Need advice on Lighting

[demurefemme]

hi everybody

i'm brand new here, and was hoping y'all could help me out.

i have a 46 gal. bowfront that is home to one large angelfish, 4 long skirt tetras, 3 mollies, 6 danios, 2 catfish, and 2 clown loaches. i've been adding plants recently, and all were doing wonderfully until a couple weeks ago, when my swords got some little algae dots on them that quickly spread, and the leaves started yellowing and dying out (but new leaves are still coming in, and doing pretty well). on the advice of the guy at the local mom n pop fish store that's been around for ages, i added some new plants to help use up all the nutrients before the algae could get to it, but now that i've got the beginnings of a real plated tank, i want to get some real light for it (i've still got the measly 30 watt hood that came with it)...
any advice would be WONDERFUL!

 

[Guest]

More lighting. It's as simple as that. Lighting is the limiting factor in your tank. And lack of nutrients. You need balance in a planted tank or they will go bad on your quick. Are your current lights in a single strip as one bulb or in a single strip as two bulbs? Either way head over to www.ahsupply.com and take a look at their upgrade kits. You can either use a 2X55 watt kit if you have two bulbs or a 96 watt upgrade kit if you have a single bulb. You could even use the 2x55 in a dual bulb setup if you wished.

 

[demurefemme]

thanks for the reply

i have to admit that i'm a bit intimidated by the idea of retrofitting my current unit-i'm afraid i'd screw it up and be left with no light at all.

are there any brands/combinations of light you've had good experience with? i've read a lot about 10,000K vs. 6500K, and i've seen some like the customsealife smartlites that have 10,000K and actinic....it's all very confusing to a newbie. any suggestions?

 

[justDIY]

I take it your bowfront is 36" across?

check out

http://store.yahoo.com/lamps-now/362xcofraq2x.html

that setup is for 2 96 watt bulbs 6700k, which is similar to pre-noon sun (very bright, slightly blueish)

it measures 35 7/8"L x 7 1/4"W x 2 5/8"H

I believe there is a single bulb model as well

they are designed to fit over a standard hood, or you can order legs to have them sit over an open top tank.

All-Glass has a special bulb made just for them that is around 9300k and is great for freshwater and basic saltwater...

but for general freshwater tanks (planted or otherwise), 5000 to 6700k is your best range, with lower numbers (<5000k) having a terrible yellow tint, to higher numbers (>6700k) making everything look faded and washed out

 

[Guest]

If you want a ready to use fixture then you need to shop carefully as many of them are for reef tanks and have bulbs unsuited for planted tank use. I have done several of the AH Supply kits and they come with very good instructions. Otherwise you might just want to get something like a All-Glass fixture.

 

[talenzmeier]

My Two Cents . . .

The typical amount of light required for planted tanks is 3 watts per gallon. Now there's obviously some wiggle worm here, but as a rule of thumb, it's pretty good. That being said, I'd like to recommend the Aqualight. It has two 10,000k & two actinic blue 03 bulbs.

I had the same problem you described with my Sword plants. I upgraded the lighting and increased the water circulation and presto, all gone!

 

[Guest]

I would not recommend the Aqualight due to the bulbs. You would be much better off with something like the All-Glass fixture or something like it. You really want at least two watts per gallon at a bare minimum. Once you get over three watts per gallon you are going to need a CO2 system. And on your tank you would be much better off with a Pressurized system than DIY. IMHO the best way to go is still with AH Supply.

 

[justDIY]

I recommend avoiding the saltwater aqualight as well - NOT because it is a bad fixture, but the 10k and actinic bulbs will be of little use to you and your plants.

the freshwater aqualight I linked two is specially made for use in freshwater tanks, and has good quality bulbs with a suitable color.

as far as adding CO2 goes, check out
http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/CO2/

For my 29 gallon, I chain two of those generators together and feed into my fluval canister filter.

For my 30 gallon, I use two separate generators each feeding into it's own Whispher filter.

----

I was reading Walstads Ecology, and she was talking about plants being able to use dissolved organic carbon that exist in at higher PH's (more than 7), and how carbon filtration quickly removes this. Apparently plants can use this source of carbon through some sort of process. That must be how flourish excel works, as it claims it's co2 in a bottle.

I have to read her book and 2nd and 3rd time yet - there was a lot of stuff I didn't get on the 1st pass!

 

[demurefemme]

thanks for all the great advice! thanks to y'all, i should have some happy plants soon

i ordered the 2x96 watt hood from hello lights that justDIY reccommended, and I can't wait to get it! next purchase: co2 injection. (i'm addicted already...)

 

[Guest]

I would not set up the lights till you get the CO2. 196 watts over your tank is going to cause you problems unless you have the CO2. You will also need to start dosing fertilizers to avoid algae problems.

 

[crocodylus]

You cant go wrong with the All Glass Aquarium 110W kit and their 9725 (?) kelvin bulbs, they will give you about 2.25W per gallon, more then enough for ferns, anubias, swords, crypts 8)

 

[demurefemme]

good to know!

guess i'll be buying the co2 sooner than i thought...as far as fertilizer goes, i use root tabs once a month or so, and 5mL flourish every week or so. does that sound reasonable, or are there some other things i should look into as well?

thanks!

 

[demurefemme]

hm, would it be worth investing in something like this:

http://www.floridadriftwood.com/product.asp?0=217&1=253&3=147

i seem to be reading a lot about powered reactors being a good way to disperse the co2 from a DIY bottle system into the tank. has anyone had any experiece (good or bad) with this or similar systems?

thanks a bunch! (my plants thank you even more than i do, i'm sure!)

 

[Guest]

First to answer the questions on the CO2. For your sized tank with that amount of light you really should get a pressurized system. You are going to need consistent CO2 levels. Otherwise you are going to have problems. The reactor you linked to is not a bad reactor but I prefer a external reactor. I build my own reactors and plumb them into the return hoses on my cannister filters. If you look around you should be able to assemble a basic pressurized system for around $100-$150. You don't need a pH monitor or a solenoid. What you do need is a cylinder, regulator, needle valve, bubble counter, and reactor.
For the Cylinder check with a fire extinguisher shop. They normally have a wide selection of sizes and are usually the cheapest source. For a regulator you can buy one from a home brew beer store and mess around with getting all the adapters and stuff or you can get a unit like the unit that Aquabotanic.com sells. It does have the solenoid on it if you ever decide to go that way. And it has the needle valve and bubble counter built in. Then all you need is a reactor. $10 worth of PVC pipe and fittings and about 1/2 hour of time and you will have a reactor.

Now to tackle the fertilizers. You are going to need a nitrate test kit and a phosphate test kit. You want to keep the nitrates in the 5-10 ppm range and the phosphates in the 0.5-1.0 ppm range and potassium in the 10-20 ppm range and iron in the 0.1-0.25 ppm range.

As far as actual nutrients go if you need to add nitrates you can either go with something like the Seachem Nitrogen product or get some potassium nitrate, KNO3, to dose. If you need phosphates you can get the Seachem product or a Fleet Enema or some KH2PO4, mono-potassium phosphate. For potassium you need to get some potassium sulfate. You will need a source of trace minerals, Flourish will work but can get expensive, and a source of Iron. The Seachem iron product works well.