New leaves on elodea / anubias are small...

[koraldon]

Hi,
I have noticed that new growth on my elodea and anubias have small length (third of the length)
The other plants are the same - hygrophilia , amazon sword, crypts, cabomba...

I fertilize excel every day, flourish and pottasium twice a week
aquarium is Juwel Rio125 with 4 18W bulbs, 8 hours of lighting.
Water changes every two weeks.
Nitrate - 10ppm
Phospate -2 ppm


Am I missing something?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

[BigFlusher]

I have seen this I generally have associated the smaller leaves with too much light. Almost like the plant is trying to grow too fast.

On the other hand the nitrates seem low...

Joe

 

[Gerryd]

Hi,

IMO Way too much light and no c02....It is only 30 gals or so...and 64 watts

I would remove 2 of the bulbs to start with but keep a good spread of light over the tank...

The high light will REQUIRE a high demand for c02 and other nutrients which are not provided, causing limitation issues.

What type of substrate?

Give a couple weeks for the plants to adjust to the new lighting levels....

Hope this helps.

 

[koraldon]

Hi Gerry,
So you recommend to reduce the ligth to 48W ?
the aquarium is 125 liter net, 146 liter gross

The substrate is simple with some tetra initialsticks. sadly i didn't put in anything fancy.

Thanks

 

[DaBub]

I am sadly, not Gerry, just a poor barefooted pilgrim, waif of a girl.

So what I say may be of no interest.

The light is high, reducing it will help.

As uncle Joe points out your nutrient levels seem low. With little help from the substrate you need more nutrients in the water column.

 

[Gerryd]

Hi,

Yes, I recommend lowering the light to 36w (2 x 18w) and see how that goes.

If you are NOT using c02 or excel this still may be too much but you will have to see how it goes.

Are you planning on c02 or excel?

 

[Gerryd]

I am sadly, not Gerry

Dabub,

Being Gerry is not all that you may have heard

Why would you want to be me?????? LOL

koraldon,

No worries on the substrate. I and many others use inert material that doesn't really 'do' much.

Are you going to dose ferts at all or c02?

 

[koraldon]

Hi All,
I do use excel, 2cc per day.
I will reduce my lighting regime to the following
First 2 lamps from 11:30 to 19:00 (7.5 hours)
Second 2 lamps from 13:30 to 21:00 (7.5 hours)

Overall the average light on the aquarium will be like 3 bulbs, if i calculate correctly.
Will this suffice?

Thanks.

 

[Gerryd]

Hi,

Not sure how that schedule is reducing the light. You still have 7.5 hours where BOTH sets are on (13:30-19:00), as far as I can tell.

Just use TWO bulbs for 7-8 hours period and see how that goes................

It more than suffices which is what I am trying to point out.......

Up to you how much you use, but you seem focused on more is better and that is not the case with light and no c02.....at least IME/IMO

You may want to try the following to give more viewing time... is what I do

On 14:30 off 20:00 on 20:45 off 23:30 Just use two bulbs but use those that give the best spread of light over the tank, or at least the areas you intend to plant..

All this is just my opinion of course. Feel free to ignore it..........