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Floating plants/lighting

2K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  Chesh 
#1 ·
Hello,

I have a 37 gallon moderatly planted tank with 7 Pristella Tetras. I am in the process of adding Glowlights and also a few more Pristellas so I will have 10-12 of each. This tank has been set up for a year. I run a 36" 25W Flora Sun Zoo Med(5000K) 6 hours a day. I did have 2 bulbs running, but had a lot of algae so I removed one bulb and since then have not had much algae. I have mostly Crypts and Anubius, but also a couple of Swords and some Octopus plant. Jungle Val will be added this week. The Crypts and Anubius are doing fantastic, Swords and Octopus are ok, but not as great as the other two. Octopus is yellowing, nutient deficiency I am assumming.

I will be adding some floating plants this week, Water Sprite and Duckweed. Should I add the other buld back since the light will be blocked some by the floating plants? I'm just not sure how the floating plants will affect my lighting.

I had water lettuce at one point but it did not do well and slowly died away. I think this was a nutrient problem.

Kelley
 
#2 ·
Depending on how much you're putting in there, and what your water flow is, you might want to just wait and see for a bit on this one. If your plants thrive to the point that you have a canopy dense enough to shade the bottom of your tank fairly well, then I'd say to go ahead and use both lights. But if you're just putting in a small amount of each, and algae is a concern in the rest of the tank, I'd wait it out until the plants are dense enough to make an impact.

Duckweed will thrive in almost any conditions, but WaterSprite *can* be a bit fussier, and you may see a bit of die-off before the new plants adjust to your tank and start to thrive. If you find that they're getting knocked around too much and moved away from the light by the water flow, it may be a good idea to net them in order keep them in one area of the tank while they're settling in. Once you see some growth, get rid of the net and set them free!

Hope this helps - good luck with the new plants!
 
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