Long Stem-to-Stem Distance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[vampayne]

After adding co2, my plants are growing fast.

My problem:
All my plants, I realised that the stem-to-stem distance is very far apart; resulting in a very exposed trunk; long empty trunk.

Pictures of problem (honrizontal instead of vertical)(E represents the roots):
Displaying in shop: >->->->->->-E
My plants: >---->---->----E

Is it normal or is there something wrong?

Note:
Trunk is refering to the main stem of the plant.
Incase you ask, is it because of the fishes biting the stem off. No they will not.
Thanks for reading.

[Jon-san]

What lighting are you using? And size of your tank as well as any blockages caused by taller plants?

[vampayne]

What lighting are you using? And size of your tank as well as any blockages caused by taller plants?

Light: 18W energy saving bulb which is equivalent to 100W bulb (what the bulb package says).
Tank Size: Rectangle tank about 30 litres with height longer than width.

I plant them all very close to each other because i like it dense.

Even my tallest plant have super long main stem. It is very ugly.

100Watt too much for a 30litres tank? hahaha Bright tank = beautiful tank

CO2: I pump a lot of co2 because i have added too much yeast in my DIY mixture; producing too much co2. (about 1 bubble per sec with a very good diffuser)

Fert: I have about 2 cm thick of solid fertiliser at the bottom with 4 cm thick of 'ada aqua soil amazon' covering it.

[vampayne]

how to pm people in this forum

[Shadow]

Light: 18W energy saving bulb which is equivalent to 100W bulb (what the bulb package says).

That is not the way, the watt per gallon was based on fluorescent bulb, not incandescent light bulb.

Which plant do you have? different plant have different grow pattern. Cabomba for example will have compact grow in lower light.

[nastro]

Hi everyone im facing the same issue with vampayne do we add in more lights? The wpg can it be applied in T5 wattage as well?

[vampayne]

the watt per gallon was based on fluorescent bulb, not incandescent light bulb.

Which plant do you have? different plant have different grow pattern. Cabomba for example will have compact grow in lower light.

I am using Compact Fluorescent Lamp/Bulb
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent_lamp

How many watt do I need for my 30 litres tank?

My plants look like Cabomba caroliniana from this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44cDb...ayer_embedded#!

So your solution is to reduce the brightness?

An Update:

I maintained the same amount of light but I have removed CO2 completely.
After a few weeks, the newly grown are more compact but the whole plant do not look as healthy as before. (Not healthy as in not as green as before.)

I had removed my CO2 because of the many algae on the tank glass walls BUT according to online articles, removing my CO2 will increase the amount of algae. I am putting my CO2 back.

Thank you for reading!