Really lame plants - Page 2 - Aquarium Advice

ingg · 06-16-2008, 12:19 AM

On the lighting level -

It has to do with looking at light in a more real way. Using lumens output, and comparing it to the wpg rule, shows how badly the wpg rule is broken on smaller tanks, and very large tanks, too.

Examples to put it in perspective:

A 55g with 3 wpg equates to about 5 wpg over a 10g when you compare LSI, Lumens per Square Inch... and the "wpg" number climbs, rather dramatically, the smaller you get.

My 2.5g is over 10 wpg - and it acts about like my 180g does, which has only 1.73 wpg - which acts about like my 75g, which has 2.88 wpg. WPG rules are pretty lousy, in other words.

JohnPaul · 06-16-2008, 03:16 AM

Something you might try regarding the light...

Go to your LFS and see if they sell hoods, designed for your size tank, with INCANDESCENT ("regular") lightbulbs. Now, before you freak out, incandescent lightbulbs are horrible and worthless for growing aquarium plants. But you won't be using them...

After buying the hood, then go to any hardware store (or a K-Mart, Wal-Mart, whatever) and buy a screw-in compact fluorescent (CF) bulb. This is a great way to boost lighting, and do it far more cheaply than any of your other options. I did this on a 10 gal tank I had, and it was utterly amazing the difference it made.

Here is just a sample of the kind of bulb I am talking about. Note I have no affiliation with that website or anything, just did a google search to show you an example.
Compact Fluorescent - 18 Watt - 75 Watt Equal - Full Spectrum Daylight 6500k - TCP 28918-65 Light Bulb

The only thing you need to be sure is that you get a bulb in the right "color" range. Many household bulbs are "warm white" or "cool white" bulbs (somewhere in the 2700K to 4100K range). Those won't work. You need something in the 5000k to 10,000K range (which go by various names, usually "full spectrum"). And of course, before you buy, make sure you take a look at the underside of the hood and confirm there is enough room under there for the bulb to fit.

By the way, what is important is the actual wattage of the bulb, not what they talk about as the "equivalent watts." So for example, the link I gave you is to a 6500K, 18 Watt bulb, which would give you roughly 3 WPG of lighting over your tank.

The nice thing is that with a standard light bulb screw-in fitting, you can get CF bulbs from as low as 2 Watts to as high as 200 Watts. And the bulbs typically cost only $8 or so each. So you can buy one, use it a while, and then if you decide you want either more or less lighting, it's simply a matter of going back to the store (or online) and getting one of a different wattage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LAST, back to the water change idea...40-50% change every week & a half seems like overkill to me, if all you have is one betta in a 5 gal tank. In general you want to avoid "large volume" water changes, as you run the risk of shocking your fish. Given your setup, a 25% change every-other-week will probably be plenty. And like others said, if you have ZERO nitrates in your water, nitrogen is going to be a limiting factor in your plant growth. You want...no, you NEED...to have some nitrates.

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06-16-2008, 12:19 AM	#11
ingg Aquarium Advice Regular Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 72	On the lighting level - It has to do with looking at light in a more real way. Using lumens output, and comparing it to the wpg rule, shows how badly the wpg rule is broken on smaller tanks, and very large tanks, too. Examples to put it in perspective: A 55g with 3 wpg equates to about 5 wpg over a 10g when you compare LSI, Lumens per Square Inch... and the "wpg" number climbs, rather dramatically, the smaller you get. My 2.5g is over 10 wpg - and it acts about like my 180g does, which has only 1.73 wpg - which acts about like my 75g, which has 2.88 wpg. WPG rules are pretty lousy, in other words.

06-16-2008, 03:16 AM	#12
JohnPaul Aquarium Advice FINatic Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 663	Something you might try regarding the light... Go to your LFS and see if they sell hoods, designed for your size tank, with INCANDESCENT ("regular") lightbulbs. Now, before you freak out, incandescent lightbulbs are horrible and worthless for growing aquarium plants. But you won't be using them... After buying the hood, then go to any hardware store (or a K-Mart, Wal-Mart, whatever) and buy a screw-in compact fluorescent (CF) bulb. This is a great way to boost lighting, and do it far more cheaply than any of your other options. I did this on a 10 gal tank I had, and it was utterly amazing the difference it made. Here is just a sample of the kind of bulb I am talking about. Note I have no affiliation with that website or anything, just did a google search to show you an example. Compact Fluorescent - 18 Watt - 75 Watt Equal - Full Spectrum Daylight 6500k - TCP 28918-65 Light Bulb The only thing you need to be sure is that you get a bulb in the right "color" range. Many household bulbs are "warm white" or "cool white" bulbs (somewhere in the 2700K to 4100K range). Those won't work. You need something in the 5000k to 10,000K range (which go by various names, usually "full spectrum"). And of course, before you buy, make sure you take a look at the underside of the hood and confirm there is enough room under there for the bulb to fit. By the way, what is important is the actual wattage of the bulb, not what they talk about as the "equivalent watts." So for example, the link I gave you is to a 6500K, 18 Watt bulb, which would give you roughly 3 WPG of lighting over your tank. The nice thing is that with a standard light bulb screw-in fitting, you can get CF bulbs from as low as 2 Watts to as high as 200 Watts. And the bulbs typically cost only $8 or so each. So you can buy one, use it a while, and then if you decide you want either more or less lighting, it's simply a matter of going back to the store (or online) and getting one of a different wattage. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LAST, back to the water change idea...40-50% change every week & a half seems like overkill to me, if all you have is one betta in a 5 gal tank. In general you want to avoid "large volume" water changes, as you run the risk of shocking your fish. Given your setup, a 25% change every-other-week will probably be plenty. And like others said, if you have ZERO nitrates in your water, nitrogen is going to be a limiting factor in your plant growth. You want...no, you NEED...to have some nitrates.