Growing Lights and Height's

[monc206]

so i did two planted tanks at same time. one is 17in and one is 12in.  it has been a month ... 2 weeks barely wet/sprayed, then flooded. so the 12in has had this great light on it from day one and the 17 has had its stock light with a 1/4 of the amount of lights. so light is food right.  the 12 is the pic with the shrimp and the one with wood is the 17. both started at same time. i got the 17 the same light as the 12 now do yall out there think the plants are stunted? i guess we will see....

[Patrick_G]

Are these started from seed in the aquarium? 

[monc206]

yes  were started at sthe ame time they had different lights ...now both have the light that healthier plants have

Edited February 7, 2021 by monc206

[Tanked]

Interesting experiment.

If everything else is equal, I would guess that the plants on the bottom of the 17 will always be a little less developed than the others. There is less light available.  It will be interesting to see how the plants on wood develop.

[monc206]

lights have only been equal times since this thread started. also the amount of flourish and so quick start was the same, as well as gravel and soil mix. i can already see a difference. they are opening and closing and perked up already with have the same light as the nice ones. 

[monc206]

baby shrimp! oh and the light is so boss i turnedit down to it work so well

 

[gardenman]

In the plant world, a plant that doesn't get enough light gets the opposite of stunted, whatever that it. They tend to get leggy as they reach upwards for whatever light they can find. The spacing between leaves gets longer and the plant becomes very thin and spindly as it desperately searches for light. That's assuming there's enough light to grow at all which is a pretty low standard for most plants to meet. In trees, the best trees for lumber are those that grew in a denser forest type setting. The interval between branches, which become knots in lumber, is longer as the trees would grow upwards more searching for light. A tree that grew in the middle of an open field will be a lot knottier than one grown in a dense forest as it didn't have to compete for sunlight and thus didn't grow as much vertically as one in a denser forest. 

In an aquarium, stunted plants are more likely due to a nutrient deficiency, water temp difference, substrate difference, etc. The reaching for light still happens in aquatic plants, assuming there's enough light to grow at all. Once whatever was causing the problem is resolves growth resumes and you'd never know there was a problem. I wouldn't worry about your plants being permanently stunted.

[monc206]