Cycling moving along faster

[friendly75]

Hi to all, first and foremost I am doing a fishless cycle on a 75 gallon tank. After about a week of nitrites being off the charts I woke up this am with progress. My nitrites are magicly down to readable levels, in the 1 to 2 ppm range which is a huge swing. My nitrates went from 40ppm to almost off the chart.

Second I want to give people stuck at the nitrite spike a sence of hope YES they do drop very rapidly. I went from roughly 20 ppm nitrites to 1 to 2 ppm in a matter of 14 hours. So hang in there everyone, I was tired if seeing the test going off the charts in a matter of seconds. I had to test three times just to confirm for myself this am.

Now here comes the questions

First of all I did not plant the tank because I did not have the lighting that I wanted, didn't like the risk of algae blooms, and now I want to purchase a good LED light set for the tank. Then acquire some plants. So any suggestions on a lighting system would be much appreciated. Looking to spend up to $300.00 as the lights show the shear beauty of a tank.

Also I guess some plant suggestions will prob come along with the types of lighting.

Thanks so much.

 

[Rivercats]

IMO about the best Led lighting for planted tanks are Build my Led fixtures. I prefer the new XB series and do get the dimmer which allows the light to be used from 10-100%. I have 4 of these fixtures. Be sure to get the planted tank ones.

You will need to use higher dosing of liquid carbon or CO2 if you get higher light. Also ferts. A gallon of Metricide 14 Day Solution is about $20 and is twice the strength of Excel. It's very economical to use if you don't want to dive into CO2 right away. As long as you don't have sensitive shrimp you can use the liquid carbon at 1ml for every 2 gallons of tank water building up to 1ml for every 1 gallon of water if needed. If you use the Metricide 14 at full strength you would half this amount.

 

[friendly75]

Thank you i will look into them

 

[friendly75]

Very compact and nice that is what I am looking for

 

[Mifsud]

The sky is the limit when it comes to lighting, you can spend as much money as you want and then some more.

There is a lot of salesmanship that surrounds fixtures that produce the right color, or wavelength, light for plant growth. You'll spend a lot of money to buy this sales pitch. When it comes down to it, as long as the light is white and there is a lot of it you'll find success growing plants.

If I was in your shoes, I would buy these fixtures and one of these for each fixture. ($30 Total) If you are uncomfortable wiring, then Marineland's Double Bright (~$80) is a commonly used and affordable fixture.

 

[friendly75]

I have no problem wiring just trying to get as many opinions as possible, this is an area I'm not too knowledgeable.

 

[threnjen]

I also have a Build My LED, mine is the 10000k planted and it is outstanding. The PAR (photosynthetically active radiation aka the spectrums that plants need) rating is the best of any premade LED available. It is under $300.