help

[ROB281]

How important is it to trim roots, I tried to keep live plants, and it seems I'm losing the battle, I had three swords and two apongetons going, and they were doing good for a while, then I changed the bulb in the hood to tropical light bulb from petsmart, and now the plants are looking like they're dying off, I imagine the oscars have played a part in this since it seems like there are blades of plants floating on the surface almost everytime I come home now.  And now there is a brown algae starting to kick in. So I guess I need to more than just root management, but I'll take what I can get right now, also the substrate is fine gravel and there is no c02 being fed in, the filtration is a whisper 20-40 hob, and a 140 gal per hour power head which is pointed towards the surface and not on the sides or bottom.  I was thinking about going planted on my 60, but after this I'm not sure :?

[Mzungu]

Re: help

Could you give a little bit more background on the tank, like size, age, what type of lighting, how many watts/gallon, etc.? How long did you have the plants in there before changing the bulb? How soon after changing the bulb did they start going downhill? If the plants were doing well for quite a while before with the oscars, then I would suspect the lighting. When you say tropical light bulb, what's the K rating?

Sorry so many questions!  

[ROB281]

Re: help

tank is a 29 gallon tank, it's been running for over a year now, the plants were probably in for a month and a half with the plane jane flourescent tube before I swapped the current bulb in, the specs on the bulb if I remember correctly are 10k 80 watts, that bulb has been in close to a month already, and the degredation seem to kick in around the time I fostered the Oscars, btw their agression is on the rise they are now chasing my danios, which is what I want to beleive is the primary culprit.

[Tiapan]

Re: help

sounds like a bit of both. brown alge usually occurs from too little light. and the plant bits seem like oscar work. swords are pretty tough but they always seem to come back. i had a client that was keeping swords in an oscar tank with normal plecos. the plecos always ate the swords down to the roots. then would let a few leaves come back and then snack on them again. the plants were in there months before the tank got moved and now they do great in mine.  

[SCOTT]

Re: help

If in fact the lights are 10k, they aren't emitting enough light in the useable spectrum and your plants are basically starving for light. Plants need light in the 6500 to 6700 range in order for photosynthesis to function properly. While the 10k lights look good to us, they are nearly invisible to plants.

[Mzungu]

Re: help

Hmm, I was under the impression that anywhere from around 6500 to 10K was good for plants. So this is a plain fluorescent bulb, also?? If you're correct that it's 80 watts, that should be more than enough light for what you have.  :)

Oh, and to answer your first question, you don't need to trim the roots often, if ever. It's recommended for some plants to trim down the roots when they're new to the tank and/or when you're moving them to another place in the tank, it's supposed to stimulate more root growth so they can establish themselves in their new home. But if they've been in there for a month and a half, you should be good.  :)

[eklikewhoa]

Re: help

it could be that the plants are melting off due to the change or light kelvin.

i have never trimmed roots before.

[ROB281]

Re: help

it could be that the plants are melting off due to the change or light kelvin.

i have never trimmed roots before.

light kelvin?

[SCOTT]

Re: help

Kelvin  is what the K stands for in the K rating of the light, ie. 6700k

[SCOTT]

Re: help

as for the 10k lights mary beth, they are good for corals, along with the actinic bulbs, but for regular fresh water plants, not so good. The 10k simulates the harsher light experienced in open water, whereas the 65-67k simulates the more filtered light which reaches fresh water plants. Another reason why MH lights are so popular for coral tanks, the harsher light is needed by the corals, the same light is ignored or detrimental to fresh water plants, often stimulating nothing more than algae growth.

[ROB281]

Re: help

as for the 10k lights mary beth, they are good for corals, along with the actinic bulbs, but for regular fresh water plants, not so good. The 10k simulates the harsher light experienced in open water, whereas the 65-67k simulates the more filtered light which reaches fresh water plants. Another reason why MH lights are so popular for coral tanks, the harsher light is needed by the corals, the same light is ignored or detrimental to fresh water plants, often stimulating nothing more than algae growth.

sounds about right since algae wasn't a problem until I switched bulbs, that, and the water temperature stays warm no matter what now, I actually open up the canopy to let some heat escape off the surface while I'm home

[ROB281]

Re: help

I was waaaaaaaaaay off on my light numbers, it's actually a 5500k light at 18 watts, it's the coralife light I was thinking about, but I'm not using that one.

[Mzungu]

Re: help

Ah, that sounds better! I was going to ask where you got a regular fluorescent at 80 watts!  

If your budget allows, I'd look into power compacts, I've noticed a big difference in algae growth vs. fluorescents. Plus they'll provide a bit more wattage, and for swords and such they'll appreciate over 1 watt/gallon.

Thanks for the info, Scott!  :)