T8 And T5 Lighting?

[JenCliBee]

yer true but u get that via water changes normaly?

No not really, i think you misunderstand how plants grow and what they need to flourish.


Plants use the light as a driver, the more light the more food they need... ie co2 and ferts. This fluctuating causes the plants to suffer... plants that suffer cannot take food (ferts and co2) so efficiently letting algae take hold and unless that balance is rectified, the plants will never recover.

There are many forms of algae....some will cling to plants which not only are unsightly but damaging and near impossible to remove... resulting in the plants/stem/leaf having to be removed.... you think about that happening to every leaf of that plants..... what's the result.... removing the whole plant. What it it happens to every plant?.... every plant 'MAY' be damaged beyond repair and have to be removed..... no more planted tanks.... more money to replace.... unless you know how to balance a tank (co2, ferts, flow... lighting levels.... maintenance) the problem will just continue.


Your not using pressurised co2 by the sounds of it.... it's likely to be one of the spray type replaceable can things which like yeast based system are very unstable.


Have a look in the PARC section and have a good read and the basics and principles of what plants need and what makes a successful tank. You will be surprised at what's involved

 

[mike455555]

thanks it is one of the co2 desposible ones altho at the moment iv lost the canster its not been in there for mounth's tho so i dont have a problem (i rescaped the tank afew weeks ago)

 

[ian]

yer true but u get that via water changes normaly?

No not really, i think you misunderstand how plants grow and what they need to flourish.


Plants use the light as a driver, the more light the more food they need... ie co2 and ferts. This fluctuating causes the plants to suffer... plants that suffer cannot take food (ferts and co2) so efficiently letting algae take hold and unless that balance is rectified, the plants will never recover.

There are many forms of algae....some will cling to plants which not only are unsightly but damaging and near impossible to remove... resulting in the plants/stem/leaf having to be removed.... you think about that happening to every leaf of that plants..... what's the result.... removing the whole plant. What it it happens to every plant?.... every plant 'MAY' be damaged beyond repair and have to be removed..... no more planted tanks.... more money to replace.... unless you know how to balance a tank (co2, ferts, flow... lighting levels.... maintenance) the problem will just continue.


Your not using pressurised co2 by the sounds of it.... it's likely to be one of the spray type replaceable can things which like yeast based system are very unstable.


Have a look in the PARC section and have a good read and the basics and principles of what plants need and what makes a successful tank. You will be surprised at what's involved

++++1 with this!

I'm a massive believer on learning how to grow plants before jumping into the high tech realms. We see so many people with problems due to diving into a high tech tank straight off. Research research research...Parc is a great place to start.

 

[mike455555]

i'll have a look on prac then =]... is high tech more expensive? i mean after its set up or does it work out about the same ? ...its not going to cost me a fortune?

 

[JenCliBee]

thanks it is one of the co2 desposible ones altho at the moment iv lost the canster its not been in there for mounth's tho so i dont have a problem (i rescaped the tank afew weeks ago)

I presume like the tetra optimat type things?. Very unstable and without having a means of measuring what amounts of co2 are being dissolved into the tank... it can be hard to see if it's working to your benefit or just building you up for a big fall .


The problem with hairgrass is it's quite demanding... or at least i found it.... it likes a nice lighting level, high co2 and a good fert regime.... problem is that once you dip below it's ideal conditions.. it will struggle to flourish... or even grow and can go downhill quite quick bringing the rest of the tank down with it .


The best bet would be to go and have a good read of the PARC section, some excellent info there and very helpful to find a bit more info on how a planted tank works and what is needed to keep it flourishing.

Without knowing the fundamentals of a planted tank, it's very hard for us to answer question because you wont know what we mean... hope that made sense lol.