More questions on lighting

[POTSHOT]

I have a 29g bowfront, running T5HO tubes; 2ea 5500K, 2ea 10000K. The 5500s run a good 9-10hrs and the 10000s run about 2hrs. No CO2 (yet). Using complete Floursh chem set incl. Excel. Fairly heavely planted in eco-complete. Fish: 1 pleco (3.5" and 6 neons).
Chem dosing regiem is 5ml Excel 2x/da, nitrogen, potassium, phospherous 3x/wk and trace minerials 1x/week.
To the problem (finally)... Being a newbee to the planted tank world, I forgot to write down the plant species provided by LFS. Some are doing fine while others a growing tall but the bottom leaves are now gone and the top leaves are rather brown. Others, grass' are barely hanging in there yet a tiger lotus seems to be doing fine.
I guess this is a multi-question first being is my lighting right and secondly, is the chemical regiment right. BTW: water chemistry running dKH=8, PO=1.5, NO3=10-12, pH=8. Tap water here is pretty hard.
I hope this isn't TMI but most others seem to leave out the vitals that just prompt for more details.
All recommendations highly appreciated since I'm still learning. I'd be happy to post a few pics if it would help.

 

[mommytron]

pictures would definitely help, as specific needs vary from plant to plant. how many watts is each tube? are they 24 watt tubes? if so that is a TON of light, possibly way too much. with high light like that you could be burning your plants (you said they are brown at the top?). also when you get into high lighting, CO2 is really a necessity to keep everything in balance.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

pictures would definitely help, as specific needs vary from plant to plant. how many watts is each tube? are they 24 watt tubes? if so that is a TON of light, possibly way too much. with high light like that you could be burning your plants (you said they are brown at the top?). also when you get into high lighting, CO2 is really a necessity to keep everything in balance.

+1

Anything that heavily planted/lit/ferts needs co2 (a lot IMO). There's planted tank stickies that should help you out, also plantgeek.net for plant ID and system setup info too.

 

[POTSHOT]

Thanks for the quick reply! Geez.. it's 9:50pm PDT.. pretty late in Vermont so I appreciate your addiction mommytron! Anyway, yes they are all 24w so 96w total when running all but most of the hours are at 48w. Mr. Limpet, I've read a lot of your responses..big help! As a beginner I'm hesitant to dive into CO2 esp. injected and the cost assoc. with it. However, it sounds like I need to do something other than depend on Excel only. In general what do you think of the pure chemistry solution? Should I be looking into under root pellet type? If I go that route is the Flourish regiem still necessary. I can see the current method as getting fairly expensive to sustain.
Regarding lighting... should I cut back on the exposure (hours) and/or cut out using the 10Ks altogether?

 

[mommytron]

absolutely cut back the exposure. without CO2, i would only run 2 of your bulbs for like 6-8 hours a day tops. that's it. with that much light and no CO2, your tank is begging for an algae outbreak. also, if your plants are gettting too much light without other nutrients to balance it out, they will die (like it sounds like they are doing )

not sure what you mean by "under root pellet type" ferts. but when you're not running CO2, chances are you aren't going to need ferts.

so until you feel a little more comfortable, and are ready to take on CO2, cut your lights WAY back.

also, try to post some pics. we can try to help ID your plants, so you can then research them and see what needs each plant has, then go from there. plus, we like pics

and LMAO!!! no prob, i am a bit addicted. you're welcome

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Thanks for the quick reply! Geez.. it's 9:50pm PDT.. pretty late in Vermont so I appreciate your addiction mommytron! Anyway, yes they are all 24w so 96w total when running all but most of the hours are at 48w. Mr. Limpet, I've read a lot of your responses..big help! As a beginner I'm hesitant to dive into CO2 esp. injected and the cost assoc. with it. However, it sounds like I need to do something other than depend on Excel only. In general what do you think of the pure chemistry solution? Should I be looking into under root pellet type? If I go that route is the Flourish regiem still necessary. I can see the current method as getting fairly expensive to sustain.
Regarding lighting... should I cut back on the exposure (hours) and/or cut out using the 10Ks altogether?

There's a lot of plants that are heavy root feeders and need tabs. I know what you mean about co2, but IMO you're in a situation that if you don't add it, some plants may not survve much longer. Rookie and fort are experts on co2 and they can help you out better than I. Following them is what keeps my green (wet) thumb in check, so I'm not spending more time on plants than fishies lol. I think cutting back on some lights might help, but with all the ferts I'm not sure.

First thing I would do is go to plantgeek and try to ID as many plants as possible. Pics are always a big help too .

 

[POTSHOT]

OK... finally getting back to this and posting some pics although they are not great. I've cut back to just running the 5500Ks for 6 hours. Hopefully it's not too late.
See what you think of the plant condition. Greatful for any other comments on anything else you see as well.
BTW - I found the thread from rookie and the CO2 gear combo at eseasongear. That's more like it price-wise. I'm asking for an Easter present

 

[bsdryder7]

also your grasses ...vails and anachris will melt with flourish excel........trust me lol i cut it out and there comming back

 

[Mr. Limpet]

OK... finally getting back to this and posting some pics although they are not great. I've cut back to just running the 5500Ks for 6 hours. Hopefully it's not too late.
See what you think of the plant condition. Greatful for any other comments on anything else you see as well.
BTW - I found the thread from rookie and the CO2 gear combo at eseasongear. That's more like it price-wise. I'm asking for an Easter present

Looks pretty good from what I can see. If you get some die off, it's better to remove it or it'll rot and mess with your water quality. So you have the co2 ordered and on the way? .

 

[POTSHOT]

Well... not quite...I have a small selling job to do. Unfortunately the pics don't show much detail specifically the browning.
Cut out EXCEL completely... with no other source of carbon... really?

 

[Mr. Limpet]

Well... not quite...I have a small selling job to do. Unfortunately the pics don't show much detail specifically the browning.
Cut out EXCEL completely... with no other source of carbon... really?

Cut out the brown stuff is my suggestion. I pre-mix Excel with a gallon of tank water and my vals/anacharis do just fine. I also don't dose what seachem says too, I do 1/2 dosing.

 

[bsdryder7]

well i just know anachris,any vails will melt and die but all other plants are good so if u dont have any your in the clear

 

[bsdryder7]

Cut out the brown stuff is my suggestion. I pre-mix Excel with a gallon of tank water and my vals/anacharis do just fine. I also don't dose what seachem says too, I do 1/2 dosing.

if your half dosing its prob such a low dose that its not affecting your plants wich means its not doing anything......mf and fort told me if you dont dose excel what is says everyday you might as well not even waste your money but then again im just going by what ive been told and if its working for you then more power to ya

 

[Mr. Limpet]

if your half dosing its prob such a low dose that its not affecting your plants wich means its not doing anything......mf and fort told me if you dont dose excel what is says everyday you might as well not even waste your money but then again im just going by what ive been told and if its working for you then more power to ya

My fluorescent (bright) green Anacharis in 3 tanks will beg to differ with you lol. I only have vals in one tank and getting off shoots all over.

Of course I don't always listen to what I'm told, so that could be my problem .

 

[mommytron]

it's hard to make out a lot of the plants against the background you have, but I think I see Ludwigia repens and pretty sure those are dwarf sags in the front. I think I may even see java fern? the tank looks pretty nice actually I don't see any anacharis or vals so I wouldn't worry about the excel harming anything. just keep dosing what you are, and keep the lights cut back. looks good!

 

[bsdryder7]

My fluorescent (bright) green Anacharis in 3 tanks will beg to differ with you lol. I only have vals in one tank and getting off shoots all over.

Of course I don't always listen to what I'm told, so that could be my problem .

well i might try this half dose since i still have half a bottle left

 

[POTSHOT]

You all are running CO2, right? The Seachem folks just say excel compliments injected CO2 but with out CO2 ya gotta have some source of carbon.
As for the plant types, that's the problem not sure what they all are. I went to plantgeek to try to ID them but there are many that look so similar. I know I have wisteria, some sort of rotala, I think L. replens is right, two different "grasses" or microsword and cabomba carolina. That's as much as I could ID. I'd really like to know what the long thin leaf plant is... it goes VERY fast and is this only one that is really doing well. Oh, I forgot the tiger lotus which also seems to be doing pretty good.