Lighting trouble? You tell me!

MinaMinaMina

Is it wood fungus? That cloudy/milky stuff? I know there are many types of fungus, but whenever I've had it come up, my MTS devoured it like it was their JOB.

I feel your frustration. My tank that IS growing plants awesomely I can't even scape because I've got mystery hitchhiker fry in there presently. So I've got a bunch of very pretty, healthy plants that are just sitting around randomly and taunting me. lol

Patience is a virtue, eh?

But back to the 55g... In my experience, fast growing to moderately fast growing plants take about two weeks to settle in and start taking off. So you think it will be about two weeks before I see a difference in the vals?

Boredomb

Different type of fungus then that stuff. Not sure anyways on the Vals it could take that time or longer for them to adjust to the new fertilizer and lighting.

Byron

Not much I can add to this thread, it has been covered fairly well.

Hair algae being a green algae will increase with light that is beyond the nutrient balance. Diatoms however are another matter, these occur in low light or when silicates are present. Or when the biology is not yet balanced, as in new tanks.

The single tube might not be sufficient intensity for the Vallisneria, esp with floating plants. But, I should mention that this plant is growing in my 33g which is low/moderate light, and soft acidic water too. Though it is not growing all that well, but it is not dying off which is the real test in my view. If a plant dies off, something is wrong; but if it remains alive, albeit with slow or virtually no growth, it is serving its purpose.

MinaMinaMina

Yes, the diatoms are there because its a new tank, only 2 or 3 months old, but they really kicked up their production with the new bulb at 12-14 hours per day. (A little off topic... Aesthetically, I really like a lot of forms of algae. Is that weird, or what?! )

Tonight I noticed that the vals are looking even worse, and seem to be going downhill more quickly than before. Even with adjusting my lighting to help with CO2, I don't think my vals look good enough at this point for any hopes of a rebound without drastic measures.

So can anyone suggest a very inexpensive way to up my lighting on this tank? Otherwise, I'm moving on to plan B, below:

Barring some fantastic advice on cheap lighting... I'm thinking that my only option at this point, if I want to protect my investment in the vals and yet can't afford to upgrade my lighting yet, is to temporarily dump the vals in my 25g. That tank happily grows anything I throw at it. It will be really crowded in there, and I hope the fry won't mind. I just didn't want to do this because A. I want my 55g to be pretty, darnit, and look the way I had planned it! and B. I'm battling with a young outbreak of pond and ramshorn snails, and trying to pick those out. Well, at least getting the pond snails out of there. And I don't really want to introduce pond snails into the 55g when I move the vals back.

Sometimes it seems like its all trade-offs and choosing the lesser evil in this aquarium game!

I'm feeling pretty blue tonight, so I'm going to say it- If I knew how much trouble this tank was going to be, I don't know that I would've set it up. This was supposed to be part of my therapy and lift my spirits (chronic pain condition), but its been bumpier than I'd hoped, to put it mildly. All of you on this forum are pretty stinkin' awesome, though! Thanks and thanks again for all the wonderful advice!

Byron

I too have had tanks that seemed to be endless failures. Each tank can have its own biology and sometimes it seems to take some trial and error to find the balance.

MinaMinaMina

Thanks for the empathy and hope. But I can't forget to thank ya for all the knowledge! You and Boredomb both!

DKRST

Ditto on the vals, I've had no luck with them. I can grow very nice Myro, ugly spindly Cabomba, and more Rotalia than I know what to do with, but no success with vals of any type to date...

I have hair algae troubles if I keep my light on more than 7-8 hours.
Good luck!

MinaMinaMina

Thanks, DKRST! It always helps to know I am not alone. And I apologize to everyone for my self pity the other night. I'll try to keep my chin up. I keep telling myself "Mina, you're learning a lot from all the pitfalls of this tank. Its making you a better aquarist.".

You know, speaking of other plants, I just remembered...
For about a month I had a pot of Vallisneria spiralis (Italian Val) in that tank. It was centrally located, while all the other Vals are around the back/sides. And it was pre-potted in that spongy stuff. BUT the spiralis did GREAT. It and grew quite happily, sent off a LOT of daughters. And this was under the OLD low K light!

Before I jump to conclusions, what does everyone else make of that?

Byron

It likely had more light over it. It was "settled" which can take time when a plant is placed in a new environment. There may have been nutrients in the rock wool (pot material). If it was the Corkscrew Vall, that tends to be easier.