Plants growing too fast

[garryp]

Tank: tall 75 gallon fresh planted, on PPS=Pro dosing schedule, Daily small water change that is equivalent to 50%/week. CO2 injection to hold pH at about 7.0 around the clock.
Fish: Common community, about 25 small fellows.

My tank has been operational for about 3 weeks. Plants were added en mass about 1.5 weeks past.

Issue: Those darn weeds are growing too much. Should I adjust fertilizer dosing, CO2 level, light duration, light brightness, or water changes as priority? So that they do not keep me awake with those crunching growing sounds at night?

Really, I do not want to prune the fast growers twice per week.

 

[bradlgt21]

Welcome to a high tech setup. Low tech setups aren't just popular because of the cost. Bright light, CO2 and ferts make plants grow like mad. Causing you to trim a lot. The benefits obviously are that you get nice lush plant growth and the ability to grow any aquatic plant you like. But unless you cut the lighting down your not going to be able to slow them down any other way.

 

[Khemul]

^ Yep.

You are currently doing everything possible to encourage rapid growth. Rather aggressively too from the sound of it. Question becomes, if you didn't want such rapid growth, why did you go with such a setup to begin with? Cutting back should slow down the growth but you may want to consider just how much you need all of that to begin with.

What type of plants are you keeping? If you don't know the exact plants then a picture of the tank should help.

 

[garryp]

Ok. I guess that I did not kow how fast, fast was! And you are correct, I could have saved some bucks, about $175 on CO2 setup and perhaps $30 on lighting. to go absolutely low tech.

So I need to look at some tradeoffs, perhaps adjusting light intensity and duration, tweaking back a lot on CO2 and nutrients, and perhaps simply eliminating some fast growing plants. Fertilize for thought, as the plants would say.

 

[coach_z]

Once you reduce your lights, co2 or ferts you will need to do it in a way that will not promote algae. you will want to keep a perfectly balanced system.

My opinion, the best thing you can do is stop wasting your time very night on small partial water changes. Spend that few minutes a day pruning. Or spend it with a bottle of whiskey.

Every week i get some pretty crazy growth and at the end of the week it looks a little bit like crap, but then I do a water change, do some trimming and it is all good for the next 4-5 days.

 

[garryp]

"stop wasting your time very night on small partial water changes." - Water change is automated, more time wasted than you envisioned.

"Spend that few minutes a day pruning." oh, gezz, I am so lazy! But I may have to do that.

"spend it with a bottle of whiskey" - probably a good solution for a lot of folks, but I do not partake.

Is there a robot mower for a tank?

 

[ecoomer45]

Cichlids, lol

 

[garryp]

It looks as if I need some detailed study of "balance" of all nutrients, including CO2 and photons.

Man, I wanted Cichlids when I setup this tank, but I also wanted plants. I was torn between. I still dream of finding a couple pair of dwarf mild mannered cichlids and introduce them to the elegant fun of gliding through the plants, not under them. I did once have 3 cichlids in a community tank, separate living spaces at three places in the tank for them to sort out, but only few phoney plants. They even raised a brood, convicts I think they were.

This tank is already unusual enough. At least the inhabitants are. I have a shoal of 6 black skirt tetras and a shoal of 6 tiger barbs that occasionally become a mixed shoal of 12 for a few circuits of the tank - when the barbs take time off from harassing tankmates.

Also I have aggressive guppies, two horny males I think. They harass a pair of mellow golden lyre tail mollies. I have never seen guppies harass anything other than a female guppy. The mollies just kinda blink their eyebrows and murmur "Oh, geez, you again?"

 

[Khemul]

Male guppies will harass just about anything that they have even the most remote chance of breeding with. Although they do at least have a shot at success with the Mollies, even if it is a rather low chance.

 

[garyfla]

Hi
I converted my 75 froma layered epiphytic paludarium back to a regular aquarium about a year ago I was using metal halide and the marsh and water plants grew so fast all I was doing was pruning. It always looked like it had been scalped . besides all the work
Anyway as an aquarium I took off the upper section and I'm using one shop light with 2 daylight bulbs. Have not had to prune at all as yet
with 3 types of swords 3 types of crypts and 3 of anubias. Noy only am I not working so hard I saved over 300 bucks on the setup/,!!
While the setup was fantastic due to the layers just not worth the work for an old man. lol gary