Are There Any Disadvantages With Having Carpet Plants?

[dorecs]

Hi,
 
I've bought a Hemianthus callitrichoides and hope it will carpet some of the tank.
 
Can I still syphon poo and debris off of it?
 
Will it have an bad effects on tank chemistry by covering up the substrate?
 
Thanks!

 

[daizeUK]

Just in case you didn't know, it's a difficult plant to grow.  It's classified as an advanced plant because it requires good light and good CO2.  It's not likely to carpet successfully unless you have a high-tech tank.
 
Usually you will not siphon around plants because the plants will use the waste as nutrients.  I confess I still siphon around plants where possible because i don't like the idea of poo hiding in the tank but it's generally impractical to siphon around carpeting plants, especially if they are not yet rooted in well.  There are no ill effects from covering the substrate, plants have a positive effect by oxygenating the substrate through their roots.

 

[KieranBoyne]

Yeah my brother had that, it was pretty much impossible to grow for him lol. He had to upgrade his lighting twice, install a co2 system just for 1 plant.. kinda pointless in my opinion, but that's just me. And i used to syphon around where my amazon swords are, before i put in my root tab that is. And i agree with daize, i just cant stand the thought of the tank being filthy... EEEK

 

[dorecs]

I'm adding liquid carbon and fertilizer to tank so we'll see how it goes, The tank is fairly shallow so lighting may be sufficient as it is,
It's good to know that it won't do any bad, it may even be good.
 
Thanks

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Shallow tanks actually need more light, It has to do with the dispersal vs the distance light has to travel. An easier way to understand this is when you shine a flashlight onto a wall, The circle of light gets bigger the farther from the wall you are. There is a tradeoff between the level of brightness on the wall and the size of the area illuminated. In shallow tanks the light can reach the tank bottom before it can spread out much is the potential issue.

 

[daizeUK]

Shallow tanks actually need more light

 
I think we must be careful here.   Increasing the intensity of light could lead to algae outbreaks.  If there are problems with insufficient coverage then they would be better addressed by replacing with a lamp of the same output which gives better coverage over the tank.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

As light leaves a bulb it begins to spread out. The farther one gets from the bulb, the more two things happen. The light intensity is reduced and the amount of area illuminated is increased.
 
In a shallow tank, if the light fixture is close to the surface of the tank, then the light will hit the substrate before it has spread out enough to provide light out to the edges of this range. For this reason one must compensate in one of several ways. One is more bulbs but at fewer watts. This lets you achieve coverage (can be hard to do on small tanks except with LEDs). Another method is to use brighter lighting but to suspend it above the tank far enough to cover the entire bottom and let the distance reduce the intensity. (See the pics in the link here http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=5633 )
 
Very shallow or very deep tanks both need more lighting but for opposite reasons. One to achieve coverage and the other to achieve intensity.

 

[KieranBoyne]

Anyways... How are the plants coming along??

 

[dorecs]

Anyways... How are the plants coming along??

Haven't arrived yet, they got caught up in the Bank Holiday post

As light leaves a bulb it begins to spread out. The farther one gets from the bulb, the more two things happen. The light intensity is reduced and the amount of area illuminated is increased.
 
In a shallow tank, if the light fixture is close to the surface of the tank, then the light will hit the substrate before it has spread out enough to provide light out to the edges of this range. For this reason one must compensate in one of several ways. One is more bulbs but at fewer watts. This lets you achieve coverage (can be hard to do on small tanks except with LEDs). Another method is to use brighter lighting but to suspend it above the tank far enough to cover the entire bottom and let the distance reduce the intensity. (See the pics in the link here http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=5633 )
 
Very shallow or very deep tanks both need more lighting but for opposite reasons. One to achieve coverage and the other to achieve intensity.

 

 

Shallow tanks actually need more light

 
 

 
 I see what your saying and completely agree but surely an equally important variable as distance from substrate is the area of the substrate. My substrate is only  a 30cmx30cm square so the substrate is never more than 10cm horizontally to the bulb. So the light will spread out but it doesn't really need to spread out far to reach the corners of the tank. Is there a way to work out how far light spreads horizontally for every unit vertically say. Trigonometry?

 

[daizeUK]

I think the angle of spread of light depends on your light source.  For example LEDs will often come with different quoted spreads.
 
I wouldn't worry about it unless there are areas of your tank that are obviously darker.  Yours sounds fine.

 

[KieranBoyne]

oh. they got caught up in the post?? Well, that's very unlucky eh?

 

[dorecs]

oh. they got caught up in the post?? Well, that's very unlucky eh?

 
As in with it being Bank Holiday Monday, the post service stops running and I was away so I missed the delivery so now they're stuck at the depo till Tuesday. Do I detect sarcasm?

I think the angle of spread of light depends on your light source.  For example LEDs will often come with different quoted spreads.
 
I wouldn't worry about it unless there are areas of your tank that are obviously darker.  Yours sounds fine.

Thanks, the light on the substrate all looks pretty even so it should be fine.

 

[KieranBoyne]

-.-
 
no sarcasm... Just honest remark

 

[dorecs]

Aha, it's always tricky to judge emotion with just text. My bad