I'm off work today and find myself trimming my fast growing weeds for the second time in the last week which made me wonder. Do any of you ever tire of needing to prune so much and try for a tank that maintains the same scape for more than 3 days? I don't mean low tech but just something a bit slower that you're not into twice a week. It has me contemplating something with a bit less maintenance.

I clean my tank once a week, on the weekend. i trim my jungle val then~.. its usually laying on the top. It grows fast.

I hate trimming. If the plant needs to be trimmed more than once a week, bye-bye. Also, because of the tank size, I can only reach certain areas of the tank (most LOL) when I do a water change, so that plays a part too. It seems that my dwarf sag needs to be thinned out/replanted every couple months, and that has me thinking PITA. Only good thing that comes from that is that I can give some away.

One easy solution is to switch your fast growing stem plants with slower growing rosette plants. Crypts, Swords, Ferns and Mosses are much lower maintenance. Of course there are slower growing stem plants too.

Another solution is to reduce your light levels. That will reduce the biomass production, and help your pocket and the environment too. With less than 2W/gal you can still grow all but the most demanding plants.

A third idea would be to get a larger tank.

I try to maintain a tank that primarily my fish (and shrimps, plants, bacteria, nasty little worm-things etc.) find pleasant and agreeable. They don't care if some hairgrass is a little too long or if a sword plant has a brown leaf. In short: I don't give a #[email protected]% about perfect trimming.

I realize, though, that this is not everyone's taste and that some plants grow just too happily. I guess some plants are not suitable for most aquaria, no matter how beautiful they are. Some are too demanding, some grow too fast/large. I mean I wouldn't try keeping a tuna in my 55g reef tank either.

You've read my mind. I've been thinking about replacing most of the stems with swords and crypts. I already have 3 fairly large ferns growing ( pic of them in link below ). As far as lighting I using 108 watts of T5HO over a 75 and I'd not think growth would be as fast but it is.

Can you put NO bulbs in a HO fixture?

https://www.plantedtank.net/forums/ta...75-gallon.html

Trust me my trimming isn't perfect

That's a beautiful tank. Be glad and enjoy your stellatas. And two HO bulbs over that 75gal isn't excessive at all.

You can, but most ballasts will overdrive them to HO levels anyway.

right now over my 110 im running only 145 watts or so (two broken bulbs). IT is actually refreshing to have had cobomba/sunset hygro that i havent had to trim in 3 weeks. however my brazilian pennywort still grows like mad and my e. tennelus is sending out runners left and right.
maybe try jsut running bulbls for less time or running less bulbs. see if you still get a nice looking tank with less maintenence.

Less light= less growth.

If you really hate trimming, then consider non CO2, or a middle ground, Excel dosing.

Plant choice is always wise, you can mix a few fast growers with hardscape materials, or go all slower growers or a mix there as well.

I like pruning and gardening.
But you have to keep up on it and be good about whacking the stems back.

There are few methods, topping or cutting the old stem off the bottom.
Each has its merits depending on the plant species.

Regards,
Tom Barr