Surface cover from floating plants

[EnderUK]

I really don't know where to put this one as it's co2/flow/plant related.

I've gone from killing off floating plants to have an explosion of them which is starting to hinder the surface ripples and I guess if it gets very dense this will start affecting gas exchange. I am pumping co2 into the tank and getting pearling so during lights on O2 isn't an issue but during lights off this might become trouble with my heavy stocking. So far I've seen no fish stressing so I'm going to leave it as it is for now, I'm wondering what amount of surface cover people have in their tanks.

Thanks.

 

[sciencefiction]

I wouldn't be sure in a CO2 injected tank but in a low tech I leave them to cover t2/3rds of the surface max and have some bit of surface movement on the clear side. But either way it didn't matter that much. My corys used to love to lay their eggs in the roots of the salvinia.

 

[EnderUK]

on my low tech tank it's not really and issue with the HOB filter and I let it cover the surface before scooping handfuls out, yeah my shrimp love the salvinia roots and it's pretty cool watching them clamber upside down on it. It's more the big high tech tank with the frogbit I'm slightly worried about.

 

[sciencefiction]

All you need to do is let it cover the surface and stay up awake a couple of nights to see how your fish get on
I'd say there wouldn't be many high tech keepers that keep floaters or even leave the surface covered with them

 

[X3NiTH]

I worried about O2 when completely covering the surface, I also worried that light loving plants may not appreciate the cover, so I set about making sure the places I want light to get to got there and as a bonus provide some free surface area for gas exchange.

I first looked down from the top of the aquarium to get an idea of the shape I want to cover and set about cutting this shape into an outline using Fab Foam bought from Hobbycraft.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2913/13962064178_36963992aa_b.jpg

I used an A4 sheet as I have a small surface area, A3 is available for those with a larger surface area to cover. Fab Foam comes in a variety of colours, is non-toxic and crucially it floats well and doesn't saturate and sink. I chose the lurid green colour because when viewed from below through the water column it has similar colour and contrast to the green of the plants themselves. The floaters are easy to place on the retainer ring to disguise the lurid colour.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2898/14168762413_b3bc189554_b.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5573/13962083170_f20e054ff8_b.jpg

It also helps stop the floaters getting blown all over the place with high surface movement. From personal experience RedRoot hates surface movement and grows much better when it's constrained, same goes for Salvinia, I have seen the best growth from both when the container it's growing in has a still surface fully covered and the plants get a great big hug from their neighbours. Frogbit while not necessarily enjoy being constrained it can escape by sending runners out over the surface or out from below.

I also use the reverse of the above method in my shrimp tank where I have a fully covered surface apart from a small foam ring that is free from cover which allows a puddle of light to reach the substrate so I can take pictures of my shrimp without having to resort to stupidly high ISO just to get a picture, I used the flashgun pointed through the ring to get this shot.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2913/14193251936_85ebfb959a_k.jpg

 

[EnderUK]

Great ideas, I was using black co2 tubing but didn't like the look, will look into the foam