WPG for "very high light" plants?

"Elaine T" wrote in message
m...
Bill Stock wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

Bill Stock wrote:

The Tropica site lists certain plants as "very high light"

requirements.

Anyone care to hazard a guess how this translates to WPG? I'm

assuming

somewhere close to 6 WPG?

I've yet to see a plant I cannot grow well at 2-3w a gallon.
All aquatic plants are for the most part, low light plants.

Yuo are welcomed to suggest a plant that cannot be grown at 2 w/gal,
I've grown close to 250-300species of aquatic plants over the years.
I've yet to meet one that does not do well at 2 watt gal.

I will say this: more light is not better.
More light= faster growth = faster uptake =more pruning and more chance
of algae.

Regards,
Tom Barr



It's my Water Hyacinth again. It was doing OK for a while, but it's
slowly going brown and mushy now.

Water hyacinth is a bit different than submerged plants. High light for
water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) means the equivalent of outdoor full
sun. I have water hyacinth growing well in a pond where it gets about 8
hours of direct, strong Southern California sun. It's not growing as well
or as quickly in my other outdoor tank where it only gets 6 hours.

Is your water hyacinth sitting right under your light fixture where it can
get direct light all day?

Yes, they even got sunburnt once, when I filled the tank a bit too full.

They were doing poorly before, but I cranked the light up to 16 hours a day
and they started to prosper. Then they started to go mushy again, so I
raised their temp to 77 and they perked up again. The leaves are bright
green, but the bulbs are going soft and mushy. I can always tell when they
are doing well, they get the long white roots.

I think my lights are losing some of their brightness, although this is not
supposed to be a factor with CF bulbs. I don't know if it's the fertilzer
(too much iron) or something completely different. They actually seemed to
do better before I added the CO2, although I suspect this is a coincidence.
I've also got a minor case of string Algae, perhaps it's using something
they need?

Any ideas?



--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

Sure, it's the nutrients.

Not the light.

Use more KNO3, KH2PO4(can induce flowing by adding more of this and
backing off the KNO3), and traces.

It does well if you thin it out as needed and make sure there are
enough NO3 present.
We raise it to grow biocontrol weevils, it's a noxious weed in the
delta in CA.
But because pond folks like it so much and businesses can make $ on it,
they allow it to be legal.

The delta is surrounded by what? Farmland, and the runoff = rich
nutrients=horrid weed problems.

The issue with the biocontrol: they don't do well in the colder winters
here, but do well in Africa and other warmer areas, we cannot raise the
weeviles on artifical media, so we have to grow the weed and then pick
the little critters off the plants by hand.
I am lucky, I don't have to deal with that:-)

All we do, add some miracle grow to the tubs, change the water once a
month.


Regards,
Tom Barr

3rd annual Plant Fest July 8-14th 2005!
Get connected
www.BarrReport.com Get the information

wrote in message
oups.com...
Sure, it's the nutrients.

Not the light.

Use more KNO3, KH2PO4(can induce flowing by adding more of this and
backing off the KNO3), and traces.

Thanks Tom, it must be the PO4. I don't change the water much in this tank
and I don't add any Phosphate, due to the mild Algae problem. I had a
Duckweed explosion (after being dormant for months) a while back, perhaps
it's eating all the PO4.



It does well if you thin it out as needed and make sure there are
enough NO3 present.
We raise it to grow biocontrol weevils, it's a noxious weed in the
delta in CA.
But because pond folks like it so much and businesses can make $ on it,
they allow it to be legal.

The delta is surrounded by what? Farmland, and the runoff = rich
nutrients=horrid weed problems.

The issue with the biocontrol: they don't do well in the colder winters
here, but do well in Africa and other warmer areas, we cannot raise the
weeviles on artifical media, so we have to grow the weed and then pick
the little critters off the plants by hand.
I am lucky, I don't have to deal with that:-)

All we do, add some miracle grow to the tubs, change the water once a
month.


Regards,
Tom Barr

3rd annual Plant Fest July 8-14th 2005!
Get connected
www.BarrReport.com Get the information

I have never seen the rapid growth of Java Moss so that it can in large fortunately, Mr. Dwarf Gourami male, I can cut it off to him once a week a lot of material to build his bubble nest

Bill Stock wrote:
"Elaine T" wrote in message
m...

Bill Stock wrote:

wrote in message
egroups.com...


Bill Stock wrote:


The Tropica site lists certain plants as "very high light"

requirements.


Anyone care to hazard a guess how this translates to WPG? I'm

assuming


somewhere close to 6 WPG?

I've yet to see a plant I cannot grow well at 2-3w a gallon.
All aquatic plants are for the most part, low light plants.

Yuo are welcomed to suggest a plant that cannot be grown at 2 w/gal,
I've grown close to 250-300species of aquatic plants over the years.
I've yet to meet one that does not do well at 2 watt gal.

I will say this: more light is not better.
More light= faster growth = faster uptake =more pruning and more chance
of algae.

Regards,
Tom Barr



It's my Water Hyacinth again. It was doing OK for a while, but it's
slowly going brown and mushy now.


Water hyacinth is a bit different than submerged plants. High light for
water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) means the equivalent of outdoor full
sun. I have water hyacinth growing well in a pond where it gets about 8
hours of direct, strong Southern California sun. It's not growing as well
or as quickly in my other outdoor tank where it only gets 6 hours.

Is your water hyacinth sitting right under your light fixture where it can
get direct light all day?


Yes, they even got sunburnt once, when I filled the tank a bit too full.

They were doing poorly before, but I cranked the light up to 16 hours a day
and they started to prosper. Then they started to go mushy again, so I
raised their temp to 77 and they perked up again. The leaves are bright
green, but the bulbs are going soft and mushy. I can always tell when they
are doing well, they get the long white roots.

I think my lights are losing some of their brightness, although this is not
supposed to be a factor with CF bulbs. I don't know if it's the fertilzer
(too much iron) or something completely different. They actually seemed to
do better before I added the CO2, although I suspect this is a coincidence.
I've also got a minor case of string Algae, perhaps it's using something
they need?

Any ideas?

Well, Tom says it's nutrients and it does sound like they have plenty of
light. Ponders say they need a lot of potash, so give that a try.
Perhaps your other plants sucked too much potash out of the water when
the CO2 started. Interesting on the root color - mine have thick clumps
of purplish, almost black roots.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

"Elaine T" wrote in message
...
Bill Stock wrote:
"Elaine T" wrote in message
m...

Bill Stock wrote:

wrote in message
legroups.com...


Bill Stock wrote:


The Tropica site lists certain plants as "very high light"

requirements.


Anyone care to hazard a guess how this translates to WPG? I'm

assuming


somewhere close to 6 WPG?

I've yet to see a plant I cannot grow well at 2-3w a gallon.
All aquatic plants are for the most part, low light plants.

Yuo are welcomed to suggest a plant that cannot be grown at 2 w/gal,
I've grown close to 250-300species of aquatic plants over the years.
I've yet to meet one that does not do well at 2 watt gal.

I will say this: more light is not better.
More light= faster growth = faster uptake =more pruning and more chance
of algae.

Regards,
Tom Barr



It's my Water Hyacinth again. It was doing OK for a while, but it's
slowly going brown and mushy now.


Water hyacinth is a bit different than submerged plants. High light for
water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) means the equivalent of outdoor
full sun. I have water hyacinth growing well in a pond where it gets
about 8 hours of direct, strong Southern California sun. It's not
growing as well or as quickly in my other outdoor tank where it only gets
6 hours.

Is your water hyacinth sitting right under your light fixture where it
can get direct light all day?


Yes, they even got sunburnt once, when I filled the tank a bit too full.

They were doing poorly before, but I cranked the light up to 16 hours a
day and they started to prosper. Then they started to go mushy again, so
I raised their temp to 77 and they perked up again. The leaves are bright
green, but the bulbs are going soft and mushy. I can always tell when
they are doing well, they get the long white roots.

I think my lights are losing some of their brightness, although this is
not supposed to be a factor with CF bulbs. I don't know if it's the
fertilzer (too much iron) or something completely different. They
actually seemed to do better before I added the CO2, although I suspect
this is a coincidence. I've also got a minor case of string Algae,
perhaps it's using something they need?

Any ideas?

Well, Tom says it's nutrients and it does sound like they have plenty of
light. Ponders say they need a lot of potash, so give that a try. Perhaps
your other plants sucked too much potash out of the water when the CO2
started. Interesting on the root color - mine have thick clumps of
purplish, almost black roots.

The new root shoots are white spines, before they fill in with the lush
purple you're talking about. I can't imagine what nutrient they're missing,
they get lots of Potash, Trace Elements and Nitrates. Perhaps they're
lacking magnesium.

It was more of an experiment than anything else to keep these things. I just
hope the pond warms up soon, before they all die.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

Bill Stock wrote:


The new root shoots are white spines, before they fill in with the lush
purple you're talking about. I can't imagine what nutrient they're missing,
they get lots of Potash, Trace Elements and Nitrates. Perhaps they're
lacking magnesium.

It was more of an experiment than anything else to keep these things. I just
hope the pond warms up soon, before they all die.

Ah - I haven't seen the roots much, other than when I break off
offshoots to give away or sell.

I am not looking forward to overwintering my water letttuce and water
hyacinth for the first time this fall. Fortunately, I'll only have to
keep it indoors for about 4 months. I think it will go in a heated tub
with a shoplight overhead.

I hope you and Tom are right about the phosphate if there's plenty of
potash.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com