Max lights without CO2

[idris]

I'm contemplating adding another one or two T8 tubes to my tank in the hope of improving plant growth and, by consiquence, reducing algae.
The tank has currenty got about 1wpg (which I know is low) and and I can easily (and relatively cheaply!!!) increase that to 1.5 wpg. I may even be able increase it to 2wpg but I'm not sure if I can fit another 2 tubes in the tank's hood.

What is the maximum amount of light recomended without using CO2?

 

[foxfish]

I think that only you can answer that question as there is no set formula.
Tom Barr wrote somewhere on this forum, that non injected tanks can take a lot of light!
From my personal experience 2 x T8s the length of the tank works well but, your tank is deep so perhaps 2 x T5 would be good?

 

[JenCliBee]

I'm contemplating adding another one or two T8 tubes to my tank in the hope of improving plant growth and, by consiquence, reducing algae.

I'm a little confused at this section of the question?..... if you have algae problems, how is more light going to help eradicate?..... isn't more light going to increase the intensity?.

'IF' your having algae problems, isn't the best procedure to eliminate the reasons why your getting it?... ie low/fluctuating co2, low or bad flow path, low or lack of ferts.

Granted, 1wpg in some eyes would be considered low but increasing light in most instances, isn't the best way of doing things.

 

[ceg4048]

Yeah, no kidding. 100% agreement with JenCliBee on this one. Light causes algae, so how can adding more light reduce algae? More light does not automatically result in better plant health. If the tank has algae then it's a certainty that you've go plenty of light already.

Cheers,

 

[Iain Sutherland]

I'm contemplating adding another one or two T8 tubes to my tank in the hope of improving plant growth and, by consiquence, reducing algae.

I'm a little confused at this section of the question?..... if you have algae problems, how is more light going to help eradicate?..... isn't more light going to increase the intensity?.

'IF' your having algae problems, isn't the best procedure to eliminate the reasons why your getting it?... ie low/fluctuating co2, low or bad flow path, low or lack of ferts.

Granted, 1wpg in some eyes would be considered low but increasing light in most instances, isn't the best way of doing things.

+1 to this in most instances, however your tank is very deep idris which complicates things.

Looking at your journal adding light wouldnt improve an algae situation it will exacerbate it. Your plants will be growing to their best ability at the moment given their environment, it is likely that they have limiting nutrients and/or access to those nutrients via flow. holes in leaves, yellowing, melting are nutrient and co2 issues. Light is the limiting factor to the speed of growth not how healthy that growth will be mate. You say no EI but do you dose any nutrients to the tank?

I guess the only way to be sure about light is with the use of a par meter but seeing as the light compensation point is surprisingly low for most plants my first suspects would still be nutrients and flow.....

 

[idris]

Ok. Points all taken and noted.
My bunking was that if there are nutrients for algae to use, that would be because the plants aren't using them. And by increasing light (in a low light tank) that might help plant grown. Obviously not.

I'm trying to remember to dose ferts daily and using a readymix solution from APF (but I'm a bit crap at remembering sometimes.)
I know I could improve flow, but light would have been a quicker solution ... had it not been for my incorrect reasoning.

 

[ceg4048]

...My bunking was that if there are nutrients for algae to use, that would be because the plants aren't using them...

Algae do not care about nutrients in the water. You can have massive algal blooms with virtually no nutrients in the water.

I'm trying to remember to dose ferts daily and using a readymix solution from APF (but I'm a bit crap at remembering sometimes.)

Non-CO2 tanks do not really require daily nutrient dosing so it's not really clear what it is that you are doing or why. Exactly what and how much are you dosing? The APF nutrient packages and dosing schemes are for CO2 injected tanks.

In any case, have you verified that the type of algae you have is actually related to poor nutrient levels and not, instead, due to poor CO2? Just because you're not using CO2 it doesn't mean that your plants can't suffer from poor CO2. You need to specify the type of algae in order to determine a course of action, and you need to clarify why you are attempting daily dosing in a non-CO2 enriched tank.

Cheers,

 

[idris]

Ceg, I think the easy answer is that I'm doing the wrong things and for the wrong reasons and because I'm a not a great student.

I'm using APF's all in one ferts ...
http://www.aquariumplantfood.co.uk/fert ... fills.html
... For the same reason I was thinking of adding more light. (ie to help the plants grow and use up nutrients the algae were growing on. Obviously this was another wrong assumption.)

I have GDA. Although I've read in several places the best way to deal with it is to leave it to go through its's 6week life cycle (or something like that), it hasn't worked.
And I have dark green filamental algae.
I have also had various plants fail to grow well, but that's probably down to poor choice of plants, as much as anything.
I know increasing flow is a good place to start, and it's on my list of things to do, but for various reasons its not a quick simple job. It will get done one day.
It's not a great success as a planted tank. I know. but at least I'm not killing fish whenever I do water changes at the moment!