help with amazon swords

[fishdud]

I have a pair of amazon swords that are growing but the new leaves look like they are already dying. Im using jungle root tabs and a life glo bulb. Any Help?

 

[bsdryder7]

your going to have to give a little more info....

what kind of wattage do you have

how big is the tank

what are your water parameters

 

[fishdud]

36 gallon and 20 watts with 6700 kelvin and as for the water parameters i will do that in a while. i know my ph is 7.5 i think

 

[mfdrookie516]

Thats not enough light for an amazon sword IMO. They need medium light or higher, and that's on the low end of low light.

 

[fishdud]

Ehhh well they were growing just fine, i just noticed that the new leaves are growing in and they just look transparent like if they're already dying.

 

[bsdryder7]

because of your low wattage for your tank.....go to plantgeek.net and they show you what kind of plants will work with low light tanks

 

[fishdud]

Well recommend on anything i will need? im using plain gravel and root tabs

 

[bsdryder7]

if i were you i would upgrade your light to atleast 1.5 to 2 watts per gallon and you can grow a good amount of plants you would be aroung low/med to med lighting

 

[fishdud]

What light would you recommend for me? and grr i was told that the light i have now was good for plants cause the stock light that came with the aquarium grew my last swords good but died cause i left the light off cause i was outta state.

 

[bsdryder7]

well a t5ho fixture with 6500 to 10000k bulbs.......thats what most people have

 

[fishdud]

But I thought its what the Kelvin thing really mattered? Mine is 6700.

 

[mfdrookie516]

No, wattage and reflectors are far more important. The kelvin rating is just the visible color of the light. The spectrums in the bulb are the reason that 6500k-10,000k bulbs are usually recommended, because they typically have the correct spectrums. But, if you don't have enough light, it doesn't matter about the color temp.

 

[fishdud]

Well reason I asked is cause I don't wanna have TOO much of lighting and have algae. I just got done fighting algae and don't wanna Go through it again..