Lighting/general Plant Growth For Rena Aqualife 350

[curlyriff]

Hey everyone,

I have been trying to work out what I need to get good growth in my tank. I am just starting out really. I have tried a few plants but they have all either died or not doing great apart from one or two. The ones that are growing seem to grow tall and thinned out as if there isn't enough light.

Now dosing wise I use TPN+ & Seachem Excel as I thought this would be easy to control to try and get a happy medium.

Tank size is 120x50x70cm (LxDxH). I currently have the standard lights in the tank which is two ballasts with 2No. T8's in each. I have two 10,000K white T8's front ballast and one moonlight T8, one gro-lux T8 in rear ballast. They are all 30watt.

I dose around 10ml of TPN+ weekly and about 5ml Excel every day. I don't have any problems with algy (the little I get is eaten by my fish).

Should I swap out one of the other 10,000k bulbs for another gro-lux or similar. I am aiming for medium light with using a similar dosing regime to what I currently have which I am hoping will improve my plant health and growth in the tank.

Also I currently don't have any reflectors as none came with my tank (2nd hand) although the top of the tank is pure white on the standard hood to reflect and I know someone did a par test with reflects and with white PVC finish and showed that the average par rating was only about 2% different.

The plants I have got in the tank I brought from Aqua Essentials in the bid to know that they where good quality and give me a fighting chance at starting out so I picked some at random and got Hygrophila Guanensis which seems to be growing OK although not as bushy as maybe it should be and I also got some Ludwigia peruviana which looks great but isn't really growing.

Some other plants I brought from the Gold Fish Bowl which seem expensive but where very good sized and looked healthy haven't been doing as well. One was Aponogeton natans which has allot of die off and brown leafs but at the same time is flowering with about 4 flowers on and a few new leaves coming through & Aponogeton rigidifolia which has seemed to die off and go brown completely. The plants from the gold fish bowl have been in the tank for almost two months and the others about a month now.

I am really wanting to try and grow some Eustralis Stellata, Bolbitus Heudelotii, Polygonum sp. Sao Paulo, Acorus Gramineus Pusilles & Nomaphila Stricta Fleur which I really like the look of and think I can scape to make a good mix of plants.

My substrata is sandy/fine gravel and I am also using some root tabs for the plants as well to try and keep all nutrients balanced.

I have got a Tetratec airpump running with one 12" long air stone and one 6" air stone. I am running the Eheim Pro II filter and a seperate 550lph mini pond pump on spray bar for circulation and filtration and my water paramerters are fine.

Any help with the lighting that I think may be the problem or what else I should look into doing would be appreciated.

Sorry for the long post but hope that covers most of what you need to help and much appreciated.

Kind Regards,

Adam

 

[curlyriff]

Has anyone any ideas how I can help my plant growth, Should I just get new bulbs, if so what type. Should I be looking into getting C02 unit or a new light ballast or is it worth just trying other plants and seeing how they go?

I know the first post was long and kinda dragged out but I would like to order some more plants. I will be getting them from Aqua Essentials again as they where really good quality last time and prices are not that high.

Kind Regards,

Adam

 

[RadaR]

as well to try and keep all nutrients balanced.

Dont worry too much about "balancing" the nutrients. Plants dont really care about ratios. The plants just want enough of what they want. So for example if the plants were suffering from lack of nitrogen but they had enough phosphate, then you would only need to increase the N, not the P. It's better to have too much nutrients instead of not enough. Why? Nutrients wont trigger algae and they wont harm the fish. However, lack of nutrients could prevent the plants from growing, therefore they begin to breakdown, release ammonia and even potentially harm fish.
I'd keep the same amount light you have. Just concentrate on increasing the carbon and nutrients. On a tank that size you should be looking at dosing around 20ml of liquid carbon. The same for TPN+, DAILY. Up your dosage and you should see increased growth. With faster growth also comes an increased amount of waste from the plants. Therefore a large water change should be carried out every week.
Changing what kelvin the bulbs are wont make a difference in terms of growth. It will just look different to you. Reflectors are a good idea.

 

[curlyriff]

as well to try and keep all nutrients balanced.

Dont worry too much about "balancing" the nutrients. Plants dont really care about ratios. The plants just want enough of what they want. So for example if the plants were suffering from lack of nitrogen but they had enough phosphate, then you would only need to increase the N, not the P. It's better to have too much nutrients instead of not enough. Why? Nutrients wont trigger algae and they wont harm the fish. However, lack of nutrients could prevent the plants from growing, therefore they begin to breakdown, release ammonia and even potentially harm fish.
I'd keep the same amount light you have. Just concentrate on increasing the carbon and nutrients. On a tank that size you should be looking at dosing around 20ml of liquid carbon. The same for TPN+, DAILY. Up your dosage and you should see increased growth. With faster growth also comes an increased amount of waste from the plants. Therefore a large water change should be carried out every week.
Changing what kelvin the bulbs are wont make a difference in terms of growth. It will just look different to you. Reflectors are a good idea.

Cheers for the input. The only reason I only dose the TPN+ weekly is because it was mentioned on the Aqua Essentials website and to start slow an build up. Although they do recommend 5ml per 50 liters so I should be dosing around 25/30ml TPN+ based on that the Liquid carb will last 25 days and the same for TPN+ on your recommendation but should last around 16 weeks based on what Aqua Essentials say.

I assumed this would be to do with the fact that there is a natural bioload as well from fish and food which will equate for some of the needed nutrients per week.

It then again also states that TPN+ would promote the growth of algae but you mentioned that this would not be the case.

At £16 a bottle of TPN+ and £12 for Seachem Excel that is allot of money. Does everyone end up spending almost £50 a month on the required nutrients for there planted tank?

Kind Regards,

Adam

 

[RadaR]

mentioned on the Aqua Essentials website and to start slow an build up.

I see no reason to start things slow. Why deny the plants food?

I assumed this would be to do with the fact that there is a natural bioload as well from fish and food which will equate for some of the needed nutrients per week.

Yeah, they will contribute some nutrients.

It then again also states that TPN+ would promote the growth of algae but you mentioned that this would not be the case.

Dont know why they say that when in fact we know that excess nutrients do not promote algae growth.
Pressurized CO2 would be cheaper in the long run. After all, you said you want faster growth.
Dry powders would also be cheaper. There are loads of sites that sell nutrient powders.

Here
Here
Here http/www.aquaessentials.co.uk/dry-fertilisers-powders-c-414_145_146.html
Here