Beginners beware (high light dangers)

[Delapool]

I don't think eco complete has any nutrients in it from what I have read. It is basically inert just like sand although it has a better cation exchange and hold more bacteria, looks good, is easy to clean and plant in.

Nice post Bert. We do tend to abuse lighting to a certain degree. My qualms with lighting are the numbers. To me they don't really mean anything. The plants will decide whether there is enough and the algae will decide whether there is too much.

Where's the like button on cation exchange I have a few kilograms of a planted tank volcanic pellet substrate in the tank on one side mainly. Not much of it but beautifully easy to put plants into. The other side is more seachem fluorite and seems to lock together a bit. Harder to get plants into although they do ok.

I know with lighting I thought I could start high and reduce down. Took a while to learn to start low and work up.

 

[LiQuiD]

1. I only use sand.
2. I have not. If you poke the sand reguarly you won't or have fish/snails that turn it.
3. Just osmocote root tabs and glut dosing.

Are you using the Osmocote in gell caps that Mebbid recommended here?

I made a bunch of them, but didnt really see an improvement on my plants. How often are you adding them and how many?

By glut dosing do you mean glutaraldehyde?

Thanks again!!

 

[ImACoolguy]

Are you using the Osmocote in gell caps that Mebbid recommended here?

I made a bunch of them, but didnt really see an improvement on my plants. How often are you adding them and how many?

By glut dosing do you mean glutaraldehyde?

Thanks again!!

Yes I am. I use one every 3-4 inches. Every couple months.

Yes glutaraldehyde is what I meant.

 

[LiQuiD]

Yes I am. I use one every 3-4 inches. Every couple months.

Yes glutaraldehyde is what I meant.

Cool, thanks. The one annoying thing I hated dealing with was all of the little osmocote casings ending up everywhere. My syphon never picks them up.

 

[Mcfly]

Lots of good info for anyone thinking about a planted tank.
Thanks fir sharing... It should certainly save time and money!

I've only got Ambulia in my tank right now, seems to grow like wildfire with just LED strips timed at 6 hrs/day. I like 'em, maybe I'm getting the 'bug'... Should I swap out some of those plastic plants now??

 

[Caliban07]

Where's the like button on cation exchange I have a few kilograms of a planted tank volcanic pellet substrate in the tank on one side mainly. Not much of it but beautifully easy to put plants into. The other side is more seachem fluorite and seems to lock together a bit. Harder to get plants into although they do ok.

I know with lighting I thought I could start high and reduce down. Took a while to learn to start low and work up.

I think you can actually just crush lava rock up and use that as a substrate. It's much cheaper than eco but not much different. You can still use root tabs with it. I'm just dosing the column at present.

 

[Delapool]

I think you can actually just crush lava rock up and use that as a substrate. It's much cheaper than eco but not much different. You can still use root tabs with it. I'm just dosing the column at present.

Wonder how crushed hydroponic baked clay balls would go? I've seen bags at hardware store for $20. Never got around to trying that.

These volcanic clay pellets are like ball bearings so easy to work in. Couple of people have said really good but priced more for nano tanks. Crushed lava rock sounds interesting.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Wonder how crushed hydroponic baked clay balls would go? I've seen bags at hardware store for $20. Never got around to trying that.

These volcanic clay pellets are like ball bearings so easy to work in. Couple of people have said really good but priced more for nano tanks. Crushed lava rock sounds interesting.

They float at first. Easy to work with, very light weight. Easy to put plants in, but the roots are going to tangle them together just like anything else.

 

[Delapool]

They float at first. Easy to work with, very light weight. Easy to put plants in, but the roots are going to tangle them together just like anything else.

These are the hydroponic balls? Here they are maybe thumb size balls? Very light weight as well. That's handy info on the plants.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

These are the hydroponic balls? Here they are maybe thumb size balls? Very light weight as well. That's handy info on the plants.

Yes. I used them in my aquaponics system and they're good for growing plants above the water line, not sure about submerged plants.

The generic name is LECA (lightweight expanded clay aggregate) and you can sometimes find it cheaper online

 

[Delapool]

Hmm, good point on submerged plants. Might try a small tank first (one day!) which would be less work.

 

[Caliban07]

Here's that video I watched by Dennis Wong.

https://youtu.be/KDdpUe4Olcg

It's about algae and focuses heavily on co2, nutrients and lighting. There's even an experiment that he conducted using bottles of water. Interesting stuff.

Some have you may already have seen it but always worth a watch. His other videos are great too and some of his scapes are breathtaking.

 

[MDDad]

I get this feeling that there's a difference between what you're calling "low light" and my "super low light" set up, which is 17 W of T8 in a 29 gallon tank, because that's what my cheap-*** Petsmart aquarium hood came with.

I assume what you're calling "low to medium light" would still have about triple the wattage I do… Is that correct?

My gut says I shouldn't bother with anything as demanding as say, a crypt.

 

[MDDad]

Ahh my bad about the Eco

It happens far to much. Although I can take I have some pretty expensive lighting lol I only run 75% but I like have that the capability of over 120 if I really wanted to crank the gas and the ferts. Obviously I wouldn't go this high with fish in the tank as the amount of co2 I'd be pumping in would gas them real quick haha

Eco complete looks cool though. I have seen it in tanks where it has a nice contrast with the fish. Especially bloodfins and neons…

 

[stevenht]

I get this feeling that there's a difference between what you're calling "low light" and my "super low light" set up, which is 17 W of T8 in a 29 gallon tank, because that's what my cheap-*** Petsmart aquarium hood came with.

I assume what you're calling "low to medium light" would still have about triple the wattage I do… Is that correct?

My gut says I shouldn't bother with anything as demanding as say, a crypt.

My crypts grew in really terrible light as well. It was slow and painful but I did manage to look up one day and notice how lush and thick they had grown in. I now have about 30 of them as my carpet in my 48 gallon bowfront that is medium light. I will say root tabs, liquid co2, and running my lights about 10 hours a day were the only reasons why those poor plants grew but they grow insanely fast now. I lose all my cory cats if they go into the carpet looking for food.

 

[LiQuiD]

Yes I am. I use one every 3-4 inches. Every couple months.

Yes glutaraldehyde is what I meant.

One other thing, do you only use 1 LED light or 2? I have 2 24/7 Planted+ but think it's too much.

 

[ImACoolguy]

One other thing, do you only use 1 LED light or 2? I have 2 24/7 Planted+ but think it's too much.

I only use 1. And it's not at max power.

 

[cjhuck27]

My 29 gal sits right in front of my sliding glass door and gets plenty of natural light during the day. Could too much light be the problem for my nitrite levels being too high? I only have two cherry and two amazon sword plants in my tank and no fish as of now. I'm trying to be patient with adding fish and everything but it's hard waiting for 4 weeks for my tank to be ready for fish. Please help!

 

[Bert2oo1]

My 29 gal sits right in front of my sliding glass door and gets plenty of natural light during the day. Could too much light be the problem for my nitrite levels being too high? I only have two cherry and two amazon sword plants in my tank and no fish as of now. I'm trying to be patient with adding fish and everything but it's hard waiting for 4 weeks for my tank to be ready for fish. Please help!

Nope it's just still cycling. It should be getting close after 4 weeks tho. Keep an eye on it and it will just change to nitrate one day

 

[cjhuck27]

Nope it's just still cycling. It should be getting close after 4 weeks tho. Keep an eye on it and it will just change to nitrate one day

I hope so. I put a decent amount of Nite out on it last night and the nitrates only went up. Very confusing.