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Re: lights



> What could it be about the Zoomeds that benefits the
> other plants so much but hurts the stargrass?  Are
> they actually too bright?

Naw, but Cathy's reply was right on.
FWIW,
I have played with lighting in various set ups and with many species of
plants. Lighting is generally the last place to look if you are having
problems(unless you have a single bulb on a 55 gallon tank or something
extreme). Most all color temps will grow plants well. The only thing is the
colors may be washed out some or richer etc. The plants will grow and will
not show signs of growth problems generally. I have a newly set up tank that
is growing very nice plants like A. reineckii/Red cabomba/hair grass/Riccia,
Mayaca, cherry leaf hydgro's,  etc and I have a whopping 1.6 watts per
gallon at 20inch depth.
All these plants are often considered high light plants but they are doing
excellent and have at least textbook color and health.
The bulbs are old T-12's etc. I used 3000K Quartz bulbs for quite some time
and had great results but better colors on some plant than the "normal"
5000-8000K range which is about the best it seems to me. Neil Frank
consistently grows super duper R. macanadra @2watts a gallon. He doesn't
have any lighting higher than 2watts/gallon.
I have had stargrass at 6 watts a gallon and a 14 inch depth at that and it
grew like a weed. It grew just fine in the 1.6 watt tank as well and a 2
watt gallon tank. It was far more manageable in the the lower lighted tanks.
Intensity is not the issue, I can promise that part. The other key to the
balance is. I think he uses cheesy cheapy bulb from the hardware store but
in the 6500-5000K range. It works for me too.

What is left then? CO2 and nutrients.

You might want to up your K+, NO3/NH4+, Trace elements. K+ can be added with
K2SO4 and /or KNO3 for both K and NO3. NH4+ can be added by feeding more
fish food etc.
Keep an eye on your CO2 as well(PH & KH). If it is up and stable the rest
should  take care of things for you. Try a jobes under the roots of the
plant is another idea to test to see if it might be that.
I started having a lot less problems with picky plants after I switch to
Flourite. I had some trouble here and there with some plants using laterite
at higher lighting but this was solved by adding a better substrate.
Stargrass is a weed and does well in gravel or whatever. It pulls nutrients
out of the water column just fine as well.
Regards,
Tom Barr