Need to know if this is the right light!

[Blinkin11]

Hi everyone, I have been reading in these forums the past few weeks while setting up my new tank.

I have had small 10 gallons before, and before I jumped into anything bigger I went with a 29. I have some small fish and a few low light plants in there to help along a light stocked cycle. I used some additives from the LFS to help out with these...so far my levels have been fine.

I do though see my plants browning and other problems. I am sorry I cannot remember the plants name, but I was told they are low light, they are kind of tall with elongated leaves branching off. They are also on the preventative species list since they take over lakes and stuff. This may help out in describing the plant...sorry I dont have anymore information.

I plan on keeping a few low light plants in there, but I dont want to have 3-4 NO lights in there. I found a good deal from a friend on a 65 watt PC.
Is this to much light for a 29gal tank?? I dont want to have problems with algae overrunning my tank.
He has it with a 50/50 bulb now, reading the stickies it seems like 65 watts for that is 2w/gal but since it is a tall tank this may be ok. Also I read that a 50/50 is best for salt water. Should I get a different style bulb for this set up??



Right now I have it stocked with 5 whitecloud and 3 mollies (1 male 2 female) I feel this is a little overstocked for 3 weeks in a cycle but that is a whole different topic.

The plants in there are in 3 sections all close to each other divided up into 2 stems each.

someone help if you can... I need to let my friend know about his lighting before i lose out, I am getting this thing for $25!

(ps i tried reading through all the stickies on this topic, they were all helpful, I just want to know if I am going in the right direction.)

Thanks in advance!

~Justin

 

[Purrbox]

If the fixture is a descent brand and in good condition I would definately buy it at that price. With a 50/50 bulb you'll be able to grow low light plants without any problems. Later on if you decide that you what to try a few more plants, you can switch to a daylight bulb which would medium light or a bit better. That would be getting into enough light that you would want to start considering CO2 and other ferts.

If your plants are truly Low Light you'll probably be able to find them listed in PlantGeek's Low Light section.

 

[Blinkin11]

after looking it seems this plant is low-med light
this is what it looks like....

Green Hygro
Hygrophila polysperma

wow that makes me feel dumb lol I should have done more research before I posted.

I am doing as much research as I can while I go on all of this, starting small and not a heavy workload.

I only have normal gravel baught from the LFS, I am thinking of getting some eco-complete to mix in with it, i have white gravel, so the mixture wont look to bad. Would this be a good idea as well?

 

[Purrbox]

If you decide to add EcoComplete, you'll want to make sure that it constitutes at least 50% of the total substrate. Less than that and it looses it's effectiveness and is a waste of money.

 

[Blinkin11]

hmm but I could do it in steps right? say 1/5 of the gravel every few days?

 

[malkore]

i would do it in two phases. 1/5 at a time will get hard as the two will try to mix every time you go to replace more.

i'd also get the new light and bulb first, so you have the extra wattage to help the hygro soak up any ammonia that might spike due to normal cycling, or disturbing the substrate.

 

[Blinkin11]

ok thanks Mal, I would only get the eco stuff if the light didnt help and started to put lots of plants in the tank.

So far everything seems to be going ok, and the light should be in soon, time to go plant shopping