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#1
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Dealing with bright tanks
Hi,
I'm new to this newsgroup. I've been reading the post here for a while. I wanted to thank all the posters. I've gotten tons of useful information by reading the posts here. I've used a lot of the information here to setup a 46 gallon bowfront that is doing OK. Thanks! I wanted to start a discussion regarding tanks that have a lot of light, at least 3-4 watts per gallon (wgp). I have two such tanks and have had a lot of problems. What are other people's experiences with tanks that have a lot of light. What problems have people had with bright tanks or high light tanks? What are some of the benfits that people have experienced with bright tanks? How have people dealt with algae? Any other experiences that you'd like to share? In another post I'll put the details of my tanks, but I just wanted to start some discussion first. Thanks, Tony |
#3
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Dealing with bright tanks
If one of your problems is algae get a sterilizer. Once I had it set
right the algae went right down Tony wrote: Hi, I'm new to this newsgroup. I've been reading the post here for a while. I wanted to thank all the posters. I've gotten tons of useful information by reading the posts here. I've used a lot of the information here to setup a 46 gallon bowfront that is doing OK. Thanks! I wanted to start a discussion regarding tanks that have a lot of light, at least 3-4 watts per gallon (wgp). I have two such tanks and have had a lot of problems. What are other people's experiences with tanks that have a lot of light. What problems have people had with bright tanks or high light tanks? What are some of the benfits that people have experienced with bright tanks? How have people dealt with algae? Any other experiences that you'd like to share? In another post I'll put the details of my tanks, but I just wanted to start some discussion first. Thanks, Tony |
#4
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Dealing with bright tanks
I wanted to start a discussion regarding tanks that have a lot of
light, at least 3-4 watts per gallon (wgp). I hope you are injecting CO2 with that lighting level. When you go over 3 wpg, CO2 is mandatory, not optional. With a 46 gallon tank, it can be hard to get enough CO2 in the water with DIY. I would go with compressed CO2. You could run all your tanks off of a single CO2 cylinder. Leigh http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/ |
#5
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Dealing with bright tanks
I wanted to start a discussion regarding tanks that have a lot of
light, at least 3-4 watts per gallon (wgp). I have two such tanks and have had a lot of problems. What are other people's experiences with You should give more information to really start a discussion. You have just given one parameter that is light. What kind of a problem you are facing? If its algae what kind and what are NO3, P and other nutrient levels. Dominic |
#6
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Dealing with bright tanks
With a 46 gallon tank, it can be hard to get enough CO2 in the water with
DIY. I would go with compressed CO2. You could run all your tanks off of a single CO2 cylinder. Leigh LeighMo is right, algae doesn't necessarily have to be in your tanks. It's all about balance. Just adding more light isn't going to lead to great plant growth, they still require two other main resources, co2 and fertilizer. If you can't strike a balance between these three elements, then the tank will be unstable and algae will be able to thrive on the excesses. -Cesium |
#7
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Dealing with bright tanks
I heard this can do weird things to the nutrients in your tanks and can
retard algae growth? has anyone hooked up a steralizer to a planted tank and had success? "m.dekort" wrote in message ... If one of your problems is algae get a sterilizer. Once I had it set right the algae went right down Tony wrote: Hi, I'm new to this newsgroup. I've been reading the post here for a while. I wanted to thank all the posters. I've gotten tons of useful information by reading the posts here. I've used a lot of the information here to setup a 46 gallon bowfront that is doing OK. Thanks! I wanted to start a discussion regarding tanks that have a lot of light, at least 3-4 watts per gallon (wgp). I have two such tanks and have had a lot of problems. What are other people's experiences with tanks that have a lot of light. What problems have people had with bright tanks or high light tanks? What are some of the benfits that people have experienced with bright tanks? How have people dealt with algae? Any other experiences that you'd like to share? In another post I'll put the details of my tanks, but I just wanted to start some discussion first. Thanks, Tony |
#8
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Dealing with bright tanks
Hi again,
My intention is to create a tread with experiences with high light tanks. I wanted to see how many people have actually tried to grow plants that require high light. From my limited experience, it has been interesting. I don't expect to solve all m problems in one thread. Instead, I thought it would be an interesting discussion for this group. For example, I ran a blue light for the first 3 months of my 46 gallon tank. I have 2 96 watt compact florescent bulbs. My LFS guy told me to use one white bulb and a blue bulb? Have you ever seen the kind of algae that grows under bright blue light? I looked at a lot of web pages and pictures of algae, but I have never seen anything quite like what was growing in my tank. I would strongly recommend against anyone else trying this experiment. My tank first when through intense green water which I cleared up with a big UV sterilizer. The water was so green I couldn't see 2 inches into the tank. It was like my fish would suddenly appear from a fog when they got close to the glass. Then the wierd algae started growing. It is dark green/blue and very slimy, in the middle it was white. Since I changed out the blue blub with a white bulb it has almost completely disappeared. I'm sure that other people out there have some good stories, growing plants with high lights isn't that easy and I'm sure a lot can go wrong. I also figured it could be a good tread that people could read to avoid making big mistakes. Later, Tony (Tony) wrote in message . com... I wanted to start a discussion regarding tanks that have a lot of light, at least 3-4 watts per gallon (wgp). I have two such tanks and have had a lot of problems. What are other people's experiences with tanks that have a lot of light. What problems have people had with bright tanks or high light tanks? What are some of the benfits that people have experienced with bright tanks? How have people dealt with algae? Any other experiences that you'd like to share? |
#9
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Dealing with bright tanks
I heard this can do weird things to the nutrients in your tanks and can
retard algae growth? has anyone hooked up a steralizer to a planted tank and had success? Me. I've had a UV sterilizer on my tank almost from the beginning. It won't do weird things to the nutrients in your tank. While UV light will oxidize iron and the like, the effect is negligible. Hydroponics growers routinely use UV sterilizers. It won't solve all your algae problems, either. It does make short work of green water, but has no effect on other types of algae. Leigh http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/ |
#10
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Dealing with bright tanks
Then the wierd algae started growing. It is dark green/blue
and very slimy, in the middle it was white. Sounds like BGA (blue-green algae). Weirdly, that's one algae that's often a problem in low-light tanks. I had a lot of it in one tank when it was low-light. Mainly when I didn't change the water frequently enough. Then, when I increased the lighting to moderate, I got BGA at the top of the tank, where plants kept the water still. I was growing my own pond scum. :-P It eventually went away on its own. IME, it's normal to suffer algae outbreaks as the tank gets established. Eventually, the tanks finds its balance, and the algae goes away. Leigh http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/ |
#11
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Dealing with bright tanks
Just adding more light isn't going to lead to great
plant growth, they still require two other main resources, co2 and fertilizer. If you can't strike a balance between these three elements, then the tank will be unstable and algae will be able to thrive on the excesses. Yup. And even worse things can happen. With high light and no CO2 injection, the pH can shoot up so much and so fast it hurts, even kills, the fish. Leigh http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/ |
#12
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Dealing with bright tanks
wouldn't it kill algae spores and not allow the algae to spread in the tank
as easily? "LeighMo" wrote in message ... I heard this can do weird things to the nutrients in your tanks and can retard algae growth? has anyone hooked up a steralizer to a planted tank and had success? Me. I've had a UV sterilizer on my tank almost from the beginning. It won't do weird things to the nutrients in your tank. While UV light will oxidize iron and the like, the effect is negligible. Hydroponics growers routinely use UV sterilizers. It won't solve all your algae problems, either. It does make short work of green water, but has no effect on other types of algae. Leigh http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/ |
#13
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Dealing with bright tanks
LeighMo wrote:
Yup. And even worse things can happen. With high light and no CO2 injection, the pH can shoot up so much and so fast it hurts, even kills, the fish. What causes the pH to go up (alkaline) in high light tanks? -- Victor M. Martinez http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv |
#14
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Dealing with bright tanks
"LeighMo" wrote in message ... snip Yup. And even worse things can happen. With high light and no CO2 injection, the pH can shoot up so much and so fast it hurts, even kills, the fish. I experienced this with only 2wpg. I checked the pH two days after putting in many plants and installing the light, and it was 9. That's why I got into CO2 so quickly. bob |
#15
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Dealing with bright tanks
wouldn't it kill algae spores and not allow the algae to spread in the tank
as easily? Not by my experience. UV sterilizers don't actually make the tank sterile. Some people claim that the fishes' immune systems get weak, because there's no germs to keep them revved up. Or that they kill off the biological filter. Not true. There's plenty of bacteria, spores, and the like in a tank with a UV sterilizer on it. The UV sterilizer can only kill the stuff that's free-floating, and it doesn't kill 100% of that. Leigh http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/ |
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