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Post by frankfishmonger on Mar 1, 2013 8:24:41 GMT -5
I added air stones to my 55 and 20 gallon tanks yesterday. They are both low tech planted tanks. Waiting to see the impact on plants. The fish seemed to perk up quickly.
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Post by guppyguy on Mar 1, 2013 12:18:58 GMT -5
The old belief that the surface disturbance will affect your plant growth is species specific . Their are certain plants that require a calm surface or do better rather but that being said I have very heavily planted tanks down to 10 gallon tanks that have huge bubbler stones in them the big bars to be exact to help handle the population overload I use one for a guppy feeder tank its a grow out for deformed and males that are to be predator tank chow later . In said tank you cant see through them due to plant growth to be honest some of my best have the most disturbance . Their is a gas exchange that occurs on the surface of the water and I believe that the air stones aid in this especialy when the tank has a hood .
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Post by frankfishmonger on Mar 1, 2013 18:50:08 GMT -5
Some people say aeration is only bad when you're adding supplemental CO2 because it "gasses off" the CO2 you are adding. Otherwise, aeration actually adds CO2 from the atmosphere where it is more plentiful. I agree with this. The plants in my 20 gallon started off like gang busters but seem to have hit a wall. I'm hoping to see an improvement with the aeration. I suppose an increase in ferts to compensate for plant growth is also necessary ?
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Post by guppyguy on Mar 2, 2013 6:21:57 GMT -5
I get that question alot frank or assumption rather , the answer is nope your regular dose of fert is plenty dont increase or decrease the ammount . If your plants have stopped growing or stalled out seems like then check your list
1. lighting - How old are your bulbs ? You need to replace a bulb every few months some say 6 but 4 is more like it even though they may still and probably are still working fine as far as provideing lumination but the spectrum they provide and ammount of output has changed it gets weaker over time and becomes for the most part useless for growth .
2.- water quality - If your water is laden with nH3/4 it isnt good for the plants , well besides moss and top water varietys.
3.- Substrate . Do you have any way of turning your sub or airating it ? Most people that have planted tanks use MTS for this to keep the soil turning over and introduceing new nutrients and so forth into the ground for the plants .
If you go through this list and everything checks out then think about uping your fert a touch but very little to much is worse than none at all .
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Post by frankfishmonger on Mar 2, 2013 13:50:49 GMT -5
Would poking around here and there in the sand help ? The bulbs are just over two months old...CFLs.
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Post by guppyguy on Mar 2, 2013 15:40:23 GMT -5
I would think so ...but I dont wanna say for certain Im not sure but like I said I would think it would help I mean it cant hurt .
If you want some send me a money order to cover shipping on the smallest box USPS priority mail has and I'll send you a family of MTS
white tigers . They are beautiful snails white shells half way up the end and the biggest part is tiger stripped . I like these they dont over populate and they stay in the sub all the time I have never seen the white of their shells untill I dig them up ! They give live birth like guppys to so no eggs to worry about . These are older generation snails they are very hardy and coloration is set in stone just about . They stay small to a half inch is the biggest one will get I have controlled their breeding for over a year removeing the big ones and now as a result I havent had a big one in months like 6-7 to be exact . But they will help you keep plants under control cleaning bacteria , turning soil , cleaning dead matter off leaves and roots to promote growth .
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