what can i expect to grow...( my first post

[greaver83]

I am new to planted tanks but i have a 4 ft 55 gallon tank with play sand substrate about 1 inch deep im using flourish comprehensive once a week with a 25% water change my lighting is a diy standard 55g hood i took a piece of step flashing and bent it to line the hood (flashing is shiny sheet metal like a mirror almost) and i put 4 26w cfl's in it rated at 6500k currently i have java ferns anarchis some plants i got form bulbs at walmart when i had my 20 gallon they look like amazon swords but much thinner and some dwarf lilles bulbs that are starting to sprout i have 2 hob filters one a 40-60 the other a 20-30 inhabitants are 2 chinese algae eater 4 platys 8 dianos a betta and 3 juvenile convicts 1 male 2 female and ph is around 6.7 ( yes i know the convicts are gonna grow up and eat everyone and breed like crazy i came home and my wife had got them from the pet store the idiots at pet smart told her they were great community fish but thats cool i like convicts neways) so i have 104 true watts of light plus water ever the reflector gives me so what can i expect to grow oh and my water is at 78 degrees and i am running one diy co2 2 liter dufssed through and air stone in the filter intake

 

[jetajockey]

it's hard to say with the spiral CFLs since it's really DIY. There is a lot of PAR lost due to restrike because of the bulb design. That said, they aren't bad, and I have a few tanks with spiral CFLs over top of them.

With 4 over a 55 you are probably in the extremely low light-low light area. You can likely sustain most plants with that setup but you probably won't experience any major growth unless you bump up the intensity a bit. That said, there's a ton of variance between setups so your mileage may vary.

 

[greaver83]

Thank for the reaponse hopefully i have g

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ood results the ones that look like swordss stopped growing undr my old light and have grown 2 inches since the light chhange if anyone has a similar setup would you share your results

 

[Coursair]

I am new to planted tanks but i have a 4 ft 55 gallon tank with play sand substrate about 1 inch deep im using flourish comprehensive once a week with a 25% water change my lighting is a diy standard 55g hood i took a piece of step flashing and bent it to line the hood (flashing is shiny sheet metal like a mirror almost) and i put 4 26w cfl's in it rated at 6500k currently i have java ferns anarchis some plants i got form bulbs at walmart when i had my 20 gallon they look like amazon swords but much thinner and some dwarf lilles bulbs that are starting to sprout i have 2 hob filters one a 40-60 the other a 20-30 inhabitants are 2 chinese algae eater 4 platys 8 dianos a betta and 3 juvenile convicts 1 male 2 female and ph is around 6.7 ( yes i know the convicts are gonna grow up and eat everyone and breed like crazy i came home and my wife had got them from the pet store the idiots at pet smart told her they were great community fish but thats cool i like convicts neways) so i have 104 true watts of light plus water ever the reflector gives me so what can i expect to grow oh and my water is at 78 degrees and i am running one diy co2 2 liter dufssed through and air stone in the filter intake

So you just plan to LET the Convicts kill your other fish ??? Why not rehome them or the Convicts ???

Or did I misread your post ?

 

[greaver83]

Not really concerned a few zebras and plates become lunch im removing the betta to a ten gal convicts seem very interesting after reading up on them