Help troubleshooting plant issues-no growth!

[mizzoutank]

My planted tank seems to be "stalling" on the growth.
Here is my setup:

96Watts of lights (4 x 24w bulbs) (3 bulbs at 6500k/1 bulb at 10000k)
daily dose of excel
every water change I dose flourish plus mid week i'll dose again
flourish root tabs
lights are on a strict schedule of 8hrs a day (auto timer)
40b, lights are 6inches above the tank to help the spreading of the light.
substrate is normal pea sized gravel and about 2.5-3inches deep for ample root growth

and my plants just don't grow! (they have been acclimated and in the tank for over 2 months now)
I have a mix of amazon swords, wisteria (which has shown growth of maybe an inch every other week), rosette sword, ozelote sword, java fern and an anubias.

Recently, I have been able to grow some green hair algae..so that means something is out of wack. but I cannot pin point it b/c my plants arent growing.
you think if it was too much nutrients then the plants would still respond and grow with the algae, but that isn't the case.
they simply have not grown. ugh.

[Goes to 11!]

T5s or T5HO? Your light is nearly 2' off the substrate. This, Combined with the spread not being optimal is definitely a factor IMO.

Pics would help if possible.

Plants growth [like all life] can be chalked up to genetics and environmental factors.

If something required for growth is limited in quantity IE: Light, Nutrients, Space what have you... Growth is then limited to the pace that the plant can maintain on the available amount of the 'something' that is limited.

I hope that is clear [And it is probably really obvious but I figured I would throw it out there.]

Right now I am leaning towards it being light that is limiting your growth, The algae is taking advantage of the excess nutrients floating around because they are not being taken up by the plants due to them not being able to grow fast enough to use them first <-- Possibly due to the lighting issue.

Is your Wisteria leggy? [Long distances between internodes - The spots where new leaves form] This would indicate lower light levels than it prefers.

You would think it would be enough light but lights energy diminishes rapidly as you get farther away. If you want to nerd out about that concept google 'light intensity & the Inverse square law'.

[mizzoutank]

the bulbs are t5ho. in glo light fixtures that are 24inch long.

i will attach the pics to help clarify what i'm talking about. just got home from work to take them.

in looking up that relationship of light intensity, but from what I can tell and relate it back to aquatics is that my set up is high intensity light-which would suffice for my plants? idk tho...

here are the first round of pics

[mizzoutank]

2nd set of pics

[Goes to 11!]

24" light on a 36" tank. There's your problem. IMO it's the essentially the same issue you had with the 18" light up there.

I'd review my comments/lighting suggestions in this thread.

[mizzoutank]

You caught me there 850R. you are a good researcher of prior posts! touche.

The lights seemed to be okay for the initial period after the plants acclimated and then this stalling issue has occurred.

I rose them to help with the light distribution but I guess even that won't do what is really needed. sigh.

I should just buck up and get that fixture. I was milking these for all they are worth since they were given to me free. but I guess I can sell these on craigslist or something.

but hey, maybe i'll make some money off these glo fixtures. they do have good ratings with a high price tag.

so one or two of these:
http://www.aquatraders.com/ProductDe...2122P&CartID=1