Also is there a normal time that you run the, mornings, afternoon, night? My tanks are in my living room and it dont get any direct sunlight. With one tank blocking a good portion of the window, not that we get a lot of sunlight here in the Pacific Northwest.
First go with real plants
- Thread starter Jexnell
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I run mine from 10:30 till 9pm and I'm usually only home by 5 or 6 anyway. I'm going to install some LED lights which will be bright but not ideal for plant growth for viewing or photography
Most modern light systems are built with LED even Marine (Saltwater aquarium) using LED light now and they all able to grow Corals which much more complicated to grow than freshwater plants, it's less power consume but getting same goal and even better than the old traditional old light bulbs system.
Jexnell said:
Jack Dempseys will most tear up Vallisneria. They might tear at anubias on driftwood, maybe not. You mentioned an oscar? Oscars will almost definitely uproot any plant.
Jexnell said:
What kind of algae? Is it brown or green?
Oscar's won't always. A friend had 3 in a tank and grew a lush back of vallis without them uprooting. Keep replanting till they give up
There are two different 55g tanks. One has a single 5in oscar. She has been in it with Java fern and Amazonian swords and has not bothered them at all in the 4 months I have had her. Her tank is getting rescaped to look like a flooded mangrove. I have some manzanita wood that shipped out today from Mazman in the vendor section.
My other tank has a pair of 3in JDs in it. It had a common pleco in it till just recently I rehomed it since it has already tripled in size,was a surprise gift from my roomate on my birthday. The JDs have been in with swords, crypts and java ferns since I got them 4 months ago.
These 2 love to swim around and thru the stems of the plants.
Here is a shot of the algea.
The light I have on this tank atm is a 2ft Fluval Aquasky led, it came with the tank (its a 3rd hand Truvu acrylic I got for free). It leaves the ends dark so the algea growth is only in the area that gets light. It looks brown to me, tho I could be wrong, as I just got back into keeping fish after about a decade away from the hobby. The pleco I had in there kept it knocked down but I rehomed it earlier this month due to its final adult size and was afraid I wouldn't be able to get it out of the smallish holes on top of the acrylic tank (since they can get to 17in)
That's brown diatom algae. It's not a big problem and grows in many tanks. The only times it doesn't grow is when the water contains no silicate, nitrate, and phosphate, or when when it's out-competed by green algae.
Try to keep it rubbed off of leaves because it blocks photosynthesis which slows plant growth and will eventually kill the leaf.
Try to keep it rubbed off of leaves because it blocks photosynthesis which slows plant growth and will eventually kill the leaf.
This last weekend i did goto The Wet Dpot and got more plants like suggested, also got Flourish plant food and root tabs. I am also running the light on day mode for 6 hours a day. So far so good its only been a few days but Jack&Jill seem to love all the plants.
The right hand side has 3 Crypts and a Sword, the left got 10 Italian Vals
They also got a new tankmate. I got an Orange Seam pleco, stays small so not a huge bioload.
Edit: I forgot the pic of the pleco
The right hand side has 3 Crypts and a Sword, the left got 10 Italian Vals
They also got a new tankmate. I got an Orange Seam pleco, stays small so not a huge bioload.
Edit: I forgot the pic of the pleco
Update
The sword seems to be doing well I guess, been taking the algea off of the older leaves, looks like it has 7 new leaves since introduced into the tank.
The Crypts are not fairing as well, I mostly think so since they are on the edge of the cone of light from the 2ft light on a 4ft tank. They are shedding their old leaves, there are new ones coming in 3 to 4 each.
The Vals are in the same spot of sorts not shedding but not growing either, think its because on the edge of the light. That will be solved in a week with the new 4ft light.
The sword seems to be doing well I guess, been taking the algea off of the older leaves, looks like it has 7 new leaves since introduced into the tank.
The Crypts are not fairing as well, I mostly think so since they are on the edge of the cone of light from the 2ft light on a 4ft tank. They are shedding their old leaves, there are new ones coming in 3 to 4 each.
The Vals are in the same spot of sorts not shedding but not growing either, think its because on the edge of the light. That will be solved in a week with the new 4ft light.
