Making A Tank Darker...

[hoarp001]

I have just put 6 baby red bellied pirahnas in my tank and with the lights on tehy sit in the corner in a big huddle. Turn the lights out and the shoot about all over the place and eat the bits of prawn I put in the tank for them.

Obviously the plants need light and its nice to be able to see the fish, so how Can i make the tank darker so the fish are happy but the plants can grow and we can see them?

 

[cujoho78]

Hi. It may be a bit of a dilemma to grow the plants and subdue the lighting for the fish. I guess you could start by selecting plants that don't need intense light. That way you won't need such powerful lights. Another thing you could do is create areas where there are floating plants which will provide some "shade" that the fish can swim around under. Then put the other plants in other areas of the tank. What colour is your substrate and do you have a backgound? Maybe using black sand or gravel and a black background will provide the fish with some comfort.
These are a few ideas that came to mind. Maybe someone else who has pirahnas and plants can chime in with some of their experiences. Good luck.

 

[hoarp001]

Someone on pirahna fury told me to wrap black electrical tape around the tube. It does seem to have worked, its dim but before it was so bright it was abit dazzling. even for me, let alone the fish.

The background is blue and the gravel is sandy colour, natural stuff. The gravel dosnt seem to much of a problem, black gravel would look really odd. Im not sure what you mean by substrate. If you mean water then its pretty clear, the filters have the polywool and its crystal clear. However when i do water changes it shows up slightly yellow in the bucket, probably because of the bogwood.

I can see the babies swimming about quite happily in the main area of the tank now so they have clearly got used to the light.

 

[BigC]

Piranahs will be a bit skittish initially as they settle in to their new surroundings. Humans moving around the floorspace outside the tank will send them diving for cover. Let them settle in somewhat. Adding bogwood which will leech some tannins into the water and some indian almond leaves which has the same effect. The light can also be reduced by using floating plants, such as Salvinia.
Regards
BigC

 

[hoarp001]

Yeah I have afew bits of bogwood which have turned the water teabag colour. I have also switched the backing film round the other way, so now it displays black instead of blue. It looks much nicer now anyway.

I have just fed them and they seem quite happy, took them no time at all to realise there was a prawn sitting at the front of the tank and they swam over and ate it.

They seem to have settled in over night....

 

[jayjay]

Substrate = the gravel or sand on the floor of the tank.

 

[hoarp001]

oh well, its mostly sandy colored but qaite afew black and grey gravel peices. Its qite dark, its not florecant oragne or anything. It seems to complement the fish, plants and bogwood qite well...

 

[Fella]

consider adding greaseproof paper on the tank covers. Obviously not if it's going to get so hot that it may set light.

 

[hoarp001]

I can get idustrial light diffusing film if i need to. I used to use it on big stage lighting. Its heat proof so thats ok. Only think im no sure about is how i would attach it to the tu be...

 

[cane76]

i had the same problem with my baby reds i would say leave the lights as normal they will get used to it

 

[hoarp001]

Ive actually got used to the subded lighting and I qite like it. prefur it to the garish light it used to have. The fish are fine now, look fairly happy. I jst have to stop them nipping each others fins. afew of them have nasty bits taken out of their fins....

 

[cane76]

i wouldnt worry they are super fast healers and they should grow out of the nipping

 

[skiltrip]

What I do sometimes, is this...

SaranWrap sells this colored plastic wrap that's extra wide, and blue colored.

Lat it flat making a rectangle, and keep doubling it over and make it as thick as you want. thicker the darker. make it whatever size you need to lay under your striplight. (assuming you don't have incandescent lights. don't use it with these, that could get ugly).

i use mine with a Coralife dual compact fluorescent light, i think it's 130watts total. Usually though I use one bulb while doing this, so it's only 65watts.

now, you don't wanna leave anything like this unattended, but if you want to take a few hours during the night to watch your fish, this works well. I have my first bulb come on in the morning, second bulb comes up in the afternoon till around dinner, then back to one bulb. a few hours before lights out i put the blue saran wrap on there to mellow it down. looks real nice.

I do this to get my Syno catfish to come out and be more active. kinda makes it like a blue tinted moonlight. really mellow and gets the shyer fish out and about.

 

[hoarp001]

lol, your right about the super fast healers, none of them have any ripped fins now.

Do you do all that manually skiltrip or do you have a timer?

Do you have to put the blue filter on every day?!