What's that, 29 gallons? How about if you retrofit a hood for a 55 watt
compact fluorescent? You could use one 24" 18 watt and one 55 watt cf = 2.5
watts per gallon and $75 U.S. Just a thought.

kush

"You can't have everything - where would you put it?"

Stuart Mueller wrote in message
. ..
Thanks kush, good advise as always.

I have cut back with the fertiliser, but may need to cut back some more.
It's difficult to get more light in my tank. The tank is 30" long but it's
18" high. I can't fit a 30" tube in so I have to use 24" tubes which are
only 18W but then I need to find room for the strater units. I have a 24"
and an 18" in there, giving 33W of light. they are on for about 12/13hrs a
day, with my present setup I could only get 36W in there. I jhave room in
my
hood for one more tube, if I get inventive, but then I need space at the
back for another strater unit!?! guess I need a new hood!

I think its hornwort - it kind of has the same leaves as eloda but they
are
much smaller (finer) and it is a lot more yellow than eloda. I have a
bunch
anchored down with a weight, when they die I will either replace or get
something else, I'm currently experimenting with cabomba, but have a
feeling
it might be too delicate!

I'll give hte corymbosa a go at pruning, it's just that it sems to grow
quite slowly and at the minute it looks really beautiful, there are
smaller
shoots coming off the bottom which I am very suprised about.

And I think I need a new plant to replace hte bacopa as this new stuff
isn't
doing so well. it always seem sto lose its leaves, as if hte fish are
taking
them off. whats penny wort like? it has round leaves, but would it look
alright in hte front corner of a tank or does it get too bushy?
(Hygrophilia
would be an example of too bushy for the front corner of my tank)

Thanks again

Stu
While sitting at a computer kush wrote:
Rule One of Pruning: If it looks good when you're done, you did it
the right way. That said, a couple of notes, in no particular
order...

The hornwort is not really a stem plant and should not be planted.
It's leaves can adapt to anchor but, more often, will simply rot.
It's a floating plant, although some people find creative things to
do with it (I once tried to weave it into a mesh onion bag and
stretch it out as a background - boy, did THAT look stupid).

The hygro -corymbosa? - should be easy enough to prune. I've found
that mine doesn't really branch at all until it's been pruned. It
grows so fast in my tank that I have to lop off and replant the top
every month or two.

That's pretty much the same technique for all your stem plants.
Prune back the tips until they start looking ratty, then dig out the
roots, plant the tips, and start over again.

As far as the swords, you can remove outer leaves that are starting
to look shabby by cutting as close to the base as possible. If the
sword's starting to get too big and is crowding out the other plants,
you can remove as many of the outer leaves as necessary to tame it.
If you need to, you can trim all but an inch or two of the roots off
and replant it - the plant will keep it's leaves but will not produce
any new ones while it's regrowing it's roots.

1.5 wpg isn't much light for some of those plants but, if the tank
looks good, hey, who am I to complain. You probably want to limit
fertilizing to the absolute bare minimum your plants can use at that
light level, though, or you'll always have a battle with algae.

kush

Stuart Mueller wrote in message
. ..
I had Eloda, Bacopa, Vallis, borneo sword, some type of dwarf sword
and some giant hygrophilia in my 20Gal tank along with two silk
plants in the back corners. (about 1.5 watts of light per gallon)
but it was looking really shabby, the plants didn't look too good, I
was adding liquid fertiliser once a week and tablets every two
weeks. then I started to get an increase in algae. I got really fed
up with the tank and have completely redesigned it (it took me about
three hours) I kept some of the good strands of eloda, the borneo
swords and the dwarf swords, the giant hygro and a few vallis
strands . I then bought a load more eloda, a load of what I believe
is hornwort, some hygro polysperma (not the giant sort and not
difformis) and some more bacopa, (my other bacopa had god roots but
only about two leaves). since buying that lot I have lost a load of
the hygro and added a load back and bought some cabomba. The
hornwort I spent a week and a half planting it only to find it had
come out the next day so I've gave up and left it floating. I have
also cut back on the fertiliser. I will be getting some more plants
but I have the bulk of what I want. I am now pleased with my tank,
and my algae problem is on the mend!

My question is about pruning and the best way for each type of
plant. this is what I am doing at the moment.

The eloda: If it is uprooted or I can see the base is not looking
too good, I trim about two inches off the base and replant the top,
either throwing the base away or leaving it floating. If the base is
fine or I can't get to uproot it with out disturbing the rest I cut
the top away then either replant or if less than about two inches I
leave it floating.

The Hygro polysperma: At the moment I just prune in my gourami tank,
as I've not had any luck in my big tank. All I do here is snip a few
inches off the top. no uprooting or anything.

Vallis: cut the larger leaves back, use to do it half way up the
leaf but now try to cut it off nearer the base.

That's it for pruning that's all I do, my questions - am I doing the
pruning the correct way, or should I always uproot the plants?

secondly how do I trim such plants as the cabomba, can this be
trimmed from the top or does it not take too kindly to this and
should be uprooted. Hornwort, again is this just like a typical stem
plant?
I have never trimmed the giant hygro, (a couple of it's leaves have
a bit of algae but nothing drastic) but it will need to be trimmed
soon, how do I do this? I have read that if it reaches the top of
the water it will shed it's leaves, and flower, while this would be
good to see, it's taken me so long to grow it I'm afraid of it
losing its leaves.!
The bacopa again just a typical stem plant?
and what about the borneo swords?

Thanks for anyone taking the time to read and answer this

Stu