Sophia Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 On Feb 17th I added another light tube to my CPD tank (see my signature for pics). It already had an 8W T5 of 14,000K so I doubled the wattage with an aqua one tropical pink 6500k or thereabouts. I dropped the lighted time for a few weeks to observe any algae, I didn't get any growth so over the following few weeks slowly increased it back to 5-6 hours as it was before. Over the past month to 6 weeks I've noticed a few tufts of black beard or brush algae trying to grow on the glass, and there is a little in among the tenellus tenellus too. There was always a little green hair algae from time to time but it also became more established in the very top level of the tank where the twisted val lays on the surface. Not a jungle, but some pieces had lots of little growths spiralling away. There are cobwebs among the christmas moss and tenellus too. I removed as much of the hair algae as I could by pulling it out or trimming the leaves yesterday. Last week the crypts melted again after there was no disturbance of the substrate. On the upside, the small patch of cyano that was in the areas that didn't get much light/circulation is now clear and the twisted val is growing thicker more twisty leaves. The narrow leaf java fern that died back has grown back and the little ferns I attached to the rocks are also doing well. The crypts were perfect till they melted . The sword plant has converted to submersed too. While the prevalence of the black algae is irritating, I am more concerned that the tenellus seems to be flagging. After the new lights went in almost all of it grew in length so that most of the plants seem to be full size. There haven't any obvious new runners and much of it is a yellow/brown green rather than pea green. Under the half wattage lighting it slowly put out runners. I rarely, if ever fertilise as that always seemed to bring on more algae. I do a bit of a water change here and there, maybe a few litres in a month. I will be having one this weekend to clear up some of the debris from the crypts but I'll put most of the existing water back in. Can I give the tenellus a haircut to force new green growth? Does it sound like it isn't adapting so well after all? Is there a fertiliser regime I should adopt that is going to work in my low maintenance low tech tank? I am going to rescape it soon by moving the rocks to the middle and creating more of a semi circle shape. I thought I could bring the tenellus in under the light more but if it's more light that they don't like then that isn't going to help. any thoughts or advice for my conundrum would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Li@m Posted May 11, 2012 Report Share Posted May 11, 2012 Yes. Cut off all the Yellow leaves-they are dying. They will probably like more light. HTH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted May 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2012 cool am gonna rescape that tank soon........... :spop: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted May 11, 2012 Report Share Posted May 11, 2012 The tenellus you have looks like tenellus tenellus which is the finer variety but needs a lot of light and ferts to do well. E tenellus latifolius would do better in that setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted May 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2012 it is tenellus tenellus. When I rescape I'm going to trim off the algae and replant it closer to the light Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Li@m Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 Maybe try an island style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirt Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 For reference http://www.thegreenmachineonline.com/articles/tips-techniques/aquatic-layout-guide-rules-composition-the-golden-ratio-creating-perspectiv Tells you about the different styles ect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted May 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 it's finished now, will post photos when the water is clear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Li@m Posted May 13, 2012 Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 :spop: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted May 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2012 was given more plants this afternoon so it's all muddied up again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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