whovous
04-14-2011, 08:33 PM
I am new to all of this, so please keep it simple for me. The one thing I have learned with confidence in these past few months is that good intentions are not enough. I want to clean up and clean out some plants, but I need to know if I am going to shock the fish or create other new problems by so doing.
I inherited a 20 year old planted 15gallon rectangular tank. The plants occupy most of the right half of the tank. I suspect the plants are at least ten years old, and I can't rule out the possibility that they are as old as the tank.
The tank sat on the counter with an ancient fluorescent fixture on 24 hours per day, WITH NO FISH, for at least a couple of years. The light does not cast much light these days. I've only recently added fish, and I am discussing those problems elsewhere.
The plants are all long and thin. I've seen the name "swords" for aquatic plants and wonder if maybe that is what I have. They are 'planted' in gravel.
A fair number of the plants are yellow, and many of the others have their share of black spots. I'd like to clean them up, but want to do so in a fish friendly way.
What I would like to is to pinch off all the yellow plants near the bottom in the hopes that some might grow back. As for the black spotted plants, I am not sure what to do. Can I scrape the spots off? If I can, should I, or would that do bad things to the water? Should I pinch them off as well?
Instead of pinching, should I pull things out by their roots, or is that going to risk adjacent plants?
How much pruning is too much pruning? If I clear out everything that does not look fresh and vigorous, I am not going to have many plants left. Should I be aggressive or conservative in my approach to this project?
Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated. I've located a timer that I will be putting back in the loop in the near future, as I realize 24hr lighting is not the best idea. Then again, this light does not have all that much light left in it. Lady Hobbs has suggested a T5 replacement, and if I can find one in stock at a good price, I will probably buy it, even though I am not sure I understand what T5 means.
Thanks!
I inherited a 20 year old planted 15gallon rectangular tank. The plants occupy most of the right half of the tank. I suspect the plants are at least ten years old, and I can't rule out the possibility that they are as old as the tank.
The tank sat on the counter with an ancient fluorescent fixture on 24 hours per day, WITH NO FISH, for at least a couple of years. The light does not cast much light these days. I've only recently added fish, and I am discussing those problems elsewhere.
The plants are all long and thin. I've seen the name "swords" for aquatic plants and wonder if maybe that is what I have. They are 'planted' in gravel.
A fair number of the plants are yellow, and many of the others have their share of black spots. I'd like to clean them up, but want to do so in a fish friendly way.
What I would like to is to pinch off all the yellow plants near the bottom in the hopes that some might grow back. As for the black spotted plants, I am not sure what to do. Can I scrape the spots off? If I can, should I, or would that do bad things to the water? Should I pinch them off as well?
Instead of pinching, should I pull things out by their roots, or is that going to risk adjacent plants?
How much pruning is too much pruning? If I clear out everything that does not look fresh and vigorous, I am not going to have many plants left. Should I be aggressive or conservative in my approach to this project?
Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated. I've located a timer that I will be putting back in the loop in the near future, as I realize 24hr lighting is not the best idea. Then again, this light does not have all that much light left in it. Lady Hobbs has suggested a T5 replacement, and if I can find one in stock at a good price, I will probably buy it, even though I am not sure I understand what T5 means.
Thanks!