On Fri, 09 May 2003 09:47:49 -0400, Rich Conley
wrote:

One more thing - ammonia is poisonous to plants as well as the fish. The
plants can only utilize ammonium, nitrites and nitrates.

NOt tottally true. The plants may only absorb Ammonium, and not ammonia(not
sure)...but even so, theres always an equilibrium between the two, so if the plants
are eating all the Ammonium, a lot of the ammonia will convert into Ammonium.

It's my understanding (from what I've read) that ammonium gets
converted to ammonia if the ph is above 7. I've seen plants rot very
quickly in uncycled tanks with ph 7.2 and measurable ammonia and then
flourish as soon as that ammonia spike is turned into a nitrite spike.
Cris

It gets converted to ammonia, but not 100%..there is still an equilibrium, and there is
still ammonium available.

Cris wrote:

On Fri, 09 May 2003 09:47:49 -0400, Rich Conley
wrote:

One more thing - ammonia is poisonous to plants as well as the fish. The
plants can only utilize ammonium, nitrites and nitrates.

NOt tottally true. The plants may only absorb Ammonium, and not ammonia(not
sure)...but even so, theres always an equilibrium between the two, so if the plants
are eating all the Ammonium, a lot of the ammonia will convert into Ammonium.

It's my understanding (from what I've read) that ammonium gets
converted to ammonia if the ph is above 7. I've seen plants rot very
quickly in uncycled tanks with ph 7.2 and measurable ammonia and then
flourish as soon as that ammonia spike is turned into a nitrite spike.
Cris

Hi again, (btw, I'm the originator of this thread, posting from work
with google.ca).

First, I would like to thank everybody for their take and advices.
Following the discussion here I bought a few low light plants for my
aquarium. Namely, 2 Anubia Nana (they also had some mother plants,
but I decided against them for such a small tank as mine), 4 Valsinera
(Don't remember which race though, dammit) and a fist-full of java
moss (which I secured to a scenery piece with sowing thread untill it
takes a grip of it).

Now, I'm putting some money aside for a new lighting system. As
reading this thread, and a lot of other threads on lighting (I took a
lot of time reading post on the subject made up to 1998 using
groups.google.com) made me realize that there seems to be absolutly no
substitute for adequate lighting,
I've been looking around for lighting solutions and I'm still unsure
as to what direction I should take. The kits at AH supply seems nice,
but somehow I can't seem to find something that would fit my tank.
I'm under the impression that a 2x55w kit would be overkill
(4.4w/gal), and a 1x55w kit might not be enough (2.2w/gal). The MH
kit at aquaqiclight.com seem to be super-mega-too-much overkill 175w
(7w/gal), unless I don't understand MH. Any other idea?

Also, any Canadians here got any good/bad stories ordering from AH
supply?

Thanks again for any answers



p.s.: I just can't beleive how friendly and (almost) flame free the
aquaria newsgroups are. Congrats to all the regulars for making newbs
like me feel at home.

2wpg is plenty for those plants. If you find that you enjoy keeping
plants you may later decide that you would like to try slightly more
for high light plants - with co2, of course. 4.4wpg is definitely
overkill even for high light plants - I doubt your fish would
appreciate it either.
Cris

On 22 May 2003 03:40:08 -0700, (Tzeentch) wrote:
*Snip*
Following the discussion here I bought a few low light plants for my
aquarium. Namely, 2 Anubia Nana (they also had some mother plants,
but I decided against them for such a small tank as mine), 4 Valsinera
(Don't remember which race though, dammit) and a fist-full of java
moss (which I secured to a scenery piece with sowing thread untill it
takes a grip of it).
*Snip*
I've been looking around for lighting solutions and I'm still unsure
as to what direction I should take. The kits at AH supply seems nice,
but somehow I can't seem to find something that would fit my tank.
I'm under the impression that a 2x55w kit would be overkill
(4.4w/gal), and a 1x55w kit might not be enough (2.2w/gal). The MH
kit at aquaqiclight.com seem to be super-mega-too-much overkill 175w
(7w/gal), unless I don't understand MH. Any other idea?
*Snip*

I suspect you do not have enough light, plants, you are buying. You do not say you how much light in the tank, but if you have only a general compartment cover, you may not have enough light to the aquarium plant growth.

That's about absolutely a 20watt florescent bulb--not abundant ablaze for many types of aquarium plants. Fertilizer, CO2 etc. apparently won't help abundant after added light. There are some types of plants (e.g., java moss) that you ability accept luck with; they don't crave much light.