At a loss as to plant conditions, pls help.

[rabbit]

Alright, I have two tanks side by side, one a 20 gallon (tall I think, it's 23.5" in height) and a 10 gal. Their tops are even (with a support under the 10 gal.)

20 gal has:
A stand of Bacopa moineri, several Vallisneria (or maybe sagitaria subulata. Sold as Val, but hard to tell on the book Im using.) also quite a bit of Java fern on rocks and on a submerged wood and 2 Amazon Sword plants. I've also a very small water lily in there, (a pygmy variety called helvola, only a few leaves on it yet.)
Fish: it has 1 Rubber nose pleco, 1 Dwarf Gourami, 3 chinese algae eaters (about 2" each), 6 Black widow tetras and many MANY snails (gold apples and trumpets).

10 gal has:
A stand of bacopa moinneri, a smallish stand of Cabomba Caroliana, Java fern, a lot of Java moss.
Fish: 6 neons, 6 sparkling gourami, 2 clown loach (about 1") and 7 zebra danio.

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The plants seem to be suffering from lack of light, despite being under a pair of 40 watt flourescents (Both GE products, one 40W Wide spectrum, plant and aquarium and the other full spectrum sunhsine 40W).
The leaves on the java fern are a very light green and their tips are almost transparent, the bacopa has small or stunted leaves that get full the closer to the surface and the cabomba is just not growing at all and is covered in what looks like algae.

I use EXCEL for CO2 and have been using the Kent line of ferts as per directions on bottle.

Anyone have any suggestions as to why the plants look so poor?

 

[savga]

Well it sounds like the java fern is actually doing ok. It is a rather slow grower anyway. The transparent areas at the tips are the growing areas. The leaves only turn darker once they get older. Cabomba is difficult for everyone. It requires very clean water and does better in an established tank. You seem to have a rather large number of fish in your 10 gal. Maybe they provide too many nutrients?

 

[Guest]

Let's clarify this lighting situation, is it 80 watts over the 20, or (as I'm suspecting) a large fixture over both tanks with 80 watts total?

Once that's clarified we may well have some suggestions for you.

 

[rabbit]

Its a large fixture over both tanks, 80 watts total.

As far as the Java fern is concerned, been growing for a while in both tanks. (they're over a year old). Also the Java fern seems to have what looks like a black mold and holes.

 

[Guest]

OK, so you have roughly 1/2 the fixture over the 20 gallon, 40 watts=2 wpg. Thats low/medium-low light. Should be totally fine for the java fern and java moss, not enough for any of the other plants listed. Well maybe the val/sag will handle it, but the others won't do well at best, will croak at worst. You need more light for those other species of plants. They should have 3wpg minimum.

As far as the Java fern is concerned, been growing for a while in both tanks. (they're over a year old). Also the Java fern seems to have what looks like a black mold and holes.

If this is on old leaves, and the mold doesn't rub off with your fingers, it's pretty normal. That is what happens to old Java fern leaves. If it rubs off, you may have a kind of algae growing there. You can clip off the worst looking leaves, which for my java fern seems to stimulate new growth.

Good luck with the Cabomba, I've killed it every time I tried it.

 

[betowess]

You need cool water, proper ferts, and lots of bright 6700k plus light for cabomba.
(a min. of 3 watts per gallon PC)

 

[rabbit]

actually, I have the cabomba growing quite well in warm water in another tank. Apparently all you really need is VERY clean water and LOTS of light. (Which the little tank has apparently).