What Light For A 24Inch Deep Tank?

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Ferg1985

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Hello folks,

I'm in need of some help as last week I started my planted tropical tank and the plants are not fairing well. I'm going to start from scratch with it, primarily because I bought un-named plants from two LFS and it would seem most are not aquatic plants and the others are struggling to survive. Here is my tank at present:

Here are some pics (as good a quality as I could manage with my phone):



the two small plants either side of the rock to the left have gone, rotted to near nothing so I chucked them. The larger, purple tinted plant to the right foreground was chucked also. The tallest plant to the immediate right of the ornament was chucked (along with the other that was on the right of the tank) as it was shedding all its leaves. These are the immediate casualties and the plants that remain, most I'm suspect of (can't believe I was stupid enough to buy them...but again more annoyed that an LFS would sell plants that aren't suitable).

DSC_0260.jpg


The purple lined leaved plant is on its way out. Perhaps I need more intense lighting (this is all I can think of).

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These don't seem to be doing too bad, but they don't look like aquatic plants to me.

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These two also don't look like aquatic plants, and the fact the leaves are beginning to curl up would suggest it may be on its way out.

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I'll go to the planted section for an SOS! Clearly I've not put enough thought into the plants. But still, the fish are really healthy and happy and that's whats paramount to me..this plant issue is just a slight snag.

I have one 42 inch 38watt bulb.. I forget which it is, but its a T5 tropical. I was thinking of getting an additional bulb, either a 39 watt 34 inch, or 54 watt 46 inch Plant Pro T5. Will either of those penetrate deep enough into the water of a 24 inch tank?

I've been injecting CO2, whilst adding weekly doses of Aquatilizer ferts. I have the light unit on from 1pm til 11pm.. is that too long? As the sunsets the tank is naturally lit from the left side (looks stunning when it happens) so I'd of thought that short period of light would have helped those plants nearest.

I don't know what plants I have remaining other than some Twist Valias and some varient of Amazon Sword, and the two Anubias (not sure which though).

Thank you for any help, so that I can salvage what is salvagable and buy some new plants which would be suitable (along with the light!).
 
any plant with white on the leaves are not true aquatic plants so should never be sold as or bought as tank plants.... also i think plants with red on them need more intense light due to the red in them being harder to photosynthesise (i think).
some plants when moved or that havent got established root systems will start to get worse before they get better, again im not 100% as im no plant expert, but im sure its called melting... :unsure:
 
i can see 3 non aquatic plants in your tank the pink edged one the pair of white edged ones the tall white edged one dont throw them away pot them up and put them on your bathroom window seal .
ok plants blow out your lfs go for uk online stores you probably know as much about plants as they do go for suppliers that make there liveing out of it i use ,

http://www.plantedtanks.co.uk/
before you go and add a load more lighting have you got the rest right ?
1/ flow 10 x plus
2/ correct amount of co2
3/ correct ferts doasing ie macros and micros
if you add loads of light without the rest being right you will grow lovely algae ,
 
I now have more plants on the side of the bath than in my tank :shout: :grr:

Not lost any more plants in the tank, but then I think all that is left is Amazon Swords, Twisted Vallis and the Anubias (and some dainty little thing that I'm not sure what it is, but that is thriving! already have an offshoot that's doubled in size).

I will now contemplate getting the second light, then give it a few weeks to see how the remaining plants do and then pick some easy plants from the site provided. I lost an Angelfish yesterday too :sad: no idea why as they all seem healthy, no visible problems.. water is fine, perhaps one of those things.
 

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