Fertilising ocelot swords and a lighting question.

[catshanon]

So, swords are heavy root feeders. If I add PMDD to the water, will that help with their fertilization? Or is it better to add the fertilizer directly to the gravel ? I have dry fertz and a bottle of trace elements, so I can roll up some "root tabs" if someone here can give me some pointers.

I also have 2 24" long tube lights in my canopy. I don't want to buy the expensive "Aqua glo or Flora Max" tubes right now. Can I get something from Home Depot that will provide the proper spectrum for my plants ? I have ocelot swords that aren't growing at all and a whole lot of newly planted micro swords.

Answers and pointers will be much appreciated.

Regards

Raj.

[Nauticus]

I grow a lot of plants using shop lights from Home depot.

Try to get the T8's or T5's Unfortunately they are harder to come by the T5's that is.

Then when you do choose bulbs just be sure to grab bulbs of the high K rating.

I found the liquid ferts to be too time consuming and expensive to maintian great levels. I therefore went and bought dry ferts and trace elements mix from a local garden guru store.

There is a pinned thread that tells which chems and at which levels to add.

CO2 is the other thing that will make plants go.

Get a diffuser and if you like you can build some DIY CO2 generators, they will however not be very consistent. I did that for a short while, before procuring a canister and regulator for my CO2 bottle.

I have never kept and Ocelot sword though so this may not apply. I have kept Osiris swords and Madagascar swords, and lace swords.

Hope it works out well for you.

[byte]

So, swords are heavy root feeders. If I add PMDD to the water, will that help with their fertilization? Or is it better to add the fertilizer directly to the gravel ? I have dry fertz and a bottle of trace elements, so I can roll up some "root tabs" if someone here can give me some pointers.

I have never made root tabs before. Seachem root tabs or Tropica PLANT NUTRITION+ capsules work well for heavy root feeders.

I also have 2 24" long tube lights in my canopy. I don't want to buy the expensive "Aqua glo or Flora Max" tubes right now. Can I get something from Home Depot that will provide the proper spectrum for my plants ? I have ocelot swords that aren't growing at all and a whole lot of newly planted micro swords.

If your bulbs are older than 1 year old, they probably don't put out much light. Your micro sword will need more light, maybe it is cheaper to just buy a new light and bulbs. Home Depot should have Plant and Aquarium bulbs depending on which you need (T5,T8 or T12).

[jvision]

I have found that a mix of root feeding and dry ferts do well for swords. I use Jobes Plant Spikes for ferns and palms - they can cause quite the algae bloom. It might be a good idea for you to try the Tropica root tabs - they seem to be pretty good, and they won't cause an algae bloom, IME.

Try to get a mix of daylight bulbs and aquarium/plant bulbs - the aquarium/plant bulbs are more red, so I put them up front to reflect the red and blue in the fish more.

And, it's probably an Ozelot sword.

[Drydock]

I use a couple of the 48" T-8 Phillips Plant and Aquarium bulbs on my 72 gallon. I bought them and the light fixture at Home Depot. They are a bit 'pink' in the color they produce,and I have been happy with my swords and other plants as well. The Sherwood Park store has both T-8 and T-12 sizes and I believe they also had the 24" bulbs as well. You can check them out to see if something there will work for you.

I use the tropica liquid fertilizer and the root tabs as well. Happy with both, as long as you keep the capsules in a cool place. (right Jay???) :P

[catshanon]

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. Will drop by HD to see if I can find anything. And thanks to Jason for correcting me... The powerhead I got from you is working fine.

Regards,

Raj.

[werner]

Try to get the plant & aquarium bulbs if you can. Regular fluorescent bulbs that are sold for household/commercial lighting have a lot of green and yellow wavelengths so they look bright to human eyes. However, they don't have much in the way of the red or blue wavelengths that plants need for photosynthesis.

You can make your own root tabs too. Recipe

[jbot]

most "plant and aquarium" bulbs do not put out the right colour temperature. I've had best luck with the Philips bulbs that Home Depot sells at are rated to 6700K and I think are the "Daylight" type.

[werner]

most "plant and aquarium" bulbs do not put out the right colour temperature.

Color temperature doesn't really matter to the plants. It's just a way of quantifying the color of light as it appears to the human eye. If you have a SW tank, you want a high color temp so it looks blue like the ocean; if you have a FW tank, you want something closer to 5300K (tropical sunlight.) Many people want something a bit less yellow for FW tanks- thus the prevalence of 6700K bulbs. Some like 10000K bulbs for FW. It's all just a matter of preference.

Plants photosynthesize with the red and blue wavelengths of light.

Many 6700K bulbs sold for aquarium use emit suitable wavelengths for photosynthesis, plus the green and yellow wavelengths that look bright to us. Some have more, some have less- it varies by brand. Since bulbs of the same color temperature do not have the same output spectrum, relying on a particular color temperature alone can be misleading.

Have a look at the output spectrum graph when choosing your bulbs. Most manufacturers will have it on the packaging or on the website.

This bulb is 6700K:

This one is 6000K:

This one is 9325K:

Which one would you buy? (It's not a trick question- they'll all grow plants.)

[byte]

[Which one would you buy? (It's not a trick question- they'll all grow plants.)

Do we win a prize if we get the question right? I pick door B...

[firestorm]

Great info werner, I actually never knew to buy bulbs that produce more red for plants. I just assumed around 6700K and 2-3 watts per gallon was excellent.

Catshanon, you can also try finding a lighting wholesaler to buy bulbs from. I know my dad had to go through one to buy some special T4 bulbs because many places do not carry them, and he found them to be even cheaper than through the company that made the fixture. I was thinking of pricing out some T5's for myself.

I have always used the fert sticks for my heavy root feeders, so not sure what brand of tabs would be excellent.

[werner]

Great info werner, I actually never knew to buy bulbs that produce more red for plants.

Here's another tip: You don't want too much red. Red light encourages taller, more spindly growth. The blue wavelengths encourage more bushy, compact growth. Red plants require more blue light also. I'm guessing that's because they reflect more of the red wavelengths?

And another: bulbs will shift their wavelengths as they age so don't forget to replace them regularly.

[werner]

Do we win a prize if we get the question right? I pick door B... smile.gif

I've picked doors A, B and C over the years. I'm now onto doors D and E...

[Ruadh]

Great info werner, I actually never knew to buy bulbs that produce more red for plants.

Here's another tip: You don't want too much red. Red light encourages taller, more spindly growth. The blue wavelengths encourage more bushy, compact growth. Red plants require more blue light also. I'm guessing that's because they reflect more of the red wavelengths?

And another: bulbs will shift their wavelengths as they age so don't forget to replace them regularly.

Good timing Werner, thank you.

I just put several Echinodorus plants in my tank and was wondering which bulb to go to, since I need to change them out anyway.

Maybe, if you would, could you explain what the actinic bulbs do and do they need changing too.

Thankx again

Rick

[jvision]

Actinics are heavy in the blue wavelength, of course; so, they'll keep your stem plants bushy. However, you don't want just actinic lighting for your planted tank - you do need a fuller spectrum, as werner has been pointing out. I find that 10,000K is plenty blue in a FW tank; any more toward the blue end just doesn't look that good, IMO.