Frustrated with plants... help!

[Sakura8]

Do you know what the brand is of your LED light? The way you described it does make it sound like LED, not UV. UV lights for aquariums are typically tubes that must be hooked up to a powerhead or filter.

Yeah, plants sure are complicated. More complicated than the fish, most of the time.

[Atena]

No, I am sure they are LED, but LED comes in a million spectrums, I am not sure I got the right one. I am thinking this is the type of UV that simulates black light. :(

I need the type that simulates sunlight. ugh.

I got them from this company: http://www.21ledstrips.com

I wrote them asking for a plant light for my aquarium. They don't have the light listed on their website, it was a custom order, just like all my other lights, which i really like.

Well, if they are not the right lights then that explains why the plants are not doing well.

[Sakura8]

Chances are those aren't bright enough, even multiple strips. You can probably grow java fern, crypts, anubias, and java moss though.

[Atena]

Yeah, i did take the black light out. I will do some research and see if I can find a true plant light in a LED strip that does not cost an arm and a leg.

Meanwhile I wills tick to low light plants.

I wonder how my Hairgrass is hanging in?

Well, so far so good! LOL

Thank you for all the help everyone.

[registereduser]

Does water PH have anything to do with wisteria melting?

[babystarz]

Originally Posted by registereduser

Does water PH have anything to do with wisteria melting?

I'm not sure, mine melted from an ammonia spike released when I initially added the substrate. I have since learned that adding plants right after getting the substrate in the tank is a no-no. The ammonia needs to test at 0ppm for at least 3 days before it's safe to add plants.

[Atena]

I found out the UV light is not what I need. Glad I took it out. I will try to exchange it for what I really need.

I was just doing a lot of reading on this, it turns out that LED grow lights are actually better for plants than the old fashioned ones. Plants grow 30% faster than under florescent plant lights.

The reason is because LED lights have more focused light, with more "usable" energy per bulb. It is also mostly outside of the visible lights spectrum (just like the sun) so even if it looks darker, it actually is brighter from the plant's POV.

Blue LED's are used for the vegetative state and red LED's help more during the blooming stages of a plant's life. The stability of the light also produces bigger blooms with fewer defects.

LED grow lights on the market are UBER expensive however, a few research papers mentioned that they are made with ordinary 100LM blue and red LED bulbs. This means you can get inexpensive LED light strips and use them as your plant lights.

Inf act, this is what some research labs do to cut costs.

I have a blue light I haven't been using because it was keeping me up at night, but I will turn it on now during the day and let you know how it works.

One paper mentioned that the "purple" color can be balanced out by adding more green and white lights strictly for esthetics.

Coincidentally, cool white is almost as effective as florescent, but the light temperature is not quite right, so if you have high light plants you will want to add the blue and red.

I learned all this in the past three days reading numerous biology research papers and light spec sheets, wish I kept track of all the sources but I did not. but you guys gave me a lot of great ideas of what I need to look for, you are all a big help, thank you so much.

I have found that if you look up each plant species on Google, many growers will include specs like what PH and lighting conditions you need. This should helps as well knowing what is in your tank to begin with.