Corkscrew Vals?

About 2 months ago I started my first planted tank, 29 gal.

I bought a coralife fixture 36 watts with a 10,000k daylight bulb About 1.2 watts per gal/no CO2 injection yet.

I was under the impression that they were low light but I am not sure as I am a newbie to the planted world.

I bought 4. 3 of them have not grown at all and 1 in the back is HUGE. It appears that my light is evenly spread. Does anybody know why one could have grown so much under low light and the rest have stayed the same? This appears very strange to me.

Thanks

[Lonewolfblue]

I think they are medium light plants. Since you don't have CO2, you might want to try dosing Flourish Excel. The corkscrew vals are one of the vals that are not affected by Excel, and won't melt away. Do you have anacharis? If you do, then you may not want to dose Excel, as they will also melt. One last thing to get is Potassium. You may need to dose Potassium to help in the plants uptake of the other nutrients. You could even place root tabs under the roots to see if that will help. Just a couple pointers to help out. I've got them going under both medium and high light, and they just grow out of control. They get to about 6 inches max. But spread like wild-fire.

How did I know it would be you LWB. Always appreciate your advice. I just ordered some tablets from BigAls.

I have two other concerns if you could or anybody else could help.

#1 My light/dark period for photosynthesis is very off. I wake up for college at 6am, turn my lights on, and I am not home from school/work til 11pm. I shut the lights off at 11:10pm and their on at 6am. Should I invest in a timer? Too much light?

And, I bought a 10,000k 36 watt bulb for my coralife fixture. Most seem to have 6,700K Is this ok? I was hoping to start with no CO2 with 1.2 watts per gal. and upgrade when I get better with planted.

[rich311k]

10,000k is just fine. Get a timer. 12 hours is a good starting point for lighting period, adjust as needed. My corkscrew vals are under high light and grow like crazy. New plants keep coming all the time.

[Lonewolfblue]

As for the timeframe, if you have no algae problems, then you should be ok. But if you want to cut down on the time of light, then a timer would be a wise investment.

As for the lights, both the 10000k and the 6700k are very good light temps. Both work very well in planted tanks. I use a combo of both on mine, 6700k towards the front, and 10000k towards the back. Just all depends on the look that you like. The 10000k are more white or blue, and the 6500k-6700k are usually more towards the yellow. The 10000k will bring out the fish more, while the 6700k will make the plants stand out a little better. At least that's my opinion on this. So if you can't have both at the same time, then just pick one that you like the best.

Thanks Alot LWB, I am having a little brown algae, howver I have 6 Otto's and they seem to be loving it so I will stay where I am. My LFS does not usually have a lot of low light plants so I am having trouble building it up the way I want. I would upgrade, but I want to make sure I learn as much as I can first.

[Lonewolfblue]

Ah, the diatom phase....

In a new tank, you will usually get what some people call brown algae, but are actually diatoms. And yes, otos love diatoms. But after a short while, usually a couple weeks or so, it will go away on it's own.

As for getting plants, go to the barter/trade section and post an interest in getting clippings from people. A lot of people will send a bunch of clippings for just the cost of postage, and some don't even charge for postage. Just another thought there that might get you some plants you like.

Edit:
Here's a cheap timer that works great for tanks with no moonlights. I use these on non-moonlight tanks...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Marineland-Aquar...QQcmdZViewItem

Here's what I use on my tanks with CF fixtures with moonlights:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Coralife-Digital...QQcmdZViewItem