15 gallon first time planted

[azure bones]

So this is my first planted tank its a 15 gall with a aqueon quiet flow 10 and a coralife dual t5 with colormax and 6700k bulb it says 14 watt but they are both 14 watt bulbs so do I have 28 watt of light? First thing I did was switch out my massive gravel with sand

 

[Lawngnome]

Looks good, I suggest adding some sort of background. My color suggestion would be black or sky blue since you have the white sand. Sorry I cant answer your light question though.

 

[azure bones]

Looks good, I suggest adding some sort of background. My color suggestion would be black or sky blue since you have the white sand. Sorry I cant answer your light question though.

Ok will do ive been thinking about it but never have got around to it

 

[azure bones]

So thought I would put up an updated pic since that other one was kinda old. This is with my DIY co2 setup that I put up today its the yeast bottle setup going to my DIY bubble counter then to a hagen elite mini underwater filter that has a air input but I have my co2 line going to it diffuses the bubbles great

 

[azure bones]

So my DIY co2 system is doing amazing also did some trimming while I was in there. Also just realized I forgot to put my stock list I currently have 6 neon tetras, 4 ghost shrimp, and a zebra snail looking for another fish addition any suggestions? Also plants I have so far a cabomba fanwort and temple hygro definitely need more let me know if anyone's trimming

 

[Andrey]

Hi! If you are going to have planted tank, you need to add more lighting and illuminate the tank about 10-12 hours a day. As soon as you are using CO2 sistem it is necessary to apply ferts. And you have to block CO2 for the night or fish will be poisoned.

 

[azure bones]

so i got bored today and took some fun pics of my ghost shrimp and they turned out pretty good i think

 

[azure bones]

Hi! If you are going to have planted tank, you need to add more lighting and illuminate the tank about 10-12 hours a day. As soon as you are using CO2 sistem it is necessary to apply ferts. And you have to block CO2 for the night or fish will be poisoned.

so 28 watts for 15 gallon isnt enough for the low light plants im doing? and im only running about 1bps and its 100% diffused if not darn close i was told it was fine to leave on all night with that low of input and i dose execel

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Having a low-tech setup you should be just fine doing what you are doing. Honestly I would say you don't realy need the co2 just because of the amount of plants you have in the tank the plants moat likely get plenty co2 from the fish. Once your tank is fuller of plants though co2 might be a good thing to add in just to make sure there is enough for all of them.

 

[azure bones]

Having a low-tech setup you should be just fine doing what you are doing. Honestly I would say you don't realy need the co2 just because of the amount of plants you have in the tank the plants moat likely get plenty co2 from the fish. Once your tank is fuller of plants though co2 might be a good thing to add in just to make sure there is enough for all of them.

yeah i figured it was kinda over kill but i wanted to have it setup bc im planing on add alot of plants here soon would having the co2 running now cause any problems?

 

[Andrey]

yeah i figured it was kinda over kill but i wanted to have it setup bc im planing on add alot of plants here soon would having the co2 running now cause any problems?

That is why you need more lighting.

 

[azure bones]

so it could possibly be in my budget to add a second coralife 2 t5 14 watt ballast soon if so should i keep the 6700k and colormax bulbs it comes with in it so i would have a total of 4 t5s 14 watt each 2 colormax bulbs and 2 6700k bulbs whould this be enough for a high light tank?

 

[Andrey]

Yes, I think it could be enough.

 

[azure bones]

That is why you need more lighting.

just to clear it up i need more light bc im adding alot of low light plants? or bc im running a lil co2 with few plants?

 

[Andrey]

just to clear it up i need more light bc im adding alot of low light plants? or bc im running a lil co2 with few plants?

Plants consume co2 only whith light. Low light plants will grow much better with more intensive lighting. You will see )

 

[azure bones]

ok when the budget allows i will look into another light

 

[azure bones]

Got a deal on some plants today at the lfs they had a unmarked tank so I told them I'd give them a buck a pop but down fall is Idk Wat they are may need some help id them

 

[azure bones]

So here's a fts with new plants and the plants I need help with id

 

[fort384]

Hi there... I have some differing opinions from what have been presented so far:

1. You don't necessarily have to have higher light. I would agree that you have a pretty low light setup, but I have seen several people have success with very low light setups in the past. Would a new fixture grow the plants faster, and allow you to grow more varieties of plants? Yes! But it doesn't mean what you have can't work.

2. CO2: It definitely is not a requirement on your tank. You could easily get by without it. With the low light you have running, chances are the plants aren't benefiting tremendously from it. That being said, it certainly isn't going to hurt the plants, and it can have another side benefit: Algae control/reduction. I am not sure though that the benefits you will get outweigh the maintenance required. And also, a word of caution: If you are going to run it, be religious about the mixture changes. While consistently high CO2 can help control algae, if it fluctuates a lot, or if you allow your DIY system to run at a very low or no capacity for several days, it can actually cause MORE algae growth... not less. As for running it at night, it is true that plants won't uptake CO2 at night. However, with the amount and varieties of plants you are keeping, they won't uptake much even when the lights are on... so I suspect you would find very little difference between lights on and lights off in terms of the CO2 concentration in your tank. If you are worried about it, you can test KH and pH and determine what your CO2 concentrations are by reading it off of this chart:

From http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/CO2/kh-ph-co2-chart.html

 

[fort384]

So here's a fts with new plants and the plants I need help with id

The one on the right is a Crypt. It appears to be buried pretty deep... you may want to shallow it up a bit.

The other two... I am not really sure from the pics.