lights and a clean up crew..

[PaulieFish]

If anyone has been following my journal you know i only have a 24" 17w light on my tank.. horrible i know.

My tank is 36" long but only has a 24" light in the hood. If i can find a ~100w 24" light is that ok? Or should i go for a 36" since that's how big my tank is.

Next clean up crew. Well I have probably around 30-40 MTS in my tank and a big mystery snail but in the one "heavy" planted section of my tank, there is still a ton of poop on the ground. I was wondering if i could get something to clean this up, or am i going to have to do it on PWC. The only reason that's a problem is because that means i would have have to move all the plants..

Thanks for the help,
Paul

 

[mfdrookie516]

My tank is 36" long but only has a 24" light in the hood. If i can find a ~1000w 24" light is that ok? Or should i go for a 36" since that's how big my tank is.

Was that a typo?

As for cleaning the sand, gravel vacing is the best way to clean detrius. Some people say mts will get rid of it, but i always have it on my sand when it comes time to do a water change

 

[PaulieFish]

Was that a typo?

As for cleaning the sand, gravel vacing is the best way to clean detrius. Some people say mts will get rid of it, but i always have it on my sand when it comes time to do a water change

Yeah sorry, i think i meant 100w lol, not 1000 . 1000 would prolly burn my fish alive..

Now what about ghost shrimp or red cherry shrimp, would they clean up the bottom?

 

[mfdrookie516]

No clue about the shrimp... i dont think they will though.

As for the light, what size tank is this? it seems like a 100w light would be a bit much for a 36" tank unless its a cube tank. Check out fish need it;lights; food;Sponge, they have cheap t5ho lights, and if your tank is 30-40 gallons, their 36" light would be ideal for low, maybe even some medium light plants

 

[PaulieFish]

I have a 45g tank, 36 long, 12 wide, and 24 height if that's right.

 

[mattrox]

Poop is poop. It is waste and as such animals will not clean it. It can only be removed by siphoning it out or filtering it out. Eventually bacteria will beeak it down but it will still be mucky. You could try a small flow maker to help push the detritus towards the filter inlet.

 

[dkpate]

Animals DO clean it, if you have a lower bioload and alot of mts. I never have to vacuum my community tank.

Paulie, until your mts get a little bigger and there are more of them, can you just wave the vacuum over the plants?

 

[mgamer20o0]

with plants you take the gravel vac get as close to the bottom as you cans move it in circle motions that will kick up the waste to be sucked up.