Is there such a thing as too much light?

dan2x38 · February 17, 2008, 06:12:25 PM

Quote from: dan2x38 on February 17, 2008, 06:03:32 PM
looking from the front:

back right corner- Bacopa carolina - grows fast, roots poorly
in front of Bacopa- Hygrophila polysperma- grows fast
front right ground plant- green cyrpt - slow
left beside Bacopa- Alternanthera reineckii - I think - med. growth needs higher light
left of the reineckii- Hygrophila difformis- grows fast
left of Westeria- Egeria densa - grows fast in cooler water with med. light
left of Egeria- Spiral val. - med. light - grows fast when established
in front of the Val.- Limnophila sessiliflora- grows fast
right of the sessilifora- Hygrophila polysperma- grows fast
right of the polysperma- A. Undulatus- meds. high light will grow fast with ferts, CO2, & hi-light

At least these are my guesses... let Charlie & BD correct me... Thank God for experience!

PS- nice looking tank guys...

I was to slow it took me to long to type you guys updated first anyways I tried... LOL I got the Rotala macrandra wrong...

but the ground plant I gave you I think is the green cyrpt... I think...

Kats · February 17, 2008, 08:36:25 PM

OK, here it goes. My tank is blanked out.... (great article BigDaddy!) I'm not sure if the fish appreciate.... I've been hearing them jump a few times in the last few minutes.... They must be wondering what the heck is happening!!!

I am aiming for 4 days... not sure if my heart will hold for that long (poor fishies!!!)

Meanwhile, I'll be going to BA for more plant nutrients.

Keeping my fingers crossed that all will be well when I unwrap my tank $:-\$

I'll let you know how it turned out.... on Thursday night! Thanks for your help! I'll make sure I get my tank balanced right... wouldn't want to have to do this too often... it may be painless on the tank but boy is it ever hard on the owner!!!!

(You guys are really really sure they'll be OK in there with no food or light for 4 days?

? $:-\$ )

dan2x38 · February 17, 2008, 08:44:19 PM

I had to do it on one tank. I did as BD's article said to a tee - no peaking, left it for 5 days... my fish & plants were just fine. BUT as you siad I was stressed the whole time. It did work. If you are prunning plants do not do them all at once. I've done that and caused an increase in algae. It also stressed out my fish with less places to hide.

BigDaddy · February 18, 2008, 08:08:51 AM

charlie's got the ID's dead on. I'll take that macandra off your hands Kat

You are gonna want to let the Bacopa, Hygrophilia and Limnophila grow out.. a lot. These you should prune regularly and replant until you have nice thick bunches of the stuff.

The Egeria probably won't do so well if you tank is heated, it does better in cooler tanks. Keep your eye on it, if it seems to do poorly and the other stems do well, pull it, it's complaining about the heat.

If you bought Flourish complete, for the time being use as directed. Eventually, charlie and I will convince you to save your cash and buy dry ferts

The key now is patience. You may get some algae again... this is normal. You have to build up a good stock of healthy well rooted plants to outcompete the algae. It won't happen overnight. But it will happen.

BigDaddy · February 18, 2008, 08:18:21 AM

Quote from: dan2x38 on February 17, 2008, 06:12:25 PM
I was to slow it took me to long to type you guys updated first anyways I tried... LOL I got the Rotala macrandra wrong... but the ground plant I gave you I think is the green cyrpt... I think...

The way to remember about Alternanthera reineckii, dan, is that the leaves ALTERNATE direction from one node to the next (i.e. two sideways, two front to back, two sideways, two front to back), thus Alternanthera

dan2x38 · February 18, 2008, 09:49:59 AM

Quote from: BigDaddy on February 18, 2008, 08:18:21 AM
thus 'Alternan'thera

Thanks BD darn Latin! Where would we be without you plant gurus? If you guys could teach me to pronounce Latin names that would be a real talent. I was going to say the same to Kats about the 'macandra' I'm to to slow...

Kats · February 18, 2008, 10:01:08 AM

Thank you BigDaddy! I chatted with Charlie last night and he did mentioned something about dry ferts but, being a newbie to the hobby

I think he didn't want to discourage me just yet!!

I love challenges so I'll keep the macrandra for now just to see if it would be happy in our tank. If I see that I'm not doing too good, I'll put it up for adoption!

dan2x38 · February 18, 2008, 10:15:30 AM

OH yeah Kats that foreground plant is a java fern you should have it tied to some rock or driftwood it will grow much better.

BigDaddy · February 18, 2008, 11:33:34 AM

Quote from: Kats on February 18, 2008, 10:01:08 AM
Thank you BigDaddy! I chatted with Charlie last night and he did mentioned something about dry ferts but, being a newbie to the hobby I think he didn't want to discourage me just yet!!

I love challenges so I'll keep the macrandra for now just to see if it would be happy in our tank. If I see that I'm not doing too good, I'll put it up for adoption!

Well.. don't get your hopes up too high

charlie and I have had issues with it in the past in tanks with injected CO2 and 4WPG or higher. Pet stores love to sell it because of its colour.. but it is really a pretty high maintenance plant.

Kats · February 18, 2008, 12:52:33 PM

If both you and Charlie have problems keeping it.... my chances have just gone from bad to worst then!! Well, give me a week or so, if I see that it's a worthless cause, then you will be my first pick on the adoption list!!!

Kats · February 19, 2008, 08:01:35 PM

Oups... OK...

I just had to look in and drop some food into my blacked out tank.... $:-\$

Did I mess up the entire process? I had a light opened 2 rooms down, the room with the tank was very dark... the top has a very heavy duty sleeping bag covering it (tightly with duct tape) so, using the shadow of light from the other room, I opened a little corner of the top and dropped in some food and closed it right away.... took at worst 30 seconds....

I was really worried that my fish would starve..... I guess I should have posted before (Intervention therapy

) but I did it on impulse... a women's perogative!?!

I sincerely hope I did not mess up anything!!!!

BigDaddy · February 19, 2008, 08:20:24 PM

Healthy fish can go a lot longer than 4 days without food. Stop worrying about feeding the fish. They'll be fine.

dan2x38 · February 19, 2008, 10:22:42 PM

Also in the dark the fish move less their metabolism slows so they need less food. Extra food can cause extra nutrients hence algae food...

I had a badly damaged bleeding heart tetra it went 10 days before it started to mend than eat food noticeably. He recovered very nicely!

Kats · February 22, 2008, 07:15:14 PM

We opened up the tank today after a 5 day black out!! Wow! Pretty nice!!

We did the water change than I pored in the plant food I got at BA (Thanks again Charlie for the advice!!)

Only one "casualty", the macrandra was almost all dissolved!!! I still have 2 very poor looking shoots so I'll keep my fingers crossed that it survives!! Other than that, all my fish were alive!!

One weird thing though, I had a lot of MTS that had crawled up to the top of the tank. Is that normal?

dan2x38 · February 22, 2008, 09:43:56 PM

Quote from: Kats on February 22, 2008, 07:15:14 PM
One weird thing though, I had a lot of MTS that had crawled up to the top of the tank. Is that normal?

Yes they come out of the substrate at night they were also looking for food.