Switching over...

[Holokai]

Hey all,

It's been a while since I've had a freshwater tank, and my last attempt was a freshwater stingray tank (successful, too!). But Now I have a much more limited budget, and would like to set up a ten gallon planted tank if possible.

The last thing this tank had in it was a nano-reef, so the first question I have concerns lighting. The hood that I built has a 98w power Quad in it. That works to 9.8wpg, which is... well, a lot. What are the problems I Will have with this high level lighting?

Will this be a large enough problem that I will need to switch lighting? At this point I don't even know what fish/plants I'm thinking of (other than coolie loaches).

TIA,

Chris

 

[Jchillin]

Moved to Planted Tank forum

 

[Jchillin]

I moved your post here so it can get the attention it deserves.

You can start researching the subject area with the stickies at the beginning of this forum. I will answer your first question. Yes, that is a lot of light 8O for a planted tank. We generally try to limit at @ 6 wpg.

 

[Holokai]

Thanks, Jchillin.

Yeah, I read the stickies which is why I knew my lighting might be a problem, but I didn't know what the cap was. Looks like I'll be buying a new light. If I keep the wattage under 20w, does this mean I won't necessarily need to inject CO2?

 

[Jchillin]

Absolutely. If you want some idea of what can be done without CO2, take a look at my clickys.

 

[Holokai]

Jchillin, as long as I apear to have your attention , two more questions -

1) Those pics in your gallery, none of those tanks have CO2? even the planted ones?

2) what lighting combinations do freshwater tanks usually have? For example, I'm looking at www.hellolights.com for 2 9 watt CF ballasts, perhaps one 10,000k and one Actinic? Is this mostly personal preference?

Thanks!

 

[Jchillin]

The tank with the pink gravel is not planted, those are fake. The other is planted, with no CO2. The light level is a robust 1.1 wpg.

We planted folks tend to want lighting in the 6500 - 10K range (I have 10k in the planted tank). Actinic has no value for plants and it becomes a personal choice if you want to go with it. However, with that particular set up, you will only be getting 1/2 of the desired light wattage (ie: only 9 watts of 10K, rather than 18 watts of 10k, so I would go with two 10k rather than one each.

HTH.

 

[Holokai]

Interesting. Thanks.

One thing I am curious about is why freshwater tanks only need so much light, whereas the saltwater folks can't get enough. Is this simply because of algae production in high light situations exceeding the closed systems ability to get rid of it?

hehe... I still have 640w of MH and PC lighting laying around here somewheres...

 

[Jchillin]

We suffer the same issues with algae. With the increased light needs, we must use CO2 to prevent uncontrolled algae growth in tanks over 2wpg. The issue is the same in planted and reef...our plants need as much light as we can give them...same as corals and other life that requires light to strive.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

Another option would be to pick up a 16Gal tall (same dimensions as a 10, but taller), use your existing fixture with a 50/50 10k/actinic (which according to some people does have some minor value to plants, but not enough to warrant putting hydro to it).

This would give you about 3wpg and you can easily add a DIY Co2 system (inverted tray like Jungle labs or bubble ladder, both are around 20$us).

the bill, about 35$, plus anything else you would already have needed (plants, fish etc..)

Just tossing otu a different idea.

 

[Holokai]

Wizzard, the 98quad is a 50/50 bulb. So do we discount half of the wattage? That would make it 4.9wpg, which doesn't seem so bad.

I like the idea of a slightly larger tank, I didn't know there was such a thing as a 16H. I'll look into that. I'm already planning out my DIY CO2 contraption, as well.

Thanks for the idea!

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

My daughter has one (16h) I wanted to get her a slightly larger tank to handle a bit more fish. Picked it up at a big als locally. It's made by perfecto and I think it was about 15-20$. It's 20x10x19high a standard 10 is 12" high. this also gives some room for higher plants like val etc. I like it better then the 10 she had, just had to put my old whisper 30 filter on it.

a 20Gal Xtra high is also 20x10x24high, I didn't like this one because of kids, I had a 20Gal fall on my head as a child and don't think it's nice to have that happen to my kids.. but if you don't have to worry about it tipping, then it's probably more accessible.

 

[Holokai]

I tend to not like things falling on my head either!!

I'll drop by the LFS tomorrow and have a looksee. I like the idea of a taller tank, and a 20gal would break the wpg dow to 4.9 or 2.45, depending on whether or not actinics get counted...

 

[Purrbox]

Since your current fixture has 50/50 bulbs, you would only count half the light, putting you at 4.9wpg. Another thing to consider is that smaller tanks (under 20 gallons) need more light to achieve the various lighting levels. As a result, I would think that 4.9wpg would be a very good starting place for 10Gallon High Light tank. Also, while actinics can't be counted towards the total wpg of the tank, many people have reported that they the plants had much bushier growth with them.

You would want to add CO2 to your tank with this amount of lighting. I would recommend setting up DIY CO2. This is extremely simple to do, and relatively inexpensive. There are some great links in the CO2 Sticky.

With this amount of light you would also need to get a handle on fertilizing. You could either go with something like the Flourish line of ferts. They'll be more expensive, but are very good and with this size tank not excessively expensive. You could also check out the link in the fertilizer sticky for GregWatson's site for dry ferts, which would be a lot less expensive and last forever in this size tank.

If you decide to upgrade to the 20 gallon tank you will still need to look at CO2 and Ferts, since you will be pushing 2.5wpg. This would be a Med High Light tank and would allow you to grow most of the plants out there except for the highest light demanding ones.

Sounds like you're putting together a really great little tank. I look forward to pics when you get it all put together.

 

[Holokai]

Thanks for the information, Purrbox. I am already planning out a DIY system, but I need to find someone to drink the soda for me!

As far as the fertilizers go, are these on top of the root tabs? Or are they better than root tabs?

Thanks!

- Chri

 

[Purrbox]

You would use the root tabs if you have heavy root feeding plants and aren't using a nutrient rich substrate like Eco complete. In addition you'll need to add ferts to the water column. In high light tanks, the plants will usually comsume nutrients much faster than your fish and water changes can add them back in. Read the Ferts Sticky at the top of the forum, and then come back and ask questions if it's still not clear.