Plants still not thriving

[Millerman]

So I know you guys must get sick of dealing with helping people solve their plant problems but I'm new to plants and I'm clueless still. My tank isn't looking how I wanted and kinda looks like crud. My plants aren't really thriving and just surviving. I can sure farm the hair algea and diatoms though.

So here's my setup
55 gallon tank
I have 4 6500k t8 bulbs in shop lights resting on the glass ( I feel like a lot of light is escaping and am going to try to build some type of light reflector)
Dose excel daily/every other day(plan on upgrading to pressurized after Christmas and still supplement with excel and metricide)
Dose flourish weekly
Added root tabs 2 weeks ago getting more soon

Plants:
Amazon sword
Anubias nana
Dwarf hairgrass ( I feel for it like every other beginner, can I still grow it with my set up?)
Java fern
Water wisteria

 

[Millerman]

I guess my question is what is holding my plants back. The water wisteria is growing good and my anubias has sent up two leaves.
My Java fern hasn't done anything, my Amazon sword leaves turned brown so I trimmed them and they grew these stubby 1/2-1 inch leaves and haven't done anything since, and my dwarf hairgrass is not spreading at all but it's still green.

 

[Mattfinn]

Hey don't stress you're new to plants. I'm more obsessed about the plants then the fish....and I've only been in the planted scene since Easter. My main problem is that I'm always sticking my hand in there....

How long are your lights on for?
I am not really familiar with light specs. From what I read on the forum though most people find the T8s to not give enough light output. It would be enough I assume to grow the sword, wisteria and all but not the hairgrass.

Sometimes just fiddling around with the time of your lights being on can solve everything.

I recently solved a constant diatoms problem by cranking my timer up for an extra 1.5hours and the nutrient to light ratio caught up enough for the plants.

Also have you placed a root tab directly underneath the sword? Give it time the plant may only be young so it's not going to produce mega leaves. My sword has slowly started to produce bigger leaves.

 

[Millerman]

I try to keep the lights on for around 8 hours, i'm getting a timer soon though

 

[Mattfinn]

Ok that's probably wise you get a timer. It's hard to keep a constant cycle for the plants and also fish over day and night. 8 hours may actually be too long as well. Try starting at 6-6.5 and increasing by half hour. Algae should go away too.

 

[Brookster123]

That's not a whole lot of light on a 24" tall tank. It may physically take up a lot of space but par is King and you have a pawn. Luckily most of your plants will be fine under said pawn, the dhg.. forget it.. chuck it or upgrade. I have it in a high tech tank...still not where i want it to be... do you add ferts? Root tabs? How long the lights on?

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[Sk3lly]

T8 fixtures give very low light levels.

Low light levels mean less energy for plants.

Less energy for plants results in slow growth.

Remember the further the light travels through water, the more energy is dispersed. Hence why its dark at the bottoms of oceans. Hairgrass needs a lot of light to start with as its at the bottom of the tank.

Pressurised co2 will be a waste of time for you as the plants growing at such a slow rate will not need it.

Upgrade lighting and youll get an improvement


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[reign]

I second all these infoz. ^ get an LED strip or quad t5HO fixture. If you're going to use excel, I also suggest getting the biggest bottle available to save on costs, but if you upgrade your light, pressurized co2 will save you money in the end. Remember, you don't need max co2, even introducing a little extra into the tank will be helpful.

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[philipraposo198]

You need fertilizer. Npk and micros. Look up ei method.

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[BBradbury]

Your Tank

Hello Mill...

Shop lighting is great. Inexpensive and you have the right spectrum in the 6500K bulbs a couple could be 10,000K. Plants appreciate a combination of different lighting. But, what you have is fine.

That's a lot of fertilizer. Chemicals in the tank water is asking for water chemistry problems. If you have easy, undemanding plants, you don't need all those fertilizers. Just go with what the fish produce, it's really the best. Your fish will appreciate the improved water chemistry. Change out the tank water regularly and the plants will get the minerals they need and feed the fish a variety of flaked, freeze dried and some frozen. If you want to use fertilizer, go with Seachem's Comprehensive and dose a capful only when you change the water.

I'd say change out some plants too. Hair grass is high light. Replace it with Anubias nana. The green grass like effect will be similar. Water wisteria is best grown floating, but it either does really well or looks poorly. Put in Hornwort or Anacharis instead. These are hardier plants. Just drop in some individual stems.

Just some suggestions, though. You're the head water keeper.

B

 

[Mebbid]

Wow, soo many haters for your lights. I am going to say that your lights are very likely perfectly fine for your tank. On a 21" tank 4 t8 bulbs is still a lot of light despite them being t8s.

I am going to agree with philipraposo on this one. The flourish line of ferts are junk. Instead go with either EI or PPS pro dosing routines for your tank. I personally use PPS pro but have used EI in the past and both work very well.

 

[Caliban07]

Wow, soo many haters for your lights. I am going to say that your lights are very likely perfectly fine for your tank. On a 21" tank 4 t8 bulbs is still a lot of light despite them being t8s.



I am going to agree with philipraposo on this one. The flourish line of ferts are junk. Instead go with either EI or PPS pro dosing routines for your tank. I personally use PPS pro but have used EI in the past and both work very well.

+1 didn't want to say as I'm still learning but from what I've grasped so far it sounds like a fert issue rather than light.


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[Millerman]

Ok, so I'm getting a little bit mixed reviews do you guys think I have enough light? Where could I get a par meter for cheap? I'm going to try the ei or pps pro once my flourish runs out. Would running pressurized on my tank not even benefit(I was planing on only running it on 1-2bps and getting some Metricide)

 

[Mebbid]

Ok, so I'm getting a little bit mixed reviews do you guys think I have enough light? Where could I get a par meter for cheap? I'm going to try the ei or pps pro once my flourish runs out. Would running pressurized on my tank not even benefit(I was planing on only running it on 1-2bps and getting some Metricide)

With the light, people aren't sure. Nobody uses T8 lights on planted tanks anymore so the information really isn't out there on what works with them. I am positive you can grow medium light plants with those lights. The DHG on the other hand, I am not sure, i'd give it 50/50 if the lights are powerful enough.

With your fertilizer situation the way it is, I doubt that co2 would really help. The algae is very likely growing because you have a lack of proper fertilization. To keep a healthy planted tank you need a balanced mix of carbon, ferts, and light. When one of them is out of whack then algae grows and the plants suffer.

 

[Millerman]

Lol, all I can say about my lights is they were cheap and I only spent around 60 including bulbs. If I swapped one shoplight out for a led would that get me better growth. Can leds reach the bottom of a 24" tank?

 

[Mebbid]

Lol, all I can say about my lights is they were cheap and I only spent around 60 including bulbs. If I swapped one stoplight out for a led would that get me better growth. Can leds reach the bottom of a 24" tank?

A standard 55g is only 21" tall

LEDs can work, but it's pricy to start. Expect to pay $200+ for one fixture that will fit a 55.

Also, you might have missed it because we were typing at the same time, but I put a reply up the same time you did

 

[reign]

Finnex ray 2 should get you medium lighting on that depth.
Also fairly inexpensive. Probably near 130 for you in the states.

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[Millerman]

And is the flourish comprehensive really that bad? What would you guys do? What if I mixed my t8 with t5?

 

[Mebbid]

Finnex ray 2 should get you medium lighting on that depth.
Also fairly inexpensive. Probably near 130 for you in the states.

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The flourish is good for a low light tank. Other than that, it's pretty useless. The nutrients in an aquarium get used up rather quickly which is why the pps pro and EI methods require daily dosing compared to the flourishes once to twice a week. Add in the fact that the flourish adds nitrate into your tank and it's just not an effective fertilizer.

Again, the problem isn't your lights. The algae is 100% a prime indicator of this. Algae grows because there is too much light in relation to fertilizers and carbon in your tank. You're dosing excel which should take care of the carbon in the tank which leaves the fertilizers.

 

[Millerman]

Sorry I'm just a little confused so I have my lights on too long but it isn't intense enough to carpet dhg