Lighting

[F.Sam]

Hello fishfans

I have the following aquarium: it's a 30g Juwel Rekord 800.
Inside, i have two Grolux T8's, which give approximately 18w each.
I'll give you a link as well (note that I don't have any clue whatsoever about PAR's etc. and I hope that you guys can tell me something about it.)
F18W/GRO — Sylvania Lighting Solutions

So 36W above a 30g doesn't sound like a whole lot to me at all. Besides that, the two bulbs only really cover the center part of the tank. The sides of the tanks receive far less light than the middle IMO. This resulted in my hygrophila growing towards the middle (when I really want it to grow straight). And my bacopa (planted on the other side), not really growing much at all since I trimmed it. Pics attached below.

My question is: are these lights actually sufficient for a planted setup (no co2)? Is this clnsidered low light? What would be an easy and cheap way to shed more light on this issue? (Yes I just made that pun).

Do you reckon this might help my cause? https://m.bol.com/nl/p/24-led-strip...0000013170019/?tpsQuery=/N/0/Ntt/led aquarium

All suggestions are appreciated.


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[F.Sam]

I'm sure there are some lighting experts here!


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[Brookster123]

Those lights are sufficient for a low light setup. to add more light with out changing the top look into led strips, they can be fastened to the underside if that canopy. Also see what reflectors if any are present in there. Adding/enhancing the reflectors can help immensely.

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[Brian_Nano12g]

Even so you don't use co2 injection, you should try adding liquid carbon like seachem excel or the alike (aka: glut). What are you dosing in terms of ferts? What type of substrate is that?

Aside from that, like Brook stated, adding reflectors should help and some LED light strips.

 

[F.Sam]

Both T8 have alumium reflectors above them! I'm dosing:
- 6ml of easycarbo (glut) a day
- 12ml of potassium (easylife - potassium) a week
- 6 ml of iron (easylife-ferro) a week
- 12ml of all around fert (easylife-profito) a week.
- roottabs are under the crypts and swords.

The substrate is JBL - Manado, and underneath that I have some nutrient-rich aquarium sand (of which I have quite forgotten the name).

What can you tell me about my fert regime?


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[F.Sam]

Brian/Brookster?


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[Brookster123]

Sounds like you're on the right track! Micros macros, additional potassium and iron after wc. Quality root tabs monthly..

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[Caliban07]

I have the juwel vision with 2 x T8s

I have good growth but my last bacopa didn't grow at all. I also use easy carbo. I'm a bit worried about this easy carbo to be honest. I've seem some erratic behaviour whilst I've been using it. I know this won't help with growth issues but I would consider reducing the amount. I'm not sure how concentrated it is in comparison to say excel. The plants can't get enough of it but a couple if my fish go a bit 'off' towards the end of a week of EI and carbo.

Anyway, my hygro also grows towards the middle where the light intensity is at it greatest but I don't have a problem with that. Try the reflectors and let me know if this helps as I'll look in to getting some also. Perhaps the bacopa doesn't like easycarbo? The first time I had bacopa with no fert regime it grew like a dream...


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[Brian_Nano12g]

As I'm unfamiliar with these ferts, I had to search online for the profito to see the nutrient makeup... I don't see any of the macros in your regimen other than K. What about N and P? Have you tested your nitrates and phosphates? Maybe get into dosing PPS-Pro.

 

[Caliban07]

As I'm unfamiliar with these ferts, I had to search online for the profito to see the nutrient makeup... I don't see any of the macros in your regimen other than K. What about N and P? Have you tested your nitrates and phosphates? Maybe get into dosing PPS-Pro.

Yeh I'm unsure how I missed that. I used to use profito before dry and it is a micro fertiliser. It was adequate up to a point without macros but once my plants exploded and took over my tank there may have been inadequate macros because I started getting a K deficiency. I haven't tried the bacopa since.

Def could could be macro deficiency.


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[F.Sam]

Wow, I can't believe I missed up on that. I always thought N and P were included in the profito... Well they do have easylife phosfo and nitro in their branch! But perhaps it's time to find a better brand. If I had to buy these two bottles as well, I would have 6 bottles of ferts/glut in total. Which seems a lot to me (price-wise).

So my question to you know is: what is a good fertiliser brand, what products should I get from it etc. Note that I live in Belgium and don't really know what my lfs has besides the easylife products (never bothered to look). What do you use Brian?


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[Caliban07]

Hi Sam.

http://www.aquariumplantfood.co.uk/delivery

This is where I bought my dry (powdered) ferts. They ship to the EU but you may be able to find a Belgian equivalent.

Basically I bought the EI starter kit. You get potassium nitrate. Potassium phosphate and magnesium sulphate. NPK

Then you get a powdered micro fertiliser. Extra a bought another mixing bottle (just in case) and some measuring spoons. You mix the solution yourself. There are EI calculators online but I followed the card that came with the kit for mixing but undercut on dosing because I wanted to see how much I really needed. The kit cost me £18.99. My first bottles I mixed (micros,macros, are still going after 2 weeks. This kit will last a long long time. Going to leave the magnesium sulphate out of the next mix though and of course you will need the easycarbo still.


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[F.Sam]

Hey Caliban, I've heard alot about these dry ferts, and how they are cheaper than their liquid counterparts.
But I hope you mean two months? Because two weeks doesn't sound like a long time for a uni-student as myself. ?


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[Caliban07]

Hey Caliban, I've heard alot about these dry ferts, and how they are cheaper than their liquid counterparts.
But I hope you mean two months? Because two weeks doesn't sound like a long time for a uni-student as myself. ?


Sent per three-eyed raven..

Haha no Sam. Those bottles were mixed using a tiny fraction of the pouches of powder that come. For eg 500g and 250g pouches and you mix in teaspoons


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[F.Sam]

Aha! Well I just made a fool out of myself hehe! Hmm that sounds like something my wallet would really appreciate! I think I'll give this a try after my exams are over. All my liquid ferts are nearly depleted as well.
Can anyone else confirm the efficacy of this product (not that I don't believe you C, but I like to do the research ? )


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[Caliban07]

Aha! Well I just made a fool out of myself hehe! Hmm that sounds like something my wallet would really appreciate! I think I'll give this a try after my exams are over. All my liquid ferts are nearly depleted as well.
Can anyone else confirm the efficacy of this product (not that I don't believe you C, but I like to do the research ? )


Sent per three-eyed raven..

It's not a problem. Skelly recommended them to me. He uses them too.


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[Caliban07]

By the way, in case you're not familiar with EI (estimative index) dosing, basically the idea is that you provide the plants with more nutrients than they require so the water column is always nutrient rich. This means a large water Change at the end of the week is required.

I've not read up on PPS pro much but I think the basic idea is you provide just enough nutrients each day. The dosing is based on tank volume and lighting I think and is derived from a formula based on the biological make up of dry plant tissue.




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[F.Sam]

I do a 40% pwc each week, so that should not be a problem! ?


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