What's Wrong With My Rtl And Amazon Sword?

[AngelsFTW]

Hi everyone,

New to the forum but I've had an aquarium for about 2 years and always kept as many plants as possible, given my limited budget.

Anyway my Red Tiger Lotuses doesn't seem to be doing so good. Used to have big leaves and runners. Now leaves are getting smaller and new growth is shriveled. This happened after runners were eaten by fish.

The Amazon Sword has brown spots on the big leaves but new growth seems to be fine. I don't think its algae since it doesn't come off. I have added root tab but spots are still there.


My specs are:
55g
4WPG (recently upgraded from T8's to HO T5's)
Laterite substrate

I add liquid ferts as well as liquid carbon.

 

[SO19Firearms]

Roughly sounds like the new lights are making your plants want to grow faster - You could reduce your lighting so the overall levels were the same as before or you could add more nutrients to support the growth - The liquid carbon is a bit more difficult if you're already dosing @max strength unless you consider CO2

 

[AngelsFTW]

Yea I thought as much. All of the info I've been looking at suggests using only 2 HO T5's for a 55 gallon that's 18 inches tall. Even with CO2 I think double the recommended lighting is too much. I've taken out 1 bulb, still giving me 3wpg+. Will let you know how it goes.