Must a healthy plant be a growing plant?

A

amhodge

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Apr 23, 2007
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I am just starting the planning for a planted tank, so I cannot be specific about types of plants here, but I'd like to get a general answer to this question. It could be that with the variety of plants out there, there is no general answer.

Currently I have a 29 gal. and a 10 gal. tank. My intention is to use higher lighting (~3-3.5Wgal.) on the 10 gal. and put all plants in there initially until they get to the size I want. Then I'd like to transplant them to the 29 gal. where I'd keep a lower lighting scheme (~2.5W/gal.) in the hopes that their growth will be slower and require less upkeep. I've seen how quickly plants can grow in the past. Other than the lighting I would try to maintain the same nutrient supply in both tanks, ie CO2 level, ferts, substrate, etc.

So, is this an effective method, or would this just lead to the starving of my plants? Or are there a million other factors I'm not knowledgable enough to be considering?

Thanks!
 
well i think it wil just slow growth. If the big three(light, co2, ferts) drop to less then a plant will just adjust to the new enviroment by growing slower. Im sure someone will correct me if im wrong but it makes sense to me. but it prb depends on the plant and it's requirements.
 
Less light= less growth.
That and CO2 are the two best regulators.

You can also chose plants that are far less weedy, slow growers + lower light = less work.

Generally, the better the growth rates, the better the health.
But that is a trade off once it becomes too much work.

The problem is HLD, high light disease.
HLD is cause by folks that believe that you must have high light for good growth, while they also try and limit nutrients or CO2 in the same breath.

Can it be done? Sort of but it's not nearly as stable a system. But is it easier at achieving the goal than say less light?
Absolutely not.

You use less electric, you need to tend it much less, your dosing and CO2 demands are much less, algae and other bad things happen slower, you can still keep any plant and grow it, it just goes slower.

Many have been bull dogged into believing they need high light and PC's are brighter than the old standard T12 lights which most of the information was based on.

Little account has been considered for the newer higher intensity lights.

So use 1.5-2 w/gal of T5's and you should be able to grow anything you wish.
Use Crypts, ferns, Anubias, moss etc and other easy to grow plants.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
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