# Ambient Light - Part of my photoperiod?



## PedroB (5 Sep 2014)

I know this was asked before, and in most cases it was answered that its neglegible.
I happen to have a bit of a problem - I share a house with other people.

The lights come on at 14.00 and turn off at 22.00, mainly because I work from 7-20 and like those two hours of aquarium admiring.
Tha tank itself is by the window, and I try to keep the curtains closed to keep the light from hitting it full on, but the main problem is after 22.00, since my housemates leave the top light on (the light in the room, not the tank), sometimes until 5am. I'll add a photo tomorrow for you to really get how bad it might be.

Most days before CO2 on I have a completely blue drop checker, and its lime green at "tank lights on", but will the ambient light cause the plants to keep photosynthesis? Shall I extend the period my CO2 stays on for?

(the main motivator for this thread is that my HC cuba and Pogostemon Helferi have started to melt, they are from emersed growth, so they might be just adapting, but I want to cover every aspect)


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## parotet (5 Sep 2014)

Hi Pedro

I think direct sun can be much more light than expected (see some threads in which direct sun hitting the tank was causing problems, although not always obviously. Some people have the skills to use this light properly) but IMO  a lamp in your room shouldn't have any effect on your tank.

If your plants are melting there are plenty of things that you might want to check in your tank that are probably much more important (light intensity, photoperiod, co2 diffusion, flow...). More information about your setup would help.

Jordi


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## PedroB (6 Sep 2014)

Its a 128L, 80x40x40, I have a FE CO2 system, a 2000L/H APS filter (the flow is less than advertised, but still good) connected to a lily pipe, EI dose from APF a bit in excess to prevent deficiencies. Lighting is one of these (http://www.banggood.com/UP-PRO-LED-U-P-30-Aquarium-Light-For-Aquatic-Plants-90cm-p-933943.html) connected to a dimmer, almost in the lowest setting.

I had a yellow counter and I decreased it because I added 5 cherry barbs and 3 amanos and the barbs were gasping for air, that might have triggered the melting. Can it be just the plants adapting to this decrease? I lowered the light intensity as well when I decreased the CO2.


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## parotet (6 Sep 2014)

PedroB said:


> I had a yellow counter and I decreased it because I added 5 cherry barbs and 3 amanos and the barbs were gasping for air, that might have triggered the melting. Can it be just the plants adapting to this decrease? I lowered the light intensity as well when I decreased the CO2.



Hi Pedro, I doubt that adapting to low co2 levels can turn your leaves yellow. Assuming that your dosing EI, thus you are dosing enough nutrients, and that you have low to moderate light levels, I think it is indeed a problem of low co2. 
Fish gasping is another symptom that points toward co2 bad performance.

That doesn't mean that you are not injecting enough co2, but probably that you are not doing efficiently, at least from the plants point of view. When I had these same problems (fish gasping) I though that I had reached the maximum amount of co2 that I could inject in my tank, but it was not true. The solution was to reach an equilibrium between co2 injection and aeration. Search for other threads here (with the search engine) using some key words as pH drop, pH readings, spraybar, co2 flow, etc. You will see many other aspects that have to be taken into account beyond a yellow dropchecker, for example flow, distribution pattern, injection systems, time in which co2 is on prior to lights, degree of aeration, ph drop achieved at light on, etc.

Please let us know more details about these last issues mentioned, it looks like the problem might be there.

Jordi


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## Andy Thurston (6 Sep 2014)

Using 2&3 letter words in the forum search is pointless
Search these terms with google and add ukaps this will give much better results


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## parotet (6 Sep 2014)

Hi Pedro, if it helps in this thread you can check how I went from a very poor co2 approach in my tank to something that now let me grow plants without much problems (http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/...ys-green-and-aquasoil-any-relationship.30946/
I would also recommend a deep reading of this website created by Ardjuna, a UKAPS member, great info (http://www.prirodni-akvarium.cz/en/index.php

Jordi


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## PedroB (6 Sep 2014)

Thank you for all your replies. I've upped the CO2 injection and raised my lily pipe slightly to create a gentle water ripple. So far the fish and shrimp are not complaining. Let's see how the plants do. Should I supplement with liquid carbon?


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## PedroB (7 Sep 2014)

I found one of the amanos 3 metres from the tank,  but I think it's unrelated to water quality,  since the other two and the fish are doing great.   Changed 50% of tank water to remove the dead leaves and rotting matter. My DC is at a very yellowy green, but the fish seem ok. Guess I'll wait and see.


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## parotet (8 Sep 2014)

Hi Pedro, when animals have problems due to co2 IME they move rather slowly and  you can see them near the surface gasping air. I have seen many times (live show!) fish and shrimps jumping out of the tank, as my main tank is in the middle of the living room. Most of the time fish are chased by other ones and try to leave resulting in jumping out, I have even seen fish jumping out of the tank when they was seeing that I was bringing live food for them (a kind of excitement), I've seen shrimps jumping for no reason from leaves that were a bit emersed... That's the problem of having an open tank I guess.

Jordi


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## PedroB (10 Sep 2014)

Thank you Jordi. 
I think I unveiled the mystery behind the jumping. Yesterday I came home to find another of my Amanos had jumped out. Desolated I picked him up to give him a proper "porcelain burial" when he stirred. HE WAS ALIVE!
I popped him back into the tank and he seemed fine. 
This morning he was moving erratically in bursts around the tank, and I thought "well, seems like he's not gonna make it...".
An hour later I found his shell and he was hiding between the rocks.
The other one has started to exhibit the same behaviour. 
They're simply moulting!


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## PedroB (11 Sep 2014)

Update: He ded


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## sciencefiction (11 Sep 2014)

CO2 mate, never had a fish or shrimp jump out of an open top low tech tank


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## Andy Thurston (11 Sep 2014)

sciencefiction said:


> CO2 mate, never had a fish or shrimp jump out of an open top low tech tank


I agree. My ottos show distress first (red gills) followed by the shrimp whizzing round trying to escape then the glowline tetras stop glowing and then things start dying after that. Watch your livestock they are massively more accurate than any other test


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## PedroB (11 Sep 2014)

Playing with Co2 is like having a wife and a mistress... Lol. I'm gonna try to slowly reduce the Co2 level. I still have all my Cherry Barbs but I'm down to one amano. Not gonna add any more until my plant mass is enough to supply O2 to them / is matured enough.


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## parotet (12 Sep 2014)

Hi all

I agree that CO2 addition can contribute to fish stress that can result in jumping out of the tank, but I cannot agree that jumping is necessarily related to CO2. I keep two open tanks, low and high tech, and from time to time I have jumpers in both. Obviously I do not keep tanks for making statistics and I cannot compare other issues such as degree of water surface movement, kind and number of fish, part of hardscape emersed, surface of floating plants, level of the water in the tank, surface of the tank, number if times my son scare the critters, etc. but I would say that I've had more or less the same jumping accidents from both

Jordi


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