It has been maybe 3-4 weeks since I put the stronger lights in.

I'm getting what I would consider good root growth compared to with the previous setup. The
anachorous is putting out roots. Previously when I put anachorous into the tank it would not do
anything.

There is also more leaf growth but my problem is getting the algae under control.

What pushed me to change my setup was that I was getting tired of replacing most of my plants
every 3 or 4 months. We would buy a bunch of plants and they would not grow much and eventually
the old leaves would look bad and we would have to replace the plants. I don't need a lush
tank just one where I'm not replacing plants several times a year.

Now I can see new leaves coming in on my swords and other plants. However all the old leaves
are covered in algae. There is noticably less algae on some of the plants at this stage. It is
hard to say if this is a case of new leaves where the algae has not gotten established or a
disapearance of algae because time span. However, there is one little piece of anachorous that
I have watched from being covered with algae to having much less algae with roots growing down
to the gravel and new growth on the little piece that has little or no algae.

" wrote:

william kossack wrote in message ...
Is it really necessary to have a CO2 generator?

So you don't want to use CO2 now?

You cannot mix non methods with CO2 methods.

You should have nearly as much light with a non CO2 method.
Most new folks fail with non CO2 systems very bad.

Yes, you can do it. But.................there are sizable trade offs.

Limited plant choice, smaller leaves, much slower growth, a big dose
of patience, something lacking in 95% of aquarist, some fiddling to
balance things right. Good deep substrate, some floating plants etc.
You will not get a Amano looking pearly tank without CO2. Virtually
every single nice planted tank you see on the web is CO2 enriched.

40+% of the plant's dry weight is Carbon.
So you are severaly limiting things by not supplying it and small
little tank with high plant mass.

Most folks do much better by adding it and few folks ever sell their
gas CO2 systems with good reason.

Ideally if you decide on non CO2, make sure the substrate is something
like a soil based substrate or what I think is better is flourite with
about a 1/2" of peat in the bottom and 4inch of depth or more and add
some mulm from an old established tank to seed the gravel good.
I am not trying to talk you out of non CO2 but most eveyone finds it
much easier to grow the plants using it. I have both types myself. But
they have quite different approaches to work well.

Algae eaters will be needed in both CO2 and non CO2 tanks.

Regards,
Tom Barr