....Also, Claus/Tropica and I both mentioned this independent of each other,
plants have a better time dealing with low light at high CO2 levels.
So crank the CO2 in those low light tanks and see........
I am sure this is true for most aquarium plats, but I had one
memorable experience where high CO2 and low light did not work out
well for Cryptocoryne. I had a Cryptocoryne only tank, a 29 high
with a single 20 watt T-12 fluorescent light. That comes out to less
than one watt per gallon. For about a year and a half the tank got
no CO2 additions, other than what was produced by snails, etc., fed a
little dry dog food pieces once or twice a week. There were no fish.
The crypts had spread out and reached some sort of growth
equilibrium. They were not especially large, and the plants were
several inches apart. Species were C. cordata and C. wendtii. The
C. cordata plants were only about 3 inches high.
Without changing anything else, I started adding CO2, around 30-40
ppm. After a few days the crypts started melting, and the melting
continued for days until nearly all the leaves were gone. I stopped
adding the CO2, and the plants recovered, and in about 6 months, the
tank looked exactly as it did before the melting.
Then I replaced the single 20 watt fluorescent with three 20 watt
fluorescents and started adding the CO2 again. With the lighting
level at 2.7 watts per gallon and the CO2 at high levels, there was
only a little melting of the oldest leaves, and the plants started to
grow and get a lot larger and a lot more densely populated. After
about 4 months, the tank was packed and the leaves were reaching the
surface.
--
Paul Krombholz in mild central Mississippi, wondering if we are going
to have any winter weather this year.
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