slow/no growth

[WILLIAM VINCENT]

I know, I know, we see this post all the time, but I am truly stumped.
Everything seems fine, but the growth is pathetic. Even the hornwort is
growing for krap. The anubias and swords look horrible, appear to be very
slowly approaching the clearing at the end of the path.

75 gallon, lightly planted, heavy bio-load.
gravel sub
eheim pro 2320
java fern
java moss
couple swords
half-dozen or so anubias

6 adult tiger barbs
3 medium angels
2 dozen danio
dozen or so various small tetra
5 SAE
1 small red tail shark
1 pang. cat
4 smallish clowns
couple other hangers-on


temp 78f
ph 7
am 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 20-25ppm
gh 5-6
kh 3
light is currently 2x40
Lighting is generally 4x40, but a friend of mine has a 55 long with a few
swords and about 30 watts, and his swords look fantastic. I'm experimenting.
I shut off the second bank a month ago, and the plants haven't responded one
way or another.

Anyone help me out? I have 3 tanks with plants, and this is the only one I'm
having difficulties with. TIA

--
--------
Billy
--------
I'm not closed-minded.
You're just wrong.

[Dinky]

"WILLIAM VINCENT" > wrote in message
k.net...
> I know, I know, we see this post all the time, but I am truly stumped.


Sorry, forgot, I dose conservatively with Flourish, and no CO2.

billy

[Alex R]

Try to add some potassium. Plants need nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus as
their main nutrients. You already have plenty of NO3 without supplementing
any, which means you probably have enough PO4. You're also adding traces,
which leaves only potassium. Get a bottle of Flourish Potassium. If that
improves things, look into finding some dry potassium sulfate
__
Alex
pcalex (at) hotpop.com


"Dinky" > wrote in message
hlink.net...
>
> "WILLIAM VINCENT" > wrote in message
> k.net...
> > I know, I know, we see this post all the time, but I am truly stumped.
>
>
> Sorry, forgot, I dose conservatively with Flourish, and no CO2.
>
> billy

[Dinky]

"Alex R" > wrote in message
news:dltFb.109693$8y1.340790@attbi_s52...
> Try to add some potassium. Plants need nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus as
> their main nutrients. You already have plenty of NO3 without supplementing
> any, which means you probably have enough PO4. You're also adding traces,
> which leaves only potassium. Get a bottle of Flourish Potassium. If that
> improves things, look into finding some dry potassium sulfate
> __


Hmm..IIRC, flourish doesn't provide trace elements at all. I have a bottle
of Seachem Trace around here somewhere, I'll check the ingredients. Thanks
much.

billy

[[email protected]]

"Dinky" > wrote in message .net>...
> "WILLIAM VINCENT" > wrote in message
> k.net...
> > I know, I know, we see this post all the time, but I am truly stumped.
>
>
> Sorry, forgot, I dose conservatively with Flourish, and no CO2.
>
> billy

Balance the fish loads in that tank like you have in the others.
The fish are supplying the plants with enough in the other tanks.
Also, are the other tanks smaller?Less light?

You'd do well to add CO2.
You can also add some floating plants. Enriched the substrate etc.
K+ is a good idea as mentioned but generally I do not do that with non
CO2 tanks, just fish waste.But the tanks are packed with plants also.

Remember the fish link to the plants. If you stop feeding the
fish/feed them less etc, the plants also get less.

You can increase the fish feeding /food etc and see if that improves
things, but it will take a about 2-4 weeks.
Regards,
Tom Barr

[Eric Schreiber]

"Dinky" > wrote:

>Sorry, forgot, I dose conservatively with Flourish, and no CO2.

I second Alex's advice to add some potassium. I had the slow/no growth
in my tank for a long time too. Adding CO2 didn't seem to help much,
and the only thing I was able to grow well was algae. I started adding
potassium on the advice of some of the experts here, and my plants
went nuts. Every 10-14 days now I cut out handfuls of new growth.


--
www.ericschreiber.com

[Alex R]

"Dinky" > wrote in message
.net...
>
> "Alex R" > wrote in message
> news:dltFb.109693$8y1.340790@attbi_s52...
> > Try to add some potassium. Plants need nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus
as
> > their main nutrients. You already have plenty of NO3 without
supplementing
> > any, which means you probably have enough PO4. You're also adding
traces,
> > which leaves only potassium. Get a bottle of Flourish Potassium. If that
> > improves things, look into finding some dry potassium sulfate
> > __
>
>
> Hmm..IIRC, flourish doesn't provide trace elements at all. I have a bottle
> of Seachem Trace around here somewhere, I'll check the ingredients. Thanks
> much.


No, Flourish is precisely a trace supplement. Flourish Trace is one too,
except it doesn't have iron. You'd use it if you didn't want to add iron for
some reason.
__
Alex
pcalex (at) hotpop.com

[Dinky]

"Eric Schreiber" > wrote in message
...
> "Dinky" > wrote:
>
> >Sorry, forgot, I dose conservatively with Flourish, and no CO2.
>
> I second Alex's advice to add some potassium. I had the slow/no growth
> in my tank for a long time too. Adding CO2 didn't seem to help much,
> and the only thing I was able to grow well was algae. I started adding
> potassium on the advice of some of the experts here, and my plants
> went nuts. Every 10-14 days now I cut out handfuls of new growth.
>
>


Thanks all for your input, I'm going to try adding potassium, as it's the
easiest and cheapest route right now. CO2 is just too expensive, and I've
tried DIY on this tank, it's just too big.