# Plants not looking so good.



## Huds21 (Sep 18, 2013)

I have a fairly new 55 gallon tank that is planted. I am having some trouble with the look of the plants. They are growing but I do not think they are growing like they should be, they are turning a little brownish and are starting to look wilted. In the tank there are 3 narrow leaf anacharis, 2 wisteria, 2 water sprites, and 2 rotala indicas. I am using one coral life dual t5 light, which are on about 12 hours a day. Any suggestions and or tips on how to perk them up?


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Pictures of the affected plants are needed.

Anacharis doesn't do well in high temperatures.

Are you using T5 HO or just T5? How many watts? Do the lights have individual reflectors?


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## Huds21 (Sep 18, 2013)

I am using the 48''Dual T5 light by coralife. One bulb is a 6700k 28w, the other being a colormax lamp which is also 28w, it also has a ballast. The temperature of my water is about 77 degrees. If you need any other photos let me know.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Colormax tubes put out almost no light that is useful to plants. When I measured them with a PAR it was almost like the fixture was not turned on! So as far as the plants are concerned, you are only running one tube. This is not enough over a 55 gallon.

Get another 6700K tube or even a generic "daylight" tube from the hardware store.


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## Huds21 (Sep 18, 2013)

They sell 6700k 28w and also a 1000k 28w.Would it be better to get another 6700k or should I get two different ones?


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## j03yyung (Sep 16, 2013)

Are you dosing anything in the tank?


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## Huds21 (Sep 18, 2013)

I have put in some fertilizer pellets, but I don't remember what the name was. I thought I kept the bag but I guess I didn't. It was what the guy at the lfs recommended. I am not using any co2.


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

Your plants look very pale. I think the fertilizer pellets are not enough for the plants to live from. How long have they been in there. Perhaps adding more/new will help a little. Even better is to at least dose traces, because they are always short. Two other major plant nutrients are nitrogen and phosphor. When your tank has enough fauna and you supply them enough food, sometimes it is not needed to dose these but the more plants to fish you put in the more likely they are in short supply as well. Easiest is to measure them or let your lfs measure for NO3 and PO4. If they are low you can add them. 

About the light, they are probably not enough in the long run as Michael said, but with enough nutrients they can use the available light better. Good luck!


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## Huds21 (Sep 18, 2013)

Most of the plants have been in there a month or so. would a liquid fertilizer work better for these plants?
About the fish to plant ratio I have six tiger barbs three odessa barbs, three golden barbs, one julli cory cat, one emerald green cat, two zebra loaches two zebra danios, and one l001 pleco


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

I agree with Michael. The plants look starved for light. You need to get more on there. Even if both bulbs worked correctly and put out their max PAR ratings I thing you'd struggle to grow plants. 2x28w is fine for tanks shorter than about 10" but your 55 is 18" tall and this reduces the light intensity significantly.


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## Huds21 (Sep 18, 2013)

ok so how much more light should I get and what lights would you recommend?


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## Huds21 (Sep 18, 2013)

ok how much more light do I need and what you're of lights should I look at.


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## Huds21 (Sep 18, 2013)

sorry didn't think that first one sent


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

I've had good results with 2x55w (110 watts) of power compact light from AHSupply.com (gives medium light). You might also be able to light the entire tank with 1x54 watt T5 high output (gives medium light), but you'd need to be sure you buy a quality T5HO fixture with individual polished German reflectors. A lot of T5HO fixtures are junk, so maybe niko or Michael can give you specifics on brands/where to buy T5HO light if you want to go that route. As for me I'm happy with my AHSupply lights.


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## Huds21 (Sep 18, 2013)

I have been looking at these T5 HO fixtures. If I got a 2x54w fixture with 2 6700k bulbs plus the fixture I already have 2x28 T5 would I have enough for my tank or would that be to much. I would then be running 164 watts. And another question what ids the difference between the 6700k and 1000k and wick one would benefit my tank more?


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

You would definitely be in the medium-high to high light category and would have enough light to grow all aquatic plants. If you can afford it go with 2x54w of T5HO it will pay off in better looking plants and more choices in the long run.

The difference between 6700 and 10,000 K bulbs isn't too much, the 10 k's look more blue and the 6700's look more green/red. Its a personal choice. I usually run with about 25% 10,000K and the rest either 6500 or 6700, it makes the plants and fish look better to my eyes. You just don't want to use actinic bulbs or anything below 5000k because those bulbs tend to have more unusable wavelengths of light.


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## Huds21 (Sep 18, 2013)

alright cool I will definitely get some more lights, and I should probably switch out that color max bulb to at 6700k.


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## Huds21 (Sep 18, 2013)

now if I do bump up the lights am I going to have to start thinking about adding co2 in my tank?


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Its a good idea to pair high lights with CO2. You don't necessarily need CO2 though, if you keep your lighting duration a bit shorter you can probably balance it out.


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## Huds21 (Sep 18, 2013)

alright I guess I'll start looking into that, any suggestions on where to start?


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