plants with fertiliser. I think I can see some changes - very little but begining to perk up. ( by the way I have 2 twisted val, 2 ambulia and a sword ) I am researching and pricing lighting to add to my tank,I guess I need around another 40 or so watts so its either approx $70 + for a twin tube setup from LFS so long as tube are available, $30 - 40 for a nice home made unit with either tubes or twin power saver lamps s olong as this type of lighting is siutable for plant growth, or is it to be $100 or more for a nice metal halide unit seeing as I have electrical supplies contacts? Remember my tank is 600mm deep so I have to worry about fluro's not getting the light to this depth. . . . . .mmmmmmmmmmmm? :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiverJohn Posted January 23, 2006 Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 Put two 2x24W T5's!! 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PETEYPLECO Posted January 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 Diverjohn - will light from such a unit get to 600mm depth??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiverJohn Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 "technically" i would say yes. The specs I have on T5 versus Metal Halide would suggest that a T5 is about 95% as powerful as a MH (mainly at low wattages 70 or 150W) MH has issues surrounding heat etc, salt water members could probably give you a hand if you want to know more about MH. When you see other forums about reef tanks growing corals and "marine stuff" under T5's, they are the way to go. HtH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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