Think My Tank Needs A Little Help

[Kevstir]

Hi Guys

Things have been good with the tank since i upgraded the standard juwel tubes but i think the plants need some more help.

I'm just looking for some guidance from you guys if that's ok ?

For ferts all i have got is nutrafin grow sticks under the roots and a greenline grow bag which needs replaced, as a substrate all i have Argos play sand so I'm thinking good root tabs might be worth a try, any ideas??

The amazons don't look like there doing to good, as you can see by the pictures theres some sort of dark algae growing on the leaves , they also have fuzz algae all over them, the leaves are quite thin and almost see through..

At the moment i have 1x Arcadia freshwater and 1x interpet triplus 25watt tubes in there , that gives me 1wpg , i was looking to put one more tube at the back to bring it up to 75watts, this should give me 1.5wpg which i know is still regarded as low but i still don't want to go down the CO route just yet, for the extra tube i was wanting to go t5 but from what i can tell its far cheaper to go down the t8 route as the t8 controllers are quite cheap, if i was to get a t8 controller to start of with i was going to put the white juwel tube i have spare in and maybe upgrade to a t6, again whats your thoughts??

If you guys could give me some pointers that would be great

here's some pictures, as you can see the amazon swords aren't in great shape, the wisteria doesnt look no where near as good as what iv seen on the net. the air pump is on at the moment due to medication in the tank.

Cheers

Kev

 

[chrisdoesntmiss]

Swords are very softwater plants - I have had the same problem with them. In nature they are also out of the water six months of the year, just another thing to think about. I have had problems with wisteria, I have only ever had one batch of it in the past but within 2 days it just withered and fell apart. I do have a feeling a plec got hungry so ignore that part

You also might want to bump up the lighting to about a minimum of 2 watts per gallon, I only get brilliant growth from 3.27 watts per gallon.

If you really want huge growth then about 4wpg is required. Only problem is you will blind your fish, be pruning every other day, adding fertilisers and will have introduce C02 into your tank at a constant rate so a pressurized system would have to be purchased.

Nice thick Cabomba btw

 

[Kevstir]

I do have very soft water see my location , so that's at least 1 thing on my side lol , the wisteria is growing well (it started of as a very little bunch) but every bit of it looks different , lack of light i think.

I'm not looking to full on and go above 2wpg , want to leave co2 for a wee bit longer.

would adding Seachem Flourish help along with a little upgrade in the lighting?? also what root tabs would you recommend??

Yeah the Cabomba grows like a weed lol, im for every trimming it down lol

Kev