RE: [AGA-Member] Low-light tanks & CO2

["S. Hieber" <shieber@yahoo.com>]

One thing you can do for an aquarium where you don't want
to have a lot of light but you do a lot of fish feeding is
add some watersprite (Ceratopteris cornuta) as a floating
plant. Because it is floating it will be up close to the
lights, taking maximum advantage of them while providing
some shade for the water column below. Plus, because it is
at the surface, ity can get plenty of CO2. So it can behave
like fast growing plants, soaking up a lot of nutrients
fromthe water column even in a relatvely low-light
aquarium.

As a bonus, trimming is very easy, so you can control the
amount with barely any effort at all. You can tear, divide,
snip pretty much any way you want and the plant just keeps
growing back and it seems to accept a pretty wide range of
water conditions and temps.

For the sake of swords, you might want to avoid shading
them, but the ferns and anubias won't mind the shade.

have plants, have solutions,
sh

--- Adam Michels <amichels@trafficleader.com> wrote:


> . . .
> 	I've heard that bunched plants absorb nutrients 
> faster
> than most
> others. But it seems no one keeps bunched plants in
> low-light,
> discus-style tanks; mostly Anubias, Java Ferns, Mosses,
> Grasses and
> Swords. My planted discus tank seems to get dirty and
> overwhelmed with
> dissolved organics quickly. Because of this I clean my
> canister more
> often, every two weeks or so. I even considered doing it
> every
> week...discus, ugh.
> 	Also, if your substrate is real deep, like more than 3
> or 4
> inches, I think adding more Sword plants might improve
> conditions. Their
> roots spread out fast, and I bet they do a great job,
> comparatively, of
> keeping the substrate free of anaerobic conditions. I'm
> speculating,
> though, and really have no evidence of such. 


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