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Lighting advice - 2' tank

Broomy

Broomy

Member
Joined
14 Nov 2011
Messages
37
Location
Northern Ireland
Hey folks, I've had plants in my tank for about 6 months now but they just aren't thriving for me, a lot have died off & I think my lighting is letting me down. At the minute I have 1 t8 Arcadia tube which came with the tank. I'm adding recommended dose of easycarbo & liquid ferts daily so I'm assuming it's the poor quality of light?

Not sure which plants I have, most were bought from p@h apart from the java moss (even it hasn't grown much) it hasn't even needed trimmed in 6 whole months.

Anyone any tips/advice? Would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers 🙂
 
Broomy said:
Hey folks, I've had plants in my tank for about 6 months now but they just aren't thriving for me, a lot have died off & I think my lighting is letting me down. At the minute I have 1 t8 Arcadia tube which came with the tank. I'm adding recommended dose of easycarbo & liquid ferts daily so I'm assuming it's the poor quality of light?

Not sure which plants I have, most were bought from p@h apart from the java moss (even it hasn't grown much) it hasn't even needed trimmed in 6 whole months.

Anyone any tips/advice? Would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers 🙂
Click to expand...

If I had a £1 for every post like this I would have my ADA setup by now. You most likely have too much light.

Sharing more information will help get to the problem. What size tank, what filteration, how is the flow returned to the tank, how much liquid carbon are you dosing, what ferts are you using and what dosage, what maintenance do you perform, cleaning, filter cleaning and water changes? What is the critter stocking levels?

Most importantly, how long are the lights on for each day?

Also, a picture paints a thousand words.
 
Cheers for the quick reply.

Tanks dimensions are 24" x 18" x 12" filtered by a fluval 2 plus internal. Using dry ferts from apf, the all in one at 8mls daily & easycarbo 2mls daily. W/c 15 litres twice a week. I'll get some pics up tomorrow as I'm on my phone at the mo. Filter sponge is cleaned about once a month, well rinsed in tank water rather than cleaned. Ive an assortment of about 20 various tetras and a bristle nose plec.
 
Sorry, knew I'd missed something. Lights on 6 hours Monday - Friday & weekends 10 hours. Only reason being I'm home & watch the fish.
 
spyder said:
This is inconsistent. You need to have stable, consistent conditions. 6 hours is plenty of light.

A few photos would help trouble shoot further. Photos of struggling plants and any algae present will help.
Click to expand...

Cheers, so 6 hours even with my single T8 15w will be sufficent for lush growth?

Will get a few pics up when I get home, never had any issues with algae at all just some failing plants 🙁

Thanks for the help :thumbup:
 
Cheers for the advice spyder, since your post I've been religious about lights on at 17:00 and off at 23:00 so hopefully I'll see some results in a month or so.

Some pics of the not so lush plants 🙁

56a91a83-a8da-ffea.jpg
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56a91a83-a912-c9e3.jpg
 
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