# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Is photosynthesis visible? Why do my plants not grow?



## Jaap (Jun 24, 2005)

Hello people....greate forum. After the following setup I donnot see any significant change in the health of my plants after 3 days of doing so. Not many bubbles on my plant leaves indicating photosynthesis.

My setup: I had this tank for 4 years and neglected it the last 3 years due to overseas studying. Now that I am back I am reviving it.

30 gallon tank
added tropiflora fertiliser 
900l/h filter
DIY CO2 bottle
no fish yet, just a few snails 
two 25 watt each plant promoting fluarascent lamps (red)
one 25 watt blue marine fluaroscent lamp 
=> therefore 3 flueroscent lamps of total 75 watts 
gravel and substrate (don't know what kind) which is 4 years old.
tank dimensions 75cm long, 45cm deep, 40cm width

During the years I neglected the tank, I made water changes and the filtration was always on with no fish in the tank. 
The plants in my tank are of 2 kinds only which I don't know the name. One is short and has brown leaves and the other grows long green leaves. It seems they both have minimum requirements because they are the only plants that servived these years.

What do you reccomend for me to do in order to start the growth and repopulation of my tank with healthy green plants? 

PS: I didn't buy any other plants since I would like to make sure that I Know how to treat these first. If these plants grow well then I will buy more "spectacular" ones.

Thanks people sorry for teh long message.


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

Jaap,

The short brown plant is almost certainly a Cryptocoryne. There are many kinds of Cryptocoryne. It's hard to say what the plant with long green leaves might be.

Any plant that will live in an aquarium with minimum care is likely to be a very conservative plant. Certainly the Cryptocoryne fits that description.

Cryptocoryne and other conservative plants usually grow slowly and won't show a lot of active bubbling under most conditions. If that is what you want to see then you need to add faster growing plants, like many stem plants. Hygrophilla polysperma would be a good choice.


Roger Miller


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

> two 25 watt each plant promoting fluarascent lamps (red)
> one 25 watt blue marine fluaroscent lamp
> => therefore 3 flueroscent lamps of total 75 watts


i'm not entirely sure that your lighting is enough. are these bulbs several years old? also, what do you mean by (red) does the light coming out look red? does it have a rating such as 6700k or 10,000k printed on the bulb?


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## Jaap (Jun 24, 2005)

Thanks for answering my post.

Roger Miller:
The one plant it seems you have recognised. The other long green one is probably a Sagittaria graminea. For the first plant you are correct that it grows slowly but for Saggitaria graminea I am sure that it grows faster because the same plant populated the entire aquarium within weeks under these circumstances.

Russel:
Now for the fluerescent lamps:
I have one Arcadia Marine Blue Actinic 25 watts and two Arcadia 25 watts each Original Tropical Lamp. Information which I do not understand for these two lamps russel are given at http://www.arcadia-uk.com/en/120fluorescentlamps.html

Thanks again for helping out....I mostly appreciate it.


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## Ben C (Apr 16, 2006)

4 years is pretty old for a substrate too. You might be better off (in terms of knowing the conditions you are working with) by starting again. It sounds drastic, but substrates DO lose their fertility, and if everything else is set up perfectly, this could be your limiting factor. If you used new substrate, you would know that at least the substrate is ok, and work from there.

for some background reading on everything, which i recommend you try, click

http://www.rexgrigg.com/

and take your time learning lots of stuff!


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

Ummm. I have substrates that are 17 years old. The fertility of gravel substrates increase up to a point with age. Other substrates may or may not lose fertility over time. That depends on whether they are fertile to start with. If they aren't fertile to start with (like Flourite) then they will also tend to gain fertility over time.

Jaap, you have enough light, but actinic lamps are not normally used in planted tanks. They are for maintaining marine tanks with corals. Plants do use blue light, so it isn't a complete loss.

Most Saggittarea are still fairly conservative plants. They grow will under low light and adapt well to conditions without CO2. They can spread quickly and populate a lot of space but they don't grow as fast as many stem plants and you aren't likely to see a lot of bubbling from them.


Roger Miller


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## Hawkeye (Aug 20, 2004)

You need new bulbs even if they where the right bulbs for growing (They are not) The age of the bulbs are useless for plant growth. You need to replace them with a 6700K, 6500K or 9325K for best plant growth.

What are the rest of your water parameters? PH, KH, KO3, and PO4? How long do you leave lights on? How do you inject CO2? 

Your substrate will be OK but I would do a really good gravel suck.

Hawk


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

> Originally posted by Hawkeye:
> You need new bulbs even if they where the right bulbs for growing (They are not) The age of the bulbs are useless for plant growth. You need to replace them with a 6700K, 6500K or 9325K for best plant growth.


Hawkeye, I've read this advice before -- from others, not just from you -- and I've held my tongue. I going to say it now. That is wrong.

Jaap does not need lights with 6700K, 6500K or 9325K color temps. Plants grow very well with lights over a wide range of specifications. We choose lights mostly on wattage and on their appearance to our eyes. As long as it's bright enough the plants aren't picky about the light.

I don't know if Jaap's existing lights are too old or not. I re-read the letters and didn't find anywhere he said how old the lamps are.

I'm growing several Cryptocoryne and Saggittaria subulata along with a little Bacopa caroliniana in a 38 gallon tank with 60 watts of normal output 5000K lighting and no CO2. The plants are healthy but they don't put out bubbles.

If I wanted the tank to bubble I would increase the light to something more than 1.6 watts/gallon -- 2.5 watts/gallon should be fine -- and I would add plants that are more likely to bubble. I would also make sure the plant density was high, the CO2 level was good, the plants were well supplied with nutrients and there wasn't too much agitation in the tank.

Roger Miller


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## imported_BSS (Apr 14, 2004)

Jaap - where you want to go with this will depend on lot on what your goals are. As your current setup seems to be more conservative, as Roger has pointed out, you might want to see if you can track down any Anubias varieties of plants. I've heard them called the 'plastic plants that grow'. Much like the crypts, they seem to tolerate a wide variety of conditions, and IMO, they are very attractive too. If you can find a 'nana' variety, they tend to stay a bit smaller and you can do some interesting things with them.

So, where do you want to go with this? High-tech, high maint with lots of bubbles







? Or lower-tech, less maint and good slow, steady growth? As they say, pick your poison







!

Good luck, however you choose,
Brian.


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## Hawkeye (Aug 20, 2004)

I stand corrected. 
I assumed that a neglected tank over four years would have four year old bulbs. The substrate in a neglected tank with a small amount of plant load would have all kinds of bad stuff in the substrate. I recommended 6700K, 6500K or 9325K color temps because these are what I use to grow plants and if I had to replace bulbs these would be my choice. Sorry if I mislead anyone.

Hawk


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## Jaap (Jun 24, 2005)

My fluorescent lamps are brand new....I change them every 6-8 months. I would like to go with a lower-tech, less maint and good slow, steady growth kind of setup. The thing is that I don't really see any improvement in plant growth and health. I also have no test for KO3 and PO4 to check them. I insert CO2 with a DIY bottle and an airstone. Probably the CO2 levels wouldn't be that low. I have a kH of 11 and a pH of 7.5 and I am sure I am inserting CO2. I also added Tropiflora from Waterlife, PlanZenGold-7 and V30 from DENNERLE.


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## feefeefish (Apr 5, 2004)

I would think getting some fish would be good for your plants because they would provide fertilizer for the plants.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Over the years I have read conflicting information from experts about how the color of the light affects plant growth. Regardless, I believe a full spectrum light is a bright white light that really brings out the colors of the fish and plants. Actinic-blue lights look horrible.

If you want slow growing plants, then do not expect to see major growth for a few months. "Slow" and "fast" is all relative to what you expect and are used to seeing. I have Cryptocoryne blassi that have not grown much in over a year.

This is where Jaap is getting his info from, the Arcadia WEB site:

• Accentuates reds and blues
• Optimum light for photosynthesis
• Promotes plant growth 

It is not possIt is not possible for fluorescent lamps to exactly replicate sunlight, which covers all areas of the spectrum at very high levels of output. Most lamps can actually achieve only a very small proportion of this light output, across a part of the spectrum. 

Arcadia have identified the precise parts of the spectrum that are necessary for specific aspects of fishkeeping and have produced a series of lamps with spectral distributions designed to fulfil these requirements and optimise the available light output in these areas. 

The Arcadia Original Tropical lamp is designed specifically to bring out the red and blue peaks of natural daylight that are necessary for photosynthesis. (Photosynthesis is the process of putting together - by means of light - two simple substances: carbon dioxide and water, to form carbohydrates, the basic food of all living organisms, and to release oxygen as a by-product). 



The spectrum created also has the effect of highlighting the fluorescent features of fish such as neon and cardinal tetras, platys and guppies, bringing out and enhancing their highly attractive natural colours, making them appear to shine even more brightly. 

The lamp tends to have a purple/pinkish tinge, which creates a very warm appearance in the aquarium, which many aquarists are familiar with. 

The two wavebands which optimise both photosynthesis and chlorophyll synthesis have been enhanced in the Arcadia Original Tropical lamp. The effect of these wavebands is to actively promote healthy and well-balanced plant growth. The lamp also has the effect of bringing out the red and brown colours which often occur in aquarium plants such as ludwigia.


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