Why Is This?

[shelaghfishface]

how is it that the little pink aqua one 320 shrimp tank that i have is growing lovely java moss on bog wood ( lush and green) and the floating .. like water lettuce plant.. i mean really really lovely

BUT
the plants in the fluval 200 are minging,, has 2 tubes..and the words T8 and 30watt belong in that sentence im just not sure where...
the moss is dying off, the cambomba isnt growing, the floating plants are not doing too well..
there are 3 plants that are growing well.. no idea what they are but 1 is red. 1 is red/green,and another is green but not that healthy looking

so what has the 320 got that the 200 hasnt? ( no fish in the 320 just shrimp n snails) the 320 is not heated either,tho its in the 70`s



have just started another tank and was going to upgrade the lighting but maybe i wont even need to if i can find the answer to this




shelagh xxx

 

[degsod]

Upgrade the lightingin the Fluval, the smaller tank probably has a 11W tube so the Watts per gallon is higher.

Get some T5 lighting

 

[shelaghfishface]

am i sure its T8??

i thought that the lighting that i have was the recentish upgrade from the worst to the better.. maybe its just a case of less crap rather than better?

what tube ( and i say that cos i will need specifics ) would i be better with, have been hunting for a nutrafin co2 kit to help, cant get one except for online tho

 

[Truck]

it will be the hight, replace the tubes in the aquaone if theyre old, a 6500k tube with a 75 CRI or higher

 

[shelaghfishface]

maybe u misread? the aqua one is brilliant its the fluval thats naff, its only 5 weeks old ( brand new)

 

[Truck]

aqua one has compacts doesnt it? with a reflector? does the fluval have a reflector? if not make a DIY one out of foil and see if it helps if not i would upgrade to T5's

 

[shelaghfishface]

ahh good thinking truck, ive read that advise 100 times too.. ill have a go tommorow, just stick some foil inside of the hood is it?


opps sorry the answer was. no the fluval hasnt got a reflecter... not that i noticed
will the foil give more watts?? i mean will they give more of whats availible?

 

[Truck]

ahh good thinking truck, ive read that advise 100 times too.. ill have a go tommorow, just stick some foil inside of the hood is it?


opps sorry the answer was. no the fluval hasnt got a reflecter... not that i noticed
will the foil give more watts?? i mean will they give more of whats availible?

they wont give more watts they will give near 30 watts, your only getting about 15 watts of light out of your tubes at the moment, look online at some reflectors and replicate the shape

 

[shelaghfishface]

thankyou Truck, much appreciated

 

[Dave Spencer]

Before we recommend more light, we need to think about this a tad more. Do we really believe the moss is dying because it isn`t getting enough light? Personally, I doubt it.

Two T8s the length of a 200l tank should be enough light. It is certainly enough for my 240l, which would fail if it didn`t have pressurised CO2 and EI dosing. Adding more light will just make CO2 and dosing more of a reality for you Shelagh, which you may not want.

Is there any algae in the 200l tank? Are the plants turning to mush, or do the different plant types show different symptoms?

Pics would be a great help.

Dave.

 

[aaronnorth]

your lighting is fine for a wide variety of plants, and you dont need CO2 injection (you can add it if you wish)
Are you dosing any fertiliser? Buy some TPN+ or seachem flourish then dose every few days which will help.

Some poeple cannot grow moss for some reason, llj cant either and she has tried everything! Th floating plants get the most amount of light, they therefore, need more nutrients, which the water may be lacking.

The red plant may not have enough light,

 

[SuperColey1]

If your floating plants aren't doing well then it ain't the light being too little as they will be getting more than enough in their position. More likely too much and that is creating problems other than the light itself


I would suspect the smaller tank with the inbuilt PL tube would be poorer light even than 2x full length T8s withouth reflectors without delving into the failings of the WPG rule on different size tanks.

I would assume that the light you have is fine but you haven't got enough plant mass in there or not enough turnover or not enough dosing etc. Water changes on top of not dosing any CO2 as well.

Moss will grow under minimal light healthily and most of us struggle because we try to tie it to things and that normally means the hardscape which is the point where the circulation will be not as good as in the open water therefore we struggle with algae unless we superboost CO2.

I'm afraid I have no real answer to your question as I am not highly succesful with moss although saying that I have only tinkered with it once when I was struggling.

More likely something else than the light being too little though.

AC

 

[snowflake311]

humm you say the tank where the plants are not doing well is new and only been up for 5 weeks?? That might be the reason. The new tank does not have all the good stuff the established tank does. But I'm new to plants so I am not sure. Also I'm suprised the java moss is not growing well. Maybe too much light. I have abused the crap out of my java moss and it keeps always comes back. I just let it do it's thing. In fact java moss is the only thing I know I can grow.

I think once you add your fish and the tank becomes established your plants will do better. But like I said I'm new to the real plant world I just wanted to put in my 2 cents.

 

[theshadowinc]

the moss is dying off, the cambomba isnt growing, the floating plants are not doing too well..
there are 3 plants that are growing well.. no idea what they are but 1 is red. 1 is red/green,and another is green but not that healthy looking

Moss I have found from experience loves a bioload, it thrives off of fish poo and it does not like high lighting or co2 and this is from my experience. Cambomba is a slow growing plant when not feeding it co2 and should have ferts to help it grow. Fish eat food to grow but plants need it to. I think the lighting is okay. I don't know anyting on the water lettuce so can't give you any pointers there.

Why the moss is dying if its not from having a bioload or the light being to high I honestly don't know maybe this might help you figure the reason out why