Sword Plant

daisycutter

pay attention to the rooting medium on swords i grow mine in pots in a mix of sterile garden soil and red clay mixed with vermiculite and i get exellent results even flowers they are very iron dependent so need iron rich ferts or in my case red clay(laterite)
amazon swords are usally grown in boggy coditions in the far east not under waterwhich is how they come to suppliers, they tend to lose the outer rounder leaves and develop longer finer leaves under water which can make them look untidy as they get establised

dont bother with the aqatic timers there overpriced get a household plug in one from walmart,asdas etc ive had the same one for 6 years now its never failed

SinCrisis

whoa i didnt know about the spectrums for lights diminishing after 6-9 months. Would explain why my old tank did so terribly before i switched to a new light fixture... Does anyone know the lifespan of a t-5 bulb?

onefish2fish

i would say 9-12 months.

regardless your going to loose different colors before others

SinCrisis

darn.. the cost of buying new bulbs is gonna add up... thanks for the info

onefish2fish

i hope that makes sense.



and tell me about it, my saltwater tank runs 4 t5s at the moment, shortly i will be using 6 bulbs. add up the 2 ballasts, 6 reflectors, endcaps, standoffs that i bought and your looking at about $500.
if i change bulbs out yearly, we'll say $20 a bulb = $120 a year. guess its just the price you pay.