Lighting/Plant Question

[bnoel210]

Thats why im sticking to low light lol

[ree123]

All the mosses can be low light. Java plants too. Crypts too.

Rickl.......you need to start that Angel/plant tank. They sure can be a natural looking and calming set-up.

[holmes114]

Mar 11, 2012 19:55:27 GMT -6 @ree123 said:

On the subject of plants, we have a couple of guys from Alabama who are registered members here and run an aquatic plant business in Ala..

I have written them in the last couple of days and told them of our impending swap/meet in May and have heard from them today saying they will be planning to attend the swap/meet on May 20. They have lots and lots of nice aquatic plants and I have bought from them before. They will bring a nice variety and specific ones if asked ahead of time.

You can find them by going to google and typing in BamaPlants.com

Consider what you want and plan your cash to buy from them the day of the swap/meet.
They have fantastic and very fair prices !

You don't, by chance, have a contact phone number for them do you? I'd like to ask a few questions and no one has responded to the contact form I filled out on their website last week.

[ree123]

They are slow to respond on their site.
I will look tomorrow afternoon when I am home from work and school.
Remind me again if I forget.
I do have #.

[ree123]

Letter written requesting info. to their personal e-mail. I have misplaced their business card at the moment with the #. Will let ya know here when I hear from them. May be first of week.

[ree123]

Mar 20, 2012 15:05:13 GMT -6 holmes114 said:

Mar 11, 2012 19:55:27 GMT -6 @ree123 said:

On the subject of plants, we have a couple of guys from Alabama who are registered members here and run an aquatic plant business in Ala..

I have written them in the last couple of days and told them of our impending swap/meet in May and have heard from them today saying they will be planning to attend the swap/meet on May 20. They have lots and lots of nice aquatic plants and I have bought from them before. They will bring a nice variety and specific ones if asked ahead of time.

You can find them by going to google and typing in BamaPlants.com

Consider what you want and plan your cash to buy from them the day of the swap/meet.
They have fantastic and very fair prices !

You don't, by chance, have a contact phone number for them do you? I'd like to ask a few questions and no one has responded to the contact form I filled out on their website last week.

--------------------------------------------------------

Did you ever get a response ?
I finally spoke with them and have received response via e-mail now. (yesterday)
They said their computer line had interruptions on the line and has been under repair for many days, but is fixed now to my understanding.
If you didn't hear, please send them more e-mail via their web site, and if no response I'll contact them again to see what's up.

[spoot]

I plan on going with Bama-Plants as well, wondering if these guys are associated with Sweet Aquatics? Sweet use to be in Ohio, but now it says it's located in Southern Alabama. Odd. If you can't find what you are looking for via Sweet or Bama let me know, I have a few other plant dealers I can direct you to.

[ree123]

Interesting. I have bought from Sweets myself, but a while back. Didn't know they had moved.
Looks like they are not back on line yet to sell yet. They haven't been on AB lately either.
Thanks for info..

[tlyons01]

I know this thread has been quiet for a while, but I thought I could help if there are any persons reading this over and having some of the same questions. In my opinion, if you stick witht he normal output T5 lights you should be good to not have to include a pressurized CO2 set up. I purchased HO thinking that was not going to be enough and I ended up with wayyyyy too much light. I have to have them raised in order to reduce the amount of light and keep the algae at bay. If you are sticking with nothing but low light plants, don't shell out the extra money for the HO lighting.
Though there are alternatives for CO2 that can be used. There is the most common, Flourish Excel. There is also other sources of gluteraldehyde(sp?) that can be used diluted with water to last longer than a bottle pf Excel, which tends to be expensive if you use it daily.
There are so many variables, that it is kind of hard to really pinpoint what you are going to need.
Do you plan to have a lot of plants, or just a few? How do you feel about water changes and what are your thoughts on fertilizers? What type of substrate will be used? These things are all going to effect how you will need to proceed to get the best out of your plants. The red in some plants is brought out by CO2, but in some cases can also be produced when iron is added. It just depends.

If you are looking for a source for plants, I can help. There is a massive group of people that trade, give away and sell their trimmings and or they grow for selling purposes. Getting them from someone else's tank is way better than at a store, in my opinion.

I also have many varieties and would be more than happy to help anyone out.
Hope I can help out, I am happy to do so

Therese

BTW, I have ordered some dirt from Bamaplants and they are bringing it to me at the swap, the guy has emailed me back and forth for almost 2 weeks and was very willing to answer my questions and help me out.

[ree123]

Quiet threads brought back can be rejuvanated to make life interesting anytime.

Thanks for advice re: lighting.

Also, I am very, VERY interested in this product you reference to that is cheaper and works like Excel, "Glutaraldehyde." Have you bought and used this product ? Where did you buy it ? What is the mix ratio ? Mix with plain H2O or no ? More details please.

You should consider bringing trimmings of your plants. There are buyers among the group, although the BamaPlant guys are going to be bringing lots of plants also.

Good to hear BamaPlants has their web site working again and communicating with our hobbyists. They had been having some problems witn connections on the net a few weeks back.
They are a very helpful pair of guys and willing to answer all your questions.

[tlyons01]

The Excel alternatives I speak of are Cidex and Metricide. Both of these products are available on the net, and they are both used for sterilizing hospital equipment. I have read opinions on both sides of the "whether or not they are safe". I personally purchased a quart of Cidex and use it on my large tank. I don't use it every day because I do not have a heavily planted tank at this time.
Dilution is with water, and the ration depends on the % of glut in the bottle. This % varies, my solution is 3.4% which is higher than the average of what I read people were using. I did however, find a thread somewhere that broke down how to dilute it. For me, I prepare mine in a water bottle and use 448ML of distilled water to 352 ML of Cidex. This has lasted me for quite some time already. I haven't yet finished the first water bottle of solution and I made this more than 2 months ago.
YMMV, though. As I stated, I don't dose every day. I am currently using excel to rid some algae, I just added some ABN plecos I picked up from Thorace over the weekend and will probably switch back to just the glut later this week. I am expecting a large plant package from crazydaz this week and my setup is not as good as his, so I will need to keep up the Cidex to keep the plants looking good.

If you research the chemicals I have mentioned, there is much controversy due to it being a chemical used for hospital equipment, but i have not had any bad experiences with it. I have my bottle marked as toxic and keep it away from the kids, its locked in my treasure chest under my tank. I used gloves when making my mixture and try not to get anything on my skin when dosing.

for 1 quart, I paid maybe 30 bucks shipped, or a little less. I can't remember. I bought it through Amazon, but many searches came up with good deals at dealmed.com as well

here are a few links you might find useful:
www.plantedtank.net/forums/fertilizers-water-parameters/171026-excel-alternative.html
this one is a bit long, but very informative on the chemical
www.plantedtank.net/forums/fertilizers-water-parameters/104038-metricide-14-replace-excel-dosing-2.html
and another
www.plantedtank.net/forums/general-planted-tank-discussion/108382-cidex.html

[ree123]

Thanks so much for the advice and links !!! I will read and educate myself some more and hope to discuss this more with you over the next day or two or three. Please keep logging on for further conversation. Thanks again !
Rick

[tlyons01]

Will do

[bamaplants]

HI
I have had some internet issues and such lately so sorry for slow reply

I am gonna suggest a few things that Might not be well accepted but I [promise you that I am not speaking off the cuff with no data to support me./

Point 1) Lighting..

Watts per gallon is not a good way to speak but it is the only way we have to speak online about such things
Watts per gallon is a relative situation... it is really watts per inch of depth in a tank that is important. The deeper your tank the more watts you need above to get high light plants to grow well near the substrate. a way to avoid the expensive proposition of T5HOs in multitude on a deeper tank is to use spotlights ( CFL daylights work well for this) and come in from the side closer to substrate to "spotlight" a thicket of high light plants or a specimen.

Also... ALL plants go through cycles.. Aquatic plants do this much faster than terrestrial plants do. To avoid algae in a high light tank ( or really any light for that matter) Cycle your light time with the plants.. Aquatic plants especially those that can also live terrestrially photosynthesize for 2-2.5 hours then they respire. when they photosynthesize they use light and a rich carbon source ( in nature CO2) to produce sugars and Oxygen.. When they respire they use Oxygen and go through a rest period of about 1.5 hours. The best solution really is to invest in a couple timers that your lights plug into and run your lights for 2-3 hours and then off for 2 hours then on for 3 off for 2 and so on.

This gives the plants light for their photosynthetic period ( when they can also out compete algae for nutrients) and deprives the algae of any significant light during the plant's rest periods.
POint 2) Co2 or not-- I say NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Co2 is great BUT it is a difficult slippery slope.. It requires a great deal of practice to get right and with that practice you may well loose some livestock.. The Co2 can NOT be added to the tank when lights are off nor should it be added when the plants are in any other rest period.. If The CO2 is added during these periods your are encouraging algae to grow and reducing your pH at an alarming and damaging rate for your livestock... Remember each point of change in pH such as 7.0 down to 6.9 is an order of Magnitude in difference.. In other words.. 6.9 has 10 times as much H+ ions as 7.0 does. that is dramatic for livestock.

Excel is a wonderful thing BUT it is chemical and it is expensive... well it is not EXTREMELY expensive but compared to a very effective alternative it is a HUGE price. Cheap Vodka ( not flavored please) just a bottle of cheap run of the mill plain vodka is a wonderful; and effective source of carbon for aquatic plants.-- and with enough decent mixer it doesn't taste TOO bad either.. LOL

POint 3) Algae eaters

Ther e are a number of commonly used algae eaters available ther e are many people that swear by many of the choices.. BUT most of them have drawbacks.. The either need additional food sources such as most of the fish ( plecos, hillstream loaches, etc) or they also eat plants ( most of the snails).. However nerites do NOT eat any plant only simple plants also known as algae, they do not multiply at all unlike most snails, and they do not get in your way of viewing the tank at all a s they are nocturnal. They will also eat diatom formations and rotifer encrustings and Black beard algae. what more could ya' ask for in an algae eater???

OK I will stop here for now.. I apologize if I was long winded but still missed something important.

Ken

[tlyons01]

I agree with you Ken. It is hard to explain Watts per gallon and that is not something that is measured so much these days. I found lighting to be the most difficult to wrap my head around.
+1 for using a timer.
+1 for algae eaters.
Who knew Vodka could be a source?? I am going to research this today!