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alive but not growing
I have an open-top 29-g tank with a 175w 6500 metal halide pendant and 3"
gravel substrate. I have wendtii crypts, vals, bananas, an apon. ulvaceaus
and some red ludwigia, as well some floating sprite. My problem is the vals
and apon especially. They don't seem to be growing. The apon did a great
job of blooming out of it's bulb, and then just stopped with about eight 3"
leaves and hasn't grown. The vals are worse. They were shippied so the
weaker, longer leaves eventually tore away, leaving me with a bunch of
5"-ers. Those that are corkskrews seem almost a little straightened out.
The bannanas lose and regrow their leaves frequently, but I blame that on
fish munchies. The crypts and ludwigia are the only ones doing well. The
ludwigia is skyrocketing to the top, bright red with some leaves shedding off
of the bottom and the crypts have grown out runners and gotten thick and
lush...except, as well as the other plants, an occasional bright yellow leaf
appears and dies.
They are with clown loaches, a pleco, tiger barbs and SAE's, biweekly water
changes and a whisper 3 power filter system. The temp is usually 78-80.
Fertilized with Leafzone, Root Tabs, Flourish, and Aquarium Vital which is
chemically made to take away the need for a CO2 injector. The water is
stable, it's got a good buffer that keeps the pH between 6.8 and 7.0.
The tank seems ideal, very little algae, whatever the pleco leaves behind
can be sponged easily every two weeks. I don't remember the hardness numbers
but the KH was on the high side of the safe-middle range and the GH was on
the low side of the safe-middle range. I can see good root growth, at least,
through the bottom and some side glass of the tank. Everything looks good
and I'm supplementing...can anyone tell me how to make my plants grow taller?
Especially the vals...
With greatest thanks, Rachel