Hi, All.
I'm going to go into more detail than is probably necessary, so I apologize...
I have a 2.5-gallon tank with 100% Flourite. Up until a few weeks ago, I was running an 8W normal-output fluorescent light over this tank. Needless to say, the plants that typically fare better with stronger lighting were never doing too well, but my C. wendtii 'Tropica' was growing beautifully. Each new leaf was bigger than the previous ones and the color was gorgeous.
Then I switched to an incandescent strip light fitted with one of those 10W power compact screw-in bulbs. It was sort of a PITA because the socket was at one end of the fixture so only half of the tank was really getting more light than before. The other half was basically unchanged. I thought this would work out okay because most of my low-light plants were on one side of the tank while the light-hungry species were on the other. Unfortunately, the one beautiful Tropica crypt happened to be on the side getting more light; I was actually worried that this would make the plant grow bigger than I wanted, but instead, I'm finding that the newest leaves are deformed and stunted, and some of the older leaves are melting or just getting damaged. Incidentally, I had two pieces of C. pygmaea on the "dark side" and one piece that happened to be more on the lighter side. The one piece was actually the best-looking one when I still had the 8W NO flo light and after the switch, it lost most of its leaves and the new growth has been puny and I don't hold much hope that it's going to survive. The two that ended up on the darker side have actually been looking much better.
When I changed lights, I also increased the dosages of fertilizers I was adding. But I think I was adding too much of something because I was getting a lot of green spot algae. So while my Hottonia palustris has been enjoying this increased lighting, it seems to me that the crypts have not. Do crypts do this? I mean, can I be pretty sure that the lighting change was directly responsible for my crypts getting sick? I'm thinking that maybe I'll move all of the Hottonia to my 10-gallon, switch back to the 8W strip light on my 2.5-gallon and maybe fill the area vacated by the Hottonia with Java fern. Then again, maybe I'm mis-identifying the root cause. Anybody have any thoughts about what I'm seeing?
Either way, I think I'm going to switch back to the 8W light, if only to see what will happen. I don't like how dim it makes the tank, but right now, I'm not pleased with the yellow/green tint that this 10W PC is causing, either. I may have only needed to get a new 8W tube.
Okay - well, I guess this was more rambling than anything... Thanks for reading.
-Naomi
I'm going to go into more detail than is probably necessary, so I apologize...
I have a 2.5-gallon tank with 100% Flourite. Up until a few weeks ago, I was running an 8W normal-output fluorescent light over this tank. Needless to say, the plants that typically fare better with stronger lighting were never doing too well, but my C. wendtii 'Tropica' was growing beautifully. Each new leaf was bigger than the previous ones and the color was gorgeous.
Then I switched to an incandescent strip light fitted with one of those 10W power compact screw-in bulbs. It was sort of a PITA because the socket was at one end of the fixture so only half of the tank was really getting more light than before. The other half was basically unchanged. I thought this would work out okay because most of my low-light plants were on one side of the tank while the light-hungry species were on the other. Unfortunately, the one beautiful Tropica crypt happened to be on the side getting more light; I was actually worried that this would make the plant grow bigger than I wanted, but instead, I'm finding that the newest leaves are deformed and stunted, and some of the older leaves are melting or just getting damaged. Incidentally, I had two pieces of C. pygmaea on the "dark side" and one piece that happened to be more on the lighter side. The one piece was actually the best-looking one when I still had the 8W NO flo light and after the switch, it lost most of its leaves and the new growth has been puny and I don't hold much hope that it's going to survive. The two that ended up on the darker side have actually been looking much better.
When I changed lights, I also increased the dosages of fertilizers I was adding. But I think I was adding too much of something because I was getting a lot of green spot algae. So while my Hottonia palustris has been enjoying this increased lighting, it seems to me that the crypts have not. Do crypts do this? I mean, can I be pretty sure that the lighting change was directly responsible for my crypts getting sick? I'm thinking that maybe I'll move all of the Hottonia to my 10-gallon, switch back to the 8W strip light on my 2.5-gallon and maybe fill the area vacated by the Hottonia with Java fern. Then again, maybe I'm mis-identifying the root cause. Anybody have any thoughts about what I'm seeing?
Either way, I think I'm going to switch back to the 8W light, if only to see what will happen. I don't like how dim it makes the tank, but right now, I'm not pleased with the yellow/green tint that this 10W PC is causing, either. I may have only needed to get a new 8W tube.
Okay - well, I guess this was more rambling than anything... Thanks for reading.
-Naomi