Aquarium Moss Questions

[fishman793]

Alright, as stupid as it sounds..... for whatever reason I'm having trouble with my moss. I have anchor moss mixed with some Taiwan. I used to have anchor, flame and Taiwan. I originally had the anchor moss and it did great so I went ahead and got Taiwan and Flame because I liked the anchor moss so much. I had to trim it to protect my red tiger lotuses. Then all of the sudden all of the moss sorta just started falling apart. I have no clue why. I wasn't even dosing ferts all that much then and now I do it on a regular schedule. Plus I believe my lights are better then they were then. Im looking to do a 30 gallon tank for fun with my 2 angels in it. I want to do a amazon sword in case they breed and I want to have a lot of moss.
Tank Specs:
30 gallon tall
2 twenty watt bulbs
Dirt capped with small to medium gravel
Ferts:
Every other day I dose Seachem Excel
Weekly I dose Flourish and Iron
I am thinking of buying another light strip to get some more light or if you guys have any suggestions for good bulbs I would be happy to hear them. I don't completely understand the lighting side of the planted aquarium.
Thanks for the help!

 

[maxwellag]

What kind of bulb is it? Do you know what the color temperature is? Is the moss dying and falling apart, or are pieces breaking off that are still alive?

 

[fishman793]

I am pretty sure that they are 6k bulbs. I know they are Foster's and Smith bulbs. They were labeled for plants. I know you cant rely on labels to tell you if they are good or not but I checked the bulb's specs and they seemed good to me. BUT, I only have limited knowledge on the lighting side of the planted aquarium. Its time for me to change them out soon so if you have any suggestions for bulbs I would appreciate that.
Originally when the moss was doing so well, pieces would break off that were still alive and I assumed that was good but I always wished it would just keep growing and not break off. Now it still does that sometimes but its starting to fall apart and die more and more.

 

[maxwellag]

What kind of light fixture is it? Are the lights tubes, or screw in spiral bulbs?

 

[fishman793]

They are tubes. And what do you mean by what kind of light fixture? How much wattage it can handle?

 

[maxwellag]

They are tubes. And what do you mean by what kind of light fixture? How much wattage it can handle?

No, I mean like what kind of bulbs it uses. How wide (diameter) are the bulbs?

 

[fishman793]

Sorry, the bulbs are actually 24 watts. I don't know the diameter but the length is 22" or 559 mm.

 

[maxwellag]

Can you estimate or measure the diameter? That's really all I need to know to be able to tell what kind of bulb (T5, T8, T12) it uses.

 

[fishman793]

Oh. That's what you need to know? I cant believe I forgot to put T5 in the original post. Im sorry. They are both T5s.

 

[fishman793]

Sorry about that.

 

[maxwellag]

Oh, ok. Then the moss should be growing just fine... do you know if the pieces that break off are dead or alive?

 

[fishman793]

Most of the time it is dead. But the rest of the time its alive but it doesn't really grow. I don't understand why im having trouble because my setup has only gotten better.