Plants choking air?

[Wulfy]

Hi,

This question does not really belong in the Plants forum even
though it features plants. Bear with me.

I recently got 3 "Bannana Lily" plants.
They are small, with banana looking sprouts.
They grow very quickly (At about 1cm per hour).
I kid you not. I saw a sprout coming up to the surface before
I went to work. When I came back, it was lying on the surface.
Having grown over 8cm.

When the sprouts get to the surface, they grow large leaves
wchich get domey because of the air collecting underneath.

About 1/3 of my surface is now coverd in lily pads.
My question is;
If I allow the surface to get covered (90% or so) will the fish
suffocate? Since air is infused into watter by contacting the surface.

I have internal areation which should help.

Should I start pruning?

PS. I have CO2, which prolly helps with the growth.

[Matak]

I would say not too likely because the plants are doing CO2/O2 exchange on the leaves themselves. Your water is probably fairly well oxygenated. What is your KH and pH? This will determine your CO2 level, which should be greater than 15 ppm and definately less than 30 ppm.

Plants give off CO2 at night, so it is helpfull to run an air bubbler or powerhead at night to equalize the CO2 level in the tank to ambient air levels. See my tank specs below for an idea for timing. Running the air bubbler during the day will adversely affect the CO2 level.

Any pics, Wulfy?

[CHINABOY1021]

1 cm an hour. WOW, i gotta get my hands on some banana plants, they look pretty cool too. I just want to see how fast they will grow with co2 diy + 4.2 watt/g

:)

[Wulfy]

Matak,

You will find some more my tank specs and pictures in the
link in my SIG.

[JohnMemorialHS]

I thought plants do most of their growing during dark period?

[cpr4cpu]

I thought the fish were redocorating the plants when the lights were out. I had a sword plant with 3 big leaves sprout 4 full grown leaves overnight. I wok eup to find the plant more than doubled in size. Some of the leaves are 12 inches from tip to stem ... it's scary!
Not to mention the aponogeton growth.
Strong light, CO2, Flourish, and Excel iron tabs and I have an aquatic jungle.