OK, so now we confirm that the OP was not merely asking a general question. Generally, whenever someone says "I think I need more light", it's because the plants are failing. The reason I jumped to the conclusion in my earlier post is because this happens everyday. The object lesson here is that when someone makes statement like "I think I need more light", we should always ask the question "Why do you think you need more light?" because 99.99% of people think that light grows plants, so they mistakenly assume that if plants are dying then they need more light to save them, which of course, is false.hinch said:ceg4048 said:More than likely, the OPs problem has nothing to do with light penetration. He/she is most likely having a CO2 penetration problem. Getting more light will only make the problems worse.
Cheers,
he didn't mention any algae/plant issues though was just a general question. having seen a scaped tall tank on here before though it was very dark at the bottom of the tank compared to the top even when running multple t5's so surely any type of planting is going to require some form of lighting down the bottom
The problem with tall tanks has absolutely nothing to do with light penetration. The problem with tall tanks is that they do not have enough CO2. We should know this by now. Holes in plants is a CO2 problem. Telling people to get more light penetration when their plants are dying from CO2 deprivation only leads to more destruction and only makes their problems worse. Plants do not really care about light penetration. They care more about CO2 penetration because CO2 grows plants. Lights just makes them use CO2 faster and that's why they grow faster. But id CO2 is not there in sufficient quantities then they cannot grow. The fact that the light is low at the bottom of the tank actually is HELPING. So please, can we stop telling people to add more light before we clarify what their problem is? Adding more light almost NEVER solves peoples problems.
So lets step back to the beginning and see if we can find a better solution.
I find the following statement absolutely incredible.
Well, if that's your only problem then we really need to fix that because that one problem is enough for anybody. This is like saying that my only problem with breathing is that I'm unable to inhale.nachoheeledge said:...My only plant issues are that a lot tend to die...
There are two main paths to a solution;
1. The high tech path, which is complicated and which involves the enrichment of CO2.
A. The CO2 can be enriched by the injection of gas.
B. The CO2 can be enriched by the addition of liquid carbon such as Excel.
C. The CO2 can be enriched by both methods 1.A and 1.B
The easiest of the above methods is to simply add liquid carbon. The cheapest form of liquid carbon is sold by one of our sponsors=> AE Design Aqua Carbon 4000ml
I've given you the link for the 4 liter bottle because it's cheaper in the long run.
The limitation of this method is the long term cost, the possible toxicity to some plants if overused, and the relative lack of efficiency compared to gas injection methods. The advantages are in the ease of use. Simply add a certain amount in the morning, just before lights on and that's it.
The more complicated path is to invest in a CO2 gas injection system. It's more complicated because it requires more planning, additional plumbing, regulator, solenoid, diffusers, bubble counter, dropchecker and so forth. Please go to the Tutorial section of the forum to read more about the gas injection method. The advantage of this method is that you can achieve very high growth rates due to efficiency, however, CO2 is highly toxic to fauna and this obviously is a major disadvantage, so care must be taken and the CO2 concentration levels must always be monitored.
In addition to CO2 enrichment you will need to improve your flow rate and water distribution methods. That internal filter is much too weak to be effective, so CO2 enrichment actually compels you to add even more equipment.
2. The low tech approach.
This method has the advantage of being very simple. All you need to do is to add plants which are tolerant to low CO2 availability. As mentioned by hinch, Vallis is a hardy species and grows almost infinitely tall, which would add an aesthetic appeal to the back of the tall tank. You could also cover some of your ornaments with various types of mosses which are low CO2 tolerant. Ferns are also a good addition and are low CO2 tolerant. Cryptocorynes also are good in a low CO2 tank.
The disadvantages of course are that the growth rates are very slow and you do get some die back as the plants struggle to adapt to the low CO2. The number of species of available plants that are low CO2 tolerant is small.
I would suggest that you add a few of these types of plants and that you start adding liquid carbon, just so that you can see for yourself what the effects are of enriching CO2, however, as I mentioned, CO2 enrichment comes with it's own set of problems starting with flow/distribution, so if you choose to try CO2 enrichment then you might want to think about a stronger filtration solution or the addition of extra circulation pump(s) to push the water down to the bottom of the tank.
Cheers,