Plants Out Of Control

[confusion]

I've been quite pleased with the plants in my 125G the past few months. I finally got my pressurized CO2 system straightened out.

The problem I have now is getting some kind of balance to the plants so it doesn't turn into an overgrown swamp by the end of the week. Each week I cut back the plants and end up with a bag like this:

That has about 2 pounds of plants in it. That is mostly just cutting off the tops and pulling out all the plants that have grown into the front 6" of the tank. Here is how it looks after the pruning tonight:

I would like to find some taller, less aggressively spreading plants for the very back of the tank. I used jungle val for that, but it has crept all over the tank, except for where I want it.

By the way, it has been reading this forum that has gotten me to this point. So, thank you all!

 

[TammyLiz]

Thats crazy! Two pounds? Are you throwing all those plants away? You should take them into a fish store for some credit!

Show some pics of the tank after it has grown out before pruning next time! I think it'd look nice with some more height for sure. Its hard to tell with the cloudy water what your aquascape is like, but it looks all a little blended in. I'd get something red or a nice piece of wood to use as a focal point. And maybe one thing with larger leaves like some sort of anubias or crypt, both of which are slower growing.

Have you considered getting a background? I think it makes a big difference, especially in pictures. If you like the look of having no background you might consider doing white.

 

[confusion]

It is crazy. By the end of the week the plants have grown so tall that they hit the surface and lay over. Much of the top of the water is a big mat of plants.

I have a fairly big piece of lava rock in the very center of the tank, but it's completely swallowed up by the plants, even after the pruning. I have been thinking about pulling out the wisteria and replacing it with something more slow growing.

For a while, I tried doing something with the excess plants. It gets to a point where there's just too much to deal with.

On the up side, I am finally having success with microsword:

That has been quite a battle. It's getting longer than I would like it, and I believe that means I need brighter lights, but I already have quite a lot of light on the tank, and raging algae problems on the glass.

 

[lljdma06]

What's your lighting level? CO2? Ferts? That is some crazy growth, and when I had high-tech tank, I had to deal with that too. I still deal with that with my low-lights, but not nearly at the same level, and I actually have 1 or 2 tanks that I no longer prune. There gets to be a point where one gets tired of constant pruning and maintenance.

A few crypt species get very tall, and tend to be much slower growing. There are also taller anubia species, and bolbitis can serve as a background as well, though I found it to be a weed. How old is your system?

llj

 

[confusion]

I have 4x65w and 2x55w CF. I have a pressurized CO2 system that pretty much runs wide open - as much as my diffuser will take which is about 5 bubbles per second. I have not been dosing with ferts in some time. Things get really crazy when I do. I almost watch them grow. I did at one point about a month ago put some root tabs in the aquatic soil.

I can see myself getting tired of this level of maintenance for sure.

 

[lljdma06]

I have 4x65w and 2x55w CF. I have a pressurized CO2 system that pretty much runs wide open - as much as my diffuser will take which is about 5 bubbles per second. I have not been dosing with ferts in some time. Things get really crazy when I do. I almost watch them grow. I did at one point about a month ago put some root tabs in the aquatic soil.

I can see myself getting tired of this level of maintenance for sure.

That's the number one reason I switched to lower-light systems. I just got tired of pruning and I actually found that most of the plants I was growing adapted quite well to the lower light levels without losing their lush growth. They just didn't grow at a break-neck pace, and I could be much more relaxed with my maintenance. I even had lawncovers and red plants with much lower light. What type of plants are you growing now? Maybe you could relax things a bit with regard to lighting.

llj

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Yeah I had the same problem. Even cutting my light in half I was still cutting out a bag of stem plants one a week (and pulling out tons of riccia). I have now pulled all the stem plants and riccia out of my tank and replaced them with slow growing crypts makes life a lot easier.

If you are going to change your stem plants make sure you dont do it all in one go. Replace them gradually over a couple of weeks to help stop any algae blooms.

 

[Amunet]

I wish I had this problem We can't get our plants to grow for anything! lol