What Am I Doing Wrong ?

My fresh water plants are lovely & green, but they seem stunted. I dose them with Seachem products & trim off any dead leaves twice a week. There are generally none or very few. I have a light specfically for the plants & have been told it is adequate for my tank.
What am I doing wrong ?

 

How big is the tank and how many watts?

Its not Droid, it's me fishies.

 

It is a 5000K aquaclear coral sun for plants. The tank is a 36 gallon.


Its not Droid, it's me fishies. ( ? ? ? ? ? )

 

How many watts total?

 

PS I have the light on 12 hours/day.

I am sorry. I cannot find the total wattage, but I can give you this description from the catalogue.

A 5000K high intensity lamp with peak emissions in the blue and red regions to maximize the photobiological processes in plants. It's ideal for planted aquariums and terrariums, as well as marine reef aquariums. The emission spectrum closely matches the absorption curve of chlorophyll-A, promoting maximum photosynthesis. Promotes healthy plants and fish while enhancing their natural colors.

 

Oops................................. 18 watts in total.

 

more light

 

surely you would need atleast triple the wattage of lights to have good plant grwoth..else try some plants with low light requirements like anubias etc...

Also what is the temp of your tank?
Are you dosing Seachem Excel?

 

Yes, I am dosing with seachem. I also am injecting CO2. Would leaving my light on longer, make up for the wattage? I have to take the fish into consideration too. I have 2 discus. I don't know how much light they can tolerate.Since it is a discus tank, the water does have to be warmer. I have it @ 82 which the lowest it suppose to be.As I said, the plants are lovely & green. They just don't seem to be growing in height very fast. One member said I had to be patient. A few of my plants are Amazon swords & I was told they were very slow growing.

 

Not really. There needs to be enough light that penetrates through the water, so you need more lumens, which means more wattage.