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Darkness Into The Light

REDSTEVEO

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Joined
31 Mar 2008
Messages
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I've renamed this planted tank after viewing it today. I think the name sums it up rather well.
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Hi all,
Does anyone know why Riccia Fluitans seems to photosynthesis more than any other plant?
I think it retains oxygen bubbles pretty efficiently. All the T shaped thallii lock together to form a structure with lots of spaces where an oxygen bubble can be retained.

The advantage to the plant is that the oxygen buoys the mat of Riccia to the water surface where it has access to CO2 and light.

Cheers Darrel
 
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I think it also retains a layer of water that can't easily mix with the surrounding water. That layer becomes saturated with oxygen and that's when the bubbes form, as the extra oxygen can't dissolve into the water. When the water in contact with, eg a sword or crypt leaf receives dissolved O2 it can easily flow away to be replaced by water with less O2 in it. Only when all the water in the tank is saturated will bubbles form on flat leaves, and when they do, they can easily float away. Feathery leaves like Cabomba and Hornwort come somewhere between the two.
 
Very nice looking tank, what lights are you using ? your alternanthera's look very nice red coloured. is this mini or regular ?
Sorry for the late reply. Originally I had upgraded my lights from T5 Daylight tubes 2 x 54 Watts, to a Fluval Aquasky LED, and a Fluval Aquasky Fresh Plant Pro 3.0 LED. To be honest I wasn't that impressed with either of the LED's, in terms if colour or plant growth.

So in the end I removed one of the LED's, the Aquasky and replaced it with 2 x 54 watt Sylvania Grolux tubes. Very old school lights, but in my opinion still the finest in terms of colour spectrum, plant growth, and pinging the colours of the fish.
 
what happened with the alternanthera's on the foreground, they look way less red then the before pictures ?
You are right they don't look as vibrant do they. I think it is a combination of things. Light, CO2, and iron. As the overhanging plants have grown out they are shielding the Altananthera from the light, I don't think the CO2 is flowing to them as much as it was, and I have not been keeping an eye on the iron levels.

I kind of slacked off on dosing additional iron along with the Trace Elements, the water kept going milky which I put down to the iron.

I have got some strong iron plant tabs which I am going to push into the roots, to see if that makes a difference. May also trim back some overhanging plants and up the CO2.

This was the tank this morning with just the Fluval Plant 3.0 on.
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A very big pruning session just completed. Of everything. The Mosses especially. Some of the ferns, and the lower slow growing plants like the Trident were being buried.

The was less 'darkness and light' so after pruning and binning a lot of mosses, I think now there is a bit more shape and definition to the whole look of it.

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Both wife and son have told me this needs a Mega pruning, and sorting out as they think it is totally overgrown and no longer looks interesting.
I am inclined to agree.

Under this mass of plants are six inter linked pieces of wood covered in moss and trident fern.

I don't want to rip it down completely but I need to do something with it.

Any suggestions please.

Thanks.
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