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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
ringfinger
Aquarium Advice Freak
Lonewolfblue
Aquarium Advice Addict
How much light is on your tank?
OP
OP
Guest
Guest
thats it, a melon sword. thanx. i use seachems flourish nutrients and the lights that came with the tank when i got it, but i put aquarium bulbs in it. now i can look up this osiris plant and see what it needs. maybe i have the wrong kind of tank for this plant.
edit part
i looked it up and it said its a medium difficult plant to take care of and it does better in a nutrient rich substrate. do you think if i get some laterite and bury it in the sand around the plant it would help it out?
edit part
i looked it up and it said its a medium difficult plant to take care of and it does better in a nutrient rich substrate. do you think if i get some laterite and bury it in the sand around the plant it would help it out?
Peyton
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Laterite may help but it is difficult to add to a existing tank. I would suggest maybe some root tabs. What kind of light are you using? Flourecent, incadecent? Also what size tank?
OP
OP
Guest
Guest
i have 2, 15 watt fluoros on a 50 gallon tank. they are made for aquarium use. im going to the pet store this morning so i will look at some root tabs and see what they have.
CaysE
Aquarium Advice Freak
You really need more light than that. 50W total minimum... you may need a new hood completely if yours can't handle that much. I have a 20 gallon planted tank and while it's a bit overkill, I'm running a 65W 10k bulb.
Is your light on a timer? How long is it on?
Is your light on a timer? How long is it on?
Peyton
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I agree. You really need more light. At least 1wpg but perferably 2+wpg. At your wpg they may survive but they will not grow any if at all.
OP
OP
Guest
Guest
can i do this? i have an old ballast for a big flouro, 8 ft from my garage. can i rig it to run smaller size flouro tubes over my tank, or would that just fry the smaller tubes? just a thought.
CaysE
Aquarium Advice Freak
I'm assuming your light fixture holds two 36" flourescent tubes. Can you tell us what brand and model the fixture is? You may be able to just replace the bulbs.
I recommend getting two 30W bulbs. Take a look at the list of 36" bulbs (the middle column is for freshwater planted tanks) here and go with a mixture of two of them that will fit. Be sure to check that the pins on the ends of the bulbs will fit your fixture.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=1372#Deluxe Fluorescent Full Hoods
I recommend getting two 30W bulbs. Take a look at the list of 36" bulbs (the middle column is for freshwater planted tanks) here and go with a mixture of two of them that will fit. Be sure to check that the pins on the ends of the bulbs will fit your fixture.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=1372#Deluxe Fluorescent Full Hoods
OP
OP
Guest
Guest
no, the hood came with two 18" fixtures, so i have two 18" bulbs @ 15 watts apiece and that makes 30 watts. and now i added a 48" flouro with two aquarium bulbs @ 40 watts apiece, so this makes 80 watts. i will run these lights together on a timer, so i will have 110 watts total light which makes me ask another couple questions.
is this a good amount of watts and if it is, will i need co2?
is this a good amount of watts and if it is, will i need co2?
It's the grey area of lighting. Usually a tank will need CO2 somewhere between Medium and Medium High Light. Which is where this lighting probably puts your tank. I guess that it is probably advisable at this point, but may not end up being necessary. If you start to have problems you could always remove the two 15watt lights, to bring the tank back under medium light until such a time as you decide to add CO2.
OP
OP
Guest
Guest
ok, cool. i was interested in setting up a little diy co2 system for the experience and fun of it. this site is cool and im learning a boat load. you people got me on the right track and i thank you much.
Lonewolfblue
Aquarium Advice Addict
For the 50G, you'll need at least 2 2L bottles for a DIY setup, possibly 3. DIY is great for smaller tanks, but larger tanks it becomes more of a hassle, as you just need too many bottles to run a decent amount of CO2. And also, the reactor/diffuser will need to be better on a large tank, or you won't see much good with it.
CaysE
Aquarium Advice Freak
To answer your question, yes 110W is a good number. Whether or not you'll need CO2 depends on the plants you get. I don't know much about melon swords, but some plants like java moss and wisteria won't need it.
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