Brown Spots On Leaves

[Blondielovesfish]

Unfortunately, the light is contained within the hood, which I can't raise without having a gap which I'm afraid my betta would be able to jump out of

I'll try looking for some tinted plastic, however, is there any chance the plastic would melt from the heat coming from the light bulb? EDIT: Never mind, just realised that the splash protector thing is made of plastic *facepalm*

 

[eaglesaquarium]

It depends on the plastic, honestly.  Some plastics will melt easier than others.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Okay, I'll look into it.
 
I've been doing some research into dosing CO2, primarily using the yeast method, however I could not find anywhere what sort of set up I would need for a tank of my size, i.e. bottle size, amount of yeast and sugar etc.
Any help with that would be greatly apreciated

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I've never done the yeast thing personally, but it should be fairly easy to do on a tank that size...
 
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/341090-the-yeast-co2-method/
 
This should give you a head start, although you'd probably be able to get away with smaller bottles and scaling back the recipe for your tank size.

 

[three-fingers]

I've been doing some research into dosing CO2, primarily using the yeast method, however I could not find anywhere what sort of set up I would need for a tank of my size, i.e. bottle size, amount of yeast and sugar etc.
Any help with that would be greatly appreciated

Personally, unless I was already experienced with growing plants with CO2 first, I would not try the yeast-based method to fix a CO2 deficiency. Many have good results with it (I currently use it on one of my tanks), and they were far more popular a few years ago, but unless you have a DIY multiple-bottle setup so you can change one of the bottles before the yeast use all the sugar, you will get inconsistent CO2 levels.
 
This is because the CO2 production will vary depending on the temperature and how much sugar is left for them to consume.
 
The general consensus nowadays is that for beginners with very high light over the tank, a pressurised CO2 kit is the only way to keep CO2 levels high and stable to avoid algae. If you are interested in going down that route, you can buy an expensive kit, or look at the much cheaper DIY option.  However, you should only do this if you really want a high-tech, fast-growing relatively high maintenance aquarium, as if you remove CO2 as the limiting factor, demand for other nutrients will increase.
 
Your best bet if you just want healthy plants, is to lower the lighting levels to decrease the CO2 demand.
 
I would recommend floating plants like amazon frogbit, water lettuce or Salvinia spp. to block out some light, if you've no better way .

 

[Blondielovesfish]

I'll give the CO2 a miss then, thanks for the information.
 
Would duckweed or watersprite do the job of filtering out some of the light? 

 

[three-fingers]

Either or both, duckweed is better for this purpose though IME. Just remember, duckweed is a real pain to get rid of if you change your mind about liking it, and it coats your arms whenever you put your hand in the water. Gets everywhere!
 
Since you are in NZ, you also have the option of the much prettier Azolla genus, which is about to be made illegal here in the UK due to being an invasive species

. These are tiny floating ferns that are reddish in colour, and would be more effective than water sprite for your purposes IMO.
 
Not sure what exact native species of Azolla are available to you locally, but possibly worth investigating

.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Thanks for that, I've done some brief research and it seems that Azolla filiculoides and A. pinnata are the available species, not sure where I can collect them from but I'll certainly look around! Thanks!
 
Will give the duckweed a go, thanks

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Quack.  (I miss techen.)

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Quack.  (I miss techen.)

 
LOL.
What happened to him?

 

[eaglesaquarium]