# my planted tank



## Sick_Boy_85 (Jun 22, 2008)

just got some more plants from Petsmart last weekend (amazon swards and kyoto grass). i dont have a co2 system and the plants are just in sand. the light i have it and eclipse f40t10 natural daylight it runs for 12 hrs a day. when i got the plants i cut all the brown leaves off but since ive planted them there have been more leaves turning brown. im just wondering if i were to get another kind of light bulb if it would be better for the plants or if this is just normal for recently planted plants? but heres some pics pf my tank









you can see that the one leaf on the amazon sward to the left of the tall drift wood is brown.


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## Piranha Guru (Nov 24, 2005)

I'm assuming that tank is a 75g...a 40w T10 isn't going to cut it for swords (no idea what that grass is). You want at least 1wpg, preferably 1.5wpg for your swords.

Cheap solution:
Get one other T10 fixture, get some Fluorish Excel, Fluorish Comprehensive, and some root tabs for the swords. That should help you keep them alive. A plant substrate would greatly improve your odds, but you should still be okay with your sand.

Expensive Solution:
Replace your lights with a basic Compact Fluorescent or T-5 fixture, get a plant substrate or at least mix some in, get CO2 and dose macronutrients if you get over 2wpg.

Honestly, I think you can keep your current fixture and get a normal output freshwater T-5. They are fairly cheap these days and are super low profile. Get 2 if you can afford them and scrap your other fixture.


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## Sick_Boy_85 (Jun 22, 2008)

BioTeAcH said:


> I'm assuming that tank is a 75g...a 40w T10 isn't going to cut it for swords (no idea what that grass is). You want at least 1wpg, preferably 1.5wpg for your swords.
> 
> Cheap solution:
> Get one other T10 fixture, get some Fluorish Excel, Fluorish Comprehensive, and some root tabs for the swords. That should help you keep them alive. A plant substrate would greatly improve your odds, but you should still be okay with your sand.
> ...


 would it be better if i were to go with one of these Light one insted of two of these light two ?


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## Piranha Guru (Nov 24, 2005)

Sick Boy said:


> would it be better if i were to go with one of these Light one insted of two of these light two ?


No, because you will have to replace the bulbs...those are saltwater bulbs. I have a 48" Freshwater Coralife Aqualight with brand new 6700k plant bulbs laying around that I'd be more than happy to sell you.







Shoot me a PM if you're interested.


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

Plants go through an adaptation phase, so give them some time to get used to the new environment. It usually takes 2-4 weeks before you see any growth. I just put some swords in my 75g and some of the leaves turned brown, but now they look better.


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## pirayaman (Nov 3, 2007)

yeah give them time


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## SweetRose (Nov 12, 2005)

You may already know this, but Kyoto grass will actually die if left submerged for a couple months. They are actually only supposed to be emersed in water. Petsmart advertises them like they are good for the aquarium when they are not really.

There are some amazon swords amongst my plants too. By the way, what kind of ferts do you use? Do you know the KH of your water? Your plants are probably just adjusting like everyone else said, but I am curious. Also I would increase the light like someone suggested earlier because amazon swords need quite a bit of light, and it sounds like you have just a little over a half a watt per gallon. I have 265W on my 100 gallon tank and they are doing great, but you probably only want about 1.5wpg since you aren't running any CO2(a lot of people say at least 2 wpg for amazon swords but I've done fine with 1.5 before I ran CO2. Plus this reduces the risk of a lot of filamentous algae problems)


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

A 6700k bulb will help make green plants green, however your lighting isnt sufficiant.


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