advice needed urgently

[coolbucks]

Hi all bros,

I need some urgent advice from you all... i just bought an goldie aro in my planted tank.. I notice that the aro after my timer switch on the t5 lighting.. that aro scale turn slightly redness... it is due to the T5 lighting and overtan it...?? i so worry that i reduce 2 tubes to be on for 3 hours and another 2 tubes on for 8hours..

How to stagge the lighting duration in order to avoid the aro and plants suffer..

listed below is the information's ;
Lighting : T5 HO lighting (80watts x 4)
Duration of lighting : 2 tubes,switch on for 8 hours
2 tubes,switch on for 3 hours
PH before co2 inject: 7.2
After co2 inject : 6.8
KH : 4
tank size : 5.5ftby 2ft by 2.2 ft
Aro size : 6inches

[vinz]

A gold arowana is not a great choice for a planted tank. Since you know about 'tanning', I guess you should know that bright lights will discourage the gold to cross over the back.

The redness... could that be the base colour of the arowana? Is the colour always visible or only from certain angles.

Anyway, I doubt it's over tanning. But with the bright lights, the dark brown pigment will start to show and cover the gold of the upper scales.

As for the plants, in nature, they actually get less hours of bright lights that we give in the tank. Due to reflection and refraction, sunlight at early morning and late afternoon is diverted away from water. Only when the sun is more or less directly overhead, will the plants get direct sunlight. This is even discounting that trees near the water edge may block some of the light when the sun is low in the sky.

I think 10 hours x 2 tubes and 6 hours x 4 tubes is a good approximation of 'natural' lighting.

You will need to adjust the fertilisation routine a little.

[coolbucks]

ya loh... i knew that bright lighting dark brown pigment will start to show and cover the gold of the upper scales... aro red is most suitable as red can tahan the bright lighting...

As for the redness, it start to goes dwn after i off my heater after switching on for a day...one of the bros in the aro site advice to switch it off,afterwhich the redness reduce and he mentioned might be heat stroke...

Possible to add floating plants to on top of the tank if switching on those duration of 10hrs and 6 hrs...

saw your reply on my another articles.. unless another menthod is to reduce to 2 tubes for 10hrs and limited select plants.. will this type of switching on reducing the dark brown pigment while maintain the plants as well?? can my current plants maintain there if i reduce to 2 tubes switching on at 8-10hrs and inject the same co2 amount and diffuse to 6.8ph...

With a dark brown pigment on top also look nice too...my aro start to have this dark brown pigment liao... look fierce...attached here is the pic

[vinz]

Yes, without the cross-over, the arowana looks more ferocious.

Reds do not 'tahan' the lighting per se. For the red, the pigment is red instead of brown. And we want the red pigment to show, hence we 'tan' the fish. Whereas, we want the x-back gold to be 'fair', hence tanning is not ideal. It's similar to the concept of tanning for humans... just a matter of whether you want to be fair or dark-skinned.

Now you have to decide, do you want the fish to x-back. If not, maintain the lights at 10hrsx2tubes, 6hrsx4tubes. Why not just go with this for a few months and see if you like the effect. Only the top should tan, the sides will remain gold. If you want to reduce the pigmentation, then consider using less lights.

For your current plants, if you reduce the lighting, most of them will adapt. But some like the stemmed plants may not.

I have no experience with x-back, so I don't how much light will make them tan, but I've read/heard that most x-back enthusiasts keep them without light the whole day and only turn on one or two tubes for a few hours of viewing only.

Last thing... your arowana may soon get too aggressive for the discus to tolerate.

[ranmasatome]

you're in singapore right??? why need a heater???

[Shadow]

for the Discuss maybe, i heard you have to increase the water temp when it sick.

[coolbucks]

Yes, without the cross-over, the arowana looks more ferocious.

Reds do not 'tahan' the lighting per se. For the red, the pigment is red instead of brown. And we want the red pigment to show, hence we 'tan' the fish. Whereas, we want the x-back gold to be 'fair', hence tanning is not ideal. It's similar to the concept of tanning for humans... just a matter of whether you want to be fair or dark-skinned.

Now you have to decide, do you want the fish to x-back. If not, maintain the lights at 10hrsx2tubes, 6hrsx4tubes. Why not just go with this for a few months and see if you like the effect. Only the top should tan, the sides will remain gold. If you want to reduce the pigmentation, then consider using less lights.

For your current plants, if you reduce the lighting, most of them will adapt. But some like the stemmed plants may not.

I have no experience with x-back, so I don't how much light will make them tan, but I've read/heard that most x-back enthusiasts keep them without light the whole day and only turn on one or two tubes for a few hours of viewing only.

Last thing... your arowana may soon get too aggressive for the discus to tolerate.

thanks for your valuable advice sharing with me... icic,understood about the theory of the tanning effects... will the aro top cross again if future reduce the lighting duration??? i also read that those expert maintain their xback in that way... noted the advice that the aro will get aggressive towards the discus in the future... currently, the aro just ignore the discus and swim past them....

[coolbucks]

you're in singapore right??? why need a heater???

that LFS uncle mentioned on the first two days while the aro in a new surrounding... yup, i live locally here...

[vinz]

that LFS uncle mentioned on the first two days while the aro in a new surrounding... yup, i live locally here...

That's a new one. Did he tell you at what temperature to maintain the tank water? He probably didn't know it's a planted tank which, in most cases, already come with a heater. They are called 'damn (comparative to their norm) bright lights'.

Whatever advice you get from LFS, try to find out the reason. Make sure it's not something like 'everybody does it' or 'it's liddat one'.

Also, take into context your actual tank condition and apply the advice sensibly. Not many 'uncles' understand planted tanks nor bother to ask you what kind of tank you have. For all he knows, your tank could be getting direct sunlight everyday and is already hot enough. Basically, they just assume everybody has the same tanks.

One might ask you to put in an air pump for 'air'. But we know our plants produces more then enough oxygen for the fishes... so should we heed that piece of advice?

There are LFS that give good advice, but you should still consider how they apply to your tank.

[coolbucks]

alrite.. noted your value advice...