Yellow hornwort

[nightfish]

So, its been a while since i have gone onto AC for advice, because actually, everything has been going great! except, 2 or so months ago, i discovered i really wanted to get into a planted aquarium, it looks so much nicer than plastic IMO, that being said, for me, its much harder....I bought some hornwort, it died...i dont let it float, i bury the bottom in the river rock, but the bottom turns dark brown, and very flaky and breaks off if moved, that causes a huge problem, because i now have no plants bunch of yellow hornwort strings. I threw it out, got some ferts, "flourish" potassium, iron and magnesium, when i added potassium it grew and filled up, but was still greenishyellow, nothing like the vivid green i bought it as. now, it says to use it 2-3 times a week if its yellow, i just did it when i did a water change on fridays every week. now the hornwort has broken out of its wrap, and is floating, and it looks very bad! It didnt make sense, all the ferts...what could be wrong? so i thought, the lighting! i have a 36g acrylic bowfront, of course it came with a special light fixture, but it shorted, im not an electrian, i was reassured i would get a new one, even though it was crap, so i threw the other one out. i have had a t8 15w 8000k bulb in an aqueon fixture on top of my slashgaurd. It lights the tank pretty well, but i have come to realize, im not getting no where close to 1 watt per gallon, infact less than half. could that contribute to my hornwort dying?

[Strider199]

I agree with you nightfish, real plants look way better then plastic.thumbs2:

Just because a certain type of plant doesn't work in your tank dont give up. If the hornwort doesn't thrive try another low light plant like java fern.
It took me about 6 months before I found the type of plants my set-up could sustain. It was alot of trial and some error but now I enjoy the look and the plants that did survive my introduction are doing well.

[nightfish]

thanks for your reply :18: Do you think i should try another bulb? i like hornwort alot, its very unique in the way the, i guess, leaves are shaped, and i like the contrast of it with my gravel, and black background. So i wont give up on it, the only thing i havent tried is a different lightbulb. Do you think a should switch it to a, mhmm lets say 50watt light?

[Scrup]

If hornwort is buried it will rot. If it is wrapped by something (rubber band) it will rot under the rubber band.

It is super messy when it dies. Does your tank have a lot of current? I have only had problems growing it without a light, and even then it still lasts a decent amount of time. Current seemed to be the biggest killer for me. Could be a light deficiency though... I've never used ferts and the stuff grows like a weed in all my tanks, but yellows around the filter intakes or outputs.

[nightfish]

I dont have a strong current at all, and the hornwort is placed on the back wall, far from the current of the filter

[Scrup]

I would go with the light then. Try getting a 6500k bulb if you are upgrading.

[nightfish]

i also failed to mention that i have the light on, which is a t8 18inch 8k bulb, on around 4 hours a day, is that sufficient lighting?

[Scrup]

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/2110/226139-ironhide_facepalm.jpg


No...its not.

[nightfish]

i figured not, thanks for that transformer depiction ;) with the considered wattage, how many hours do you think would be enough?

[Scrup]

I am by no means a plant expert, but I run mine 10-12 hours a day. You could possibly get by with 8.

[nightfish]

i feel so stupid....i knew that, but its always on for 4 hours....okay, well, i just changed the timer to start from 11:00 to 7:30pm i think that should be good. Im a little concerned about it being to hot though, no one will be home. i did take out the bulb a while ago, mind you it was on for 4 hours at this time, and it was slightly warm, would it be safe to run it for that long? im guessing so

[Scrup]

Is it an incandescent bulb or flourescent?

[nightfish]

florescent

[Scrup]

It should be fine. If you are concrened just put some rubber spacers around it if its sitting flush on the top of the tank. You could probably use pennies too.

[genocidex]

do you have an 8k or an 8000k? thats the light temp. (not physical temp) 6000K-6500K is ideal for plants with the reduction of algae. plants use blue and green hues for their photosynthesis. so for plants a lower temp would be better, now the problem, algae LOVES blue light. the more blue there is the more algae. so a 6000K (which simulates sun light) would give a great mix of the hues :P

[nightfish]

i thought it would be okay, thanks for the tips :) umm i have an aqueon 8000k 15w t8 18" preheat, so a 6000k would be ideal then, providing i have it lit 8 hours or so? and since i know practically nothing about the lights, is there even a 6000k 18" avaliable?

[genocidex]

i found 6500K on ebay so they do exists.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/25-F15-T8-D-Fluorescent-DayLight-Light-Bulbs-18-15W-/280719463726?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item415c2f152e#ht_3154wt_905

look for something like that :P

and fyi that watt/gal rule is as useless as inch/gal XD

[nightfish]

cool thanks man :) ill see what happens, im going this weekend to get my fire belly newt tank setup stuff, and i will pick up a bulb, and see what happens from there, and yeah i figured....only because 1 watt per gallon i would need a 36watt light, and supposedly thats not near sufficent i would need atleast 2 and a half watts, and theres no way im going out and buy some "coral life" $1100 light fixture to grow hornwort lol

[Strider199]

^^^ lol ^^^

Thats why I suggested to try the Java fern. Very low light plant that doesn't look too bad at all.

[nightfish]

java fern i think is nice looking, but my LFS doesnt carry it...i think the dont lol, everytime i go there they never have had it, and they never have anything new, so im guessing they just dont carry it

[toddnbecka]

I tried hornwort from the lfs a couple times, never could keep it alive. Some years ago I received a shipment of dwarf crayfish bagged with some small bits of hornwort to cling to in transit. The crayfish died off w/out successfully breeding, but the hornwort is still growing like a weed. It very solidly fills the upper half of my 33 long, and has been grown under a regular FL shop light with 1 6700k and 1 10,000k bulb the whole time.
I also have Najas indica in several tanks. It actually grows faster though not as thick/dense as the hornwort.

[procyg]

i also failed to mention that i have the light on, which is a t8 18inch 8k bulb, on around 4 hours a day, is that sufficient lighting?
I have the same bulb (only 24 inches) and I used to run mine for 12 hours a day but my algae got bad so I scaled back to 8 hours a day and my plants are fine.

I have had success with Rotala Indinca with this lamp as well as amazon swords. I do want to get a 6500k bulb but for now it is doing fine

[mermaidwannabe]

I have the lights of both my tanks on timers, now. Prior to daylight saving time, both lights came on at 7:55 A.M and went off at 6:50 P.M. Since we had to set our clocks an hour ahead on March 11, the on and off is 8:55 A.M. and 7:50 P.M. The timer doesn't know the difference, only the clocks read differently.

I use all-purpose Flourish in my tanks, and I only put it in after water changes.

My hornwort has grown extensively in the 65, and somewhat in the 20. I suspect it's getting eaten in the smaller tank.

In my 20, my java moss has gone to town, bigtime. The small clump I started with is four times its original size and a deep dark green.

I would suggest you leave your light on much, much longer than four hours. Try 12 to 14 hours. See if that makes a difference. I'll bet it does...

-- mermaidwannabe