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Re: dramatic increase in light
Hi Teresa,
I took that step some months ago so I can tell you
about my experiences. If you want to grow "difficult"
plants, you probably need CO2 as well as high light.
In that case, unless you already have some experience
with nutrient management, you can probably expect a
lot of work controlling algae. In fact, if you don't
get on top of your phosphate / nitrate levels right
away, you can have a real nightmare. You'd want to
have a very light fish load, algae eaters (otos, amano
shrimp, sae's) in place. also some fast growing plants
to soak up excess nutrients. You may not be able to
grow slow growing plants (crypts, anubias) in this
type of tank because they get choked off with algae,
so it could mean a big replanting, depending on what
you have right now.
I now have three tanks: one high light with CO2, one
low light, no CO2 and one in the middle, high light no
CO2. In terms of amount of work, the high light + CO2
tank takes by far the most effort: trimming fast
growing plants, managing algae, adding fertilizer,
test measurements etc etc. It's quite a lot of work.
The other tanks pretty much manage themselves: I only
change water once a week and have no algae problems of
any kind. The downside is that I can only grow a
limited selection of plants (low light variety). It's
a different look, but in my opinion does not look
worse, just different.
Anyway, I'd say adding just more light and no CO2
probably doesn't make a huge difference to
maintenance. Unfortunately, many so called high-light
plants need CO2 to do well, and if you add that, it's
a completely different experience - you need to be
quite dedicated to make this work.
Hope that helps and good luck!
Martin
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Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2001 13:52:06 EDTFrom:
TD7894 at aol_comSubject: Re: dramatic increase in
lightHello, I am thinking of upgrading the light over
one of my tanks. It is a planted 38 gallon tank that
has been set up for a year and a half and is doing
well. It has 60 watts normal fluorescent plus a little
added sunlight in summer no Co2 very low maintenance.
Plants grow slowly but well enough and there is very
little algae. I want to get a 96 watt custom sealife
compact fluorescent strip. My question is, when I
increase the light will I get the burn on plant leaves
that I sometimes get when I move the houseplants on to
the deck for the summer? Is there a way to avoid this?
Are there other consequences to increasing light that
I am unaware of? TIA Teresa.
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