need help sorry

[newbietofishes]

Do need some help, Ive been reading lots of plant and lighting thread and im no closer to knowing what sort of lighting ive got. Until now ive been re buying plant and throwing out dying plants not realising that I shouldnt have to do that if I buy the right lighting for my plant or vice versa
I want to do it right this time so decided to go with what lighting ive got and get plants to suit that lighting from now now till either I up grade the lighting depending what sort of lighting ive got....

Tank one
Life glo t8
Power glo t8
Tank is 240l
dept from light to bottom of tank is 22 inch there about.
Only thing I use in there for the plants is plantamin and I use it at every water change
Some plants got holes in them
Some are doing great seem to get dark green hair algae
Dont have all the names of the plants in my tank
Echinodorus bleheri
Hygrophila polysperma
Cryptocoryne bullosa
Heteranthera zosterifolia
Ophiopogon gigantea variegata
Cryptocoryne diversen
There is a few more but loss the name tag for them

Tank 2

Power glo t8
120l
Depth from light to gravel is about 17 inches varous stem plants no roots and names unknow but all plant doing well but getting light green hair algae same plant treatment just plantamin scared to add anything else due to shrimps in this tank

Lights on for about 6 hours for both tanks, wc every week 50% both tanks
What I would like to know is
Do I have low or medium lighting
What add on can I have to make growth better, reduce the plant of dying and any other info would benefit please let me know and if you think there better plant treatment that you think would be better than planamin let me know too.

Thanks in advance

 

[newbietofishes]

Thought to give you upto date water even thou water change is tomorrow...
Tank one 240l
Ph 7.5
Kh 9 drops
Gh 11 drops
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 1.0 mg/l
Po4 1.0 mg/l

Tank 2 120l

Ph to gh same as above
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0.5mg/l
Po4 1.0mg/l

 

[Krissycakes]

I used roots tabs in my tank with my live plants. Not sure of your lighting. But I use a T8 full daylight spectrum. It has a bit of pinkness in the bulb and has helped my plants out a lot! I also used flourish in my tank.

 

[newbietofishes]

Thanks for that... think I need to know my lighting before I can move on is root tabs for plant that root heavily? Or is that for all plants?

 

[herp_mommy]

How many bulbs do the fixtures have? There are charts and tables around the web that score lighting intensities. Drs Foster & Smith say "A good basic rule to follow is...2 to 5 watts per gallon for freshwater planted aquariums..."

So, figure out the wattage of your bulbs, total them, and figure out the conversion to gallons from liters

 

[newbietofishes]

How many bulbs do the fixtures have? There are charts and tables around the web that score lighting intensities. Drs Foster & Smith say "A good basic rule to follow is...2 to 5 watts per gallon for freshwater planted aquariums..."

So, figure out the wattage of your bulbs, total them, and figure out the conversion to gallons from liters

Its 40 watt each for bulb in tank one and if im correct it about 60 gallon for 240l there about, and its 30 watt and 30 gallon for tank two.
Does that mean tank one is medium lighting and tank two is low lighting?

 

[Krissycakes]

Thanks for that... think I need to know my lighting before I can move on is root tabs for plant that root heavily? Or is that for all plants?

Root tabs help establish a root system on new plants, (depending on the plant.) And helps existing plants grow.

I personally got them cause my Amazon sword wasn't looking so good. Since they are heavy rooters, they love the tabs. And are lush green as of today!

The tabs supply most freshwater plants with iron and potassium. It is also safe to use with fish in your tank.

 

[wildroseofky]

Here is a chart I found that was very useful when trying to figure my lights out.

 

[Rivercats]

Both tanks would be low light which could be causing some problems for plants that need higher light. If your getting pin holes in plants that slowly expand you most likely have a potassium deficiency. Your nitrate needs to be 10-20ppm in a planted tank and phosphates .5-2ppm. You need to be using a fert system that supplies both micro and macro nutrients such as dry ferts. Root tabs are only needed for heavy root feeders such as Swords, Crypts, and bulb plants. They provide macro and micro nutrients not just potassium and iron. Ophiopogon gigantea variegated, known as ribbon grass is not an aquatic plant and will eventually rot and die if left submerged.

 

[newbietofishes]

Both tanks would be low light which could be causing some problems for plants that need higher light. If your getting pin holes in plants that slowly expand you most likely have a potassium deficiency. Your nitrate needs to be 10-20ppm in a planted tank and phosphates .5-2ppm. You need to be using a fert system that supplies both micro and macro nutrients such as dry ferts. Root tabs are only needed for heavy root feeders such as Swords, Crypts, and bulb plants. They provide macro and micro nutrients not just potassium and iron. Ophiopogon gigantea variegated, known as ribbon grass is not an aquatic plant and will eventually rot and die if left submerged.

Thank you for that, so what sort of fert would you say will supply that marco and mirco that I need as will need to buy online as it seem the my lfs dont supply them cos im not seeing it on plantamin... and how do I increase my nitrate? Would co2 be needed or not due to low light? And will take out that plant you mention....

 

[Rivercats]

If your in the US then this is the dry ferts I use.... Estimative Index | Aquarium Fertilizer | Green Leaf Aquariums. Using these ferts would give you the macro and micro nutrients you need including nitrates. Using a liquid carbon would be a good thing to use daily also.

 

[newbietofishes]

If your in the US then this is the dry ferts I use.... Estimative Index | Aquarium Fertilizer | Green Leaf Aquariums. Using these ferts would give you the macro and micro nutrients you need including nitrates. Using a liquid carbon would be a good thing to use daily also.

Thanks for that it give me an idea of what im looking for and ill be able to look for something similar in the uk

 

[newbietofishes]

If I was to use the dry fert would I stop using the liquid fert altogether?
Thanks

 

[Krissycakes]

If I was to use the dry fert would I stop using the liquid fert altogether?
Thanks

I use liquid drops and root tab. One for roots, one for leaves.

 

[wildroseofky]

You can stop the liquid ferts if you are using micro and macro dry ferts. Or go ahead and finish off the liquid ferts first and then start the dry.