Why aren’t my plants taller?

[memorywrangler]

This is my 24” deep 30g tank that’s been up for about 4 months.  It’s “mid tech”— it has a meager yeast-based CO2 system, I fertilize regularly with Easy Green and root tabs.  I have a coop light that’s on 9hrs/day at 100%.  It’s got an HOB and a sponge filter.

It’s planted with spiral Val, jungle Val, pearl weed, and and dwarf sag.

So why are the Val and sag taller?  

They grow, but then the tops of the Val turn brown, die and break off.  Pearl weed grows great, and the Val and sag spread by stay short.

[lefty o]

my opinion, cut an hour of light, and lower the intensity. this will make them need to try and reach the light vs having tons of light.

[memorywrangler]

On 10/15/2023 at 2:40 PM, lefty o said:

my opinion, cut an hour of light, and lower the intensity. this will make them need to try and reach the light vs having tons of light.

I can try this again, but until about 2 weeks ago, I was on a shorter photo period and had the lights at 60%.  It hadn't been helping much.

[nabokovfan87]

It's a fun puzzle.  I had a similar type of issue where my plants weren't getting tall and they were only getting so much growth.  The idea for me being that if they were growing taller, then they could reach the light and grow a bit easier. 

Ultimately there's a few things we need to verify and review.  The first one is your substrate.  What is it, when was the last time you added root tabs?  Second thing is your fert schedule and light settings.  What are they, please provide as much detail as you can.

That out of the way there's a few things to keep in mind....
1.  How long to the plants grow naturally? Is the plant just at it's max length or a shorter "dwarf" type of plant?
2.  If the plant should be getting taller, do you see it bushing out and going wide? What is the new growth on the plant saying to you?
3.  Are there any issues with the base of the plant deteriorating and only the top of the plant growing?
4.  Are you seeing any algae issues at all on any of the plants from too much light?
5.  Is there too much surface movement and not enough circulation for the CO2 to fully reach all of the plants?

Edited October 17, 2023 by nabokovfan87