High Light w/o CO2

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: High Light w/o CO2
From: krandall at world_std.com (Karen A Randall)
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 1995 13:52:05 -0400
Subject: re: High light without CO2 

Shaji,

> I hereby conclude that you have moderately good water :-). 

Actually, I would rate my water "moderately bad".<g>  My tap water has a 
total hardness of 150 ppm, KH about 5, pH out of the tap is below 6, but 
jumps to 8.2 within 24 hours... Oh... It also has about 3ppm of copper.  
Other than that, it's just about perfect.<g>  Fortunately, I did most of my 
experimenting before they started "doctoring" our tap water.  In my low tech 
tanks, I am very limited as far as what I can grow is concerned.  The tanks 
are still lush and green, but the number of species I can use is small.  
Even in my high tech tanks, and with pretreating my water by running it 
through carbon and treating with a chelating agent I have high ienough 
copper residue in my gravel that I can't grow any copper sensitive plants 
like Vals or Ludwigia.  OTOH, I can't keep snails alive either, so there's a 
bright side too!<g>

> But
> seriously, it's difficult for a newcomer to find a good variety of
> plants and to get good advice on their culture. Pet stores are not
> much help, either.  On top of that, it takes time to determine which
> plants do well and to learn good aquascaping.

You won't see me arguing with you there.  That's why I speak on the subject, 
write articles about it, and offer my experience freely when ever asked.

> I'm not arguing against the need for balance.  I'm also not saying
> that you should not take water conditions, lighting, maintenance, the
> experience of others in your area, etc. into account when planning
> your tank. If you do, you are being foolish.  

Then we don't have much to argue about.

> The question I raised was just about how hard it is to sustain a low-tech, 
> high-light aquarium.  In my experience, it's not substantially more > 
difficult than setting up a low-tech, low-light tank.  

As I said before, and I am _not_ being facetious, good for you.  I'm glad.  
But I think if you poll a large group of aquatic gardeners, you will find 
that the number who can balance high light without algae problems and 
without resorting to supplemental CO2 and trace elements are few.

> PS: About why I have 40 watts of lighting over a 10 gallon tank - I'm
> trying to figure that out myself :-).

Seems to me there are more interesting things you could grow in there 
besides a big fish and a ball of Java Moss! ;-)

Karen