Xref: 127.0.0.1 rec.aquaria.freshwater.plants:80699

Craig Brye said:

I have a 75 gal. tank, as many of you might already know due to previous posts. My plants are starting to grow slightly better. It's been about 9 days since the tank was started, and this will be the fifth day of fertilization.

One thing I'm starting to notice is some of the plants are starting to grow more horizontally than vertically in the water. Plants like H. Micronthem. and Hygro. Polysperma are showing some serious horizontal growth. A few of the other plants are also
showing some minor sideways growth like my Diandra. The B. Carolina, Swords, Lotus, L. Sessiliflora, Cabomba, and a few others are displaying "normal" growth.

I have 260 watts of PC lighting suspended above the tank in one fixture (two separate switches each control two sets of lights). The lights are currently 21" above the substrate and about 3-4" above the water line. If I removed the suspending device th
ey would be at about 18" above the substrate and about 1/2" above the water line.

Do I generally have too much light? Could I do something where I have 130 watts on for 12 hours, and the other 130 watts on during the middle of the daily cycle for a shorter amount of time?

Thanks,

Flatted growth is *generally* a sign of too much light.
Like African violets, too little light results in the plants leaves
"reaching" for the light, but too much and they flatten out to the
point they wrap under the pot.

My God, 260 watts of PC lighting? I only have 192 watts of evenly
distributed T-8 on my 75G, and it's too much for some plants. I had
128 watts and most everything but certain elocharis grew like weeds.
Added 64 more watts, and my anubias bleached light green and my
beautiful crypts all melted... Oh, well...
Oh, yea - The algae loved the additional light!

I have a lovely red sword that grew from 1 leaf to a huge centerpiece
in 6 months under 128 watts of T-8.


Greg G.