glennn Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 The question is for my set up is a pressurized system worth it? My tank is a 750 liter tank with largish Clown loaches and a large grumpy common Pleco I love the planted aquarium and currently stock some beaten up swords, crypts and java fern, would love these to flourish (well grow faster than the inhabitants can rip them to bits anyway) I have a plant refuge tank that they get moved to to recover when they get too bad The tank has had a problem with with bba in the past and I double dose with flourish excel once a week which seems to keeping it at bay for now, the side effect being that it has helped the growth rate of said shabby looking plants. I dont really want to run the lights 8 hours a day so would half that be enough for reasonable growth? So with pressurized co2 and a 4 hour photo-period would that be enough to see results? Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Li@m Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 What kind of lighting do you have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glennn Posted July 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 4ft 2 x 54w t5 and 5ft 2 x 24w t8 (not to sure about the wattage on the 5ft but it wont be any less) depth of the tank is 70cm with out substrate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 IMO i wouldn't bother with CO2 unless you increase the photoperiod, 4 hours is really too little for all but sciophytic plants Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris b Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 Have you got any pics? your set up sounds the same as mine and i have the same problem my clowns destroy anything with a large leaf!!! i have just put a $50 bunch of tiger lotus in which was a real fun game for them :evil: I have a pressurised co2 system on mine and haven't noticed any change in plant growth. i'm just learning with plants so cant really give advice on light time etc but i think crypt and java fern only need low light so they should be fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glennn Posted July 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 So what would the min photo period be then? there you go Chris Larger pic http://i47.tinypic.com/2mhshgg.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 In my experience it won't matter how fast your plants grow your clowns will still destroy them lol, I wouldn't bother with co2 if I were you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 IMO i wouldn't bother with CO2 unless you increase the photoperiod, 4 hours is really too little for all but sciophytic plants Yeah, you want growth you need to crank up the lighting to more like 12 hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glennn Posted July 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2012 Was trying to be tight on the power bill, looks like I will have to go for the 12 hours I take it that the photo period should be increased over a month or two encase of algae Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angus Posted July 9, 2012 Report Share Posted July 9, 2012 Yeah, you want growth you need to crank up the lighting to more like 12 hours. It depends on the amount of light you've got pumping in i think... I had a photoperiod of 6 hours (2.30 - 8.30pm) and got good growth with 4 x 36W CFL's in a 70G tank (i know watts/gallon is an unfavoured term now but i don't own a PAR meter...). This was in response to battling (and losing) an algae war with 4 x 55W CFL's on for 12 hours. I read that light drives the ecosystem in the planted tank, so I dropped things down (period and wattage) to the lowest point I thought would still achieve good growth without the imbalance. I have pressurized CO2 and dose using the EI method. I then slowly increased things to a point where I can now report, that aside from the occasional BBA appearance, I now have a balanced happy tank, with good growth. :happy2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glennn Posted July 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2012 So Angus what photo period are you running now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angus Posted July 10, 2012 Report Share Posted July 10, 2012 7 hours - the lights come on at 2.30, go off at 9.30pm. If I was to offer my two cents Glenn, give pressurized a go. You're going to need to get a carbon source into your tank if you want healthy plant growth. And with a tank that size, i'd suggest that dosing with Flourish Excel will be more expensive than cutting your lights down to save money. The other positive, is that you learn what works and what doesn't in your particular set up. If you're keen on a planted tank, then from my experience, there isn't any half measures in terms of the equipment. But having got the gear, tinkering is the name of the game until balance is achieved, and that is a great learning process. I'd agree with the previous posts though - clowns and planted tanks don't get along... :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glennn Posted July 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Cheers Peeps for your input so the decision really is clowns or plants If i get rid of the clowns then would prolly move towards Discus Which in turn means getting rid of the rest of the fish in the tank as the rest of the tank mates wouldn't like living in a hothouse Tough choice :tears: Cheers again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karina Posted July 16, 2012 Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 No problems here with clowns and plants. They are fed a variety of foods. Perhaps that is the key? I have a photoperiod of 6 hrs and dose 20ml flourish excel daily. I currently have 3 swords put up runners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glennn Posted July 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 They get fed different foods but they can be quite fussy when i introduce new stuff What other plants do you have Karina? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karina Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 Hi Glenn I have: Tiger lotus 60cm (with 2 pups) Cabomba Java fern Indian fern Crypts Hydro Amazonicus horizontalis Anubias Christmas moss Amazon swords Another one like babies tears, forgot the name of it. What plants are your clowns destroying? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glennn Posted July 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 Mainly the crypts and tiger lotus, The java fern doesn't seem to do well in that tank And the swords seem to get beaten up I prolly shouldn't put all the blame on the clowns as there is a large common pleco in the tank too I am still wavering on a proper co2 unit, if anything it will help to keep the bba away and costing it over 2-3 years would be cheaper than flourish excel! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 I read somewhere that with Java fern, the harder the water, the more light that is required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glennn Posted July 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 Not sure how hard or soft our water is tbh Or how to test for it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 Not sure how hard or soft our water is tbh Or how to test for it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glennn Posted July 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 Guess i am off to the lfs this weekend cheers Ira Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.