So its been a few weeks now and i have since turned the lights down to only 2 55w CF bulbs for 9hrs a day. I dose the 60-80 EI method and do weekly water changes. Some of the plants are doing great. Such as cambomba, my crypts, the star grass that grows soo fast, the sunset hygro and some low growing grass. However a few of the plants are doing terrible. The blanx japonica doesent seem to be growing it all, i planted about 20+ stems and there are only 4-5 left that didnt die. Also my hc has all but died or vanished. All 3 of my ludwiga species are dying out. The ones that float to the surface have a clear base, seems like it melted off or something else caused it to dissapear. I had verticula, inclinata, and one other that i cant think of. So what could be the issue? Im really bumbed that the plants that i like seeing the most are dieing out.

Thanks.

You didn't mention CO2. How are you providing that?

sorry injected via 5lbs tank, into a DIY inline Barr reactor. Have drop checkers on either side of the tank, they are constantly green. 60gal tank

I used to grow blyxa japonica very easily and it grew even more than I appreciated. When I reduced the light wattage it quit on me. I also added 3 Yoyo Loaches at that time, and noticed them grazing on the growing centers of the blyxa, so I assumed it was the loaches that caused my problem. I just gave up using that plant.

Now, I'm wondering if you might not have enough light for it. When it grew well for me I had 110 watts of AH Supply kits on a 45 gallon tank, and the same light on a 29 gallon tank before that. I have a bad habit of doing changes several at a time, probably because I get some kind of kick out of being utterly confused??

lol first its lower the lights now its up them to make the other plants happy when will we ever find balance . I guess ill reup the lights and just increase the fert load to recompensate and will see how things go.

B. japonica, HC as well as the verticillated versions of Ludwigia are all high CO2 plants. Melting, browning, as well as other forms of tissue loss are all strong indications of poor CO2. Adding more light will only make the situation worse since this will drive a higher CO2 uptake demand. Having a green dropchecker will not guarantee that the distribution of CO2 at the location of the plants are automatically adequate. Instead of adding more light I'd be more inclined to add more CO2/flow.

Cheers,

Hi,

I agree with ceg4048....

I would not increase the lights, but look at c02 and flow as he suggests...

It took me a while to get the flow patterns down.

Plus, if your bio-mass is increasing, you have to up the c02 and fert amounts to compensate.........

There is no reason why ludwigia esp will not do well with the amount of light you are giving it.

I have some of the more common ones in a non-c02, low-light (1.1 wpg) and it does fine. Just doesn't grow as big or bushy.

Hope this helps.

thanks for the heads up guys, ill goahead and crank up the co2 to <3bps and see how goes.

When you tweak and add more CO2, do so slowly.
Watch fish, plants etc and give things times before changing it

Regards,
Tom Barr