Returning newbie here

[DesktopTankDiva]

Hi everyone,
I was active on this forum about 5 years ago when I tried starting up my small desktop aquarium. It ended up failing before it even cycled completely because I had a snail hitchhike on one of my plants. I scrapped the entire thing and now I'm ready to give it another try.

I have a 3.5 gallon acrylic desktop tank which I'm currently deciding on decor for. I have 2 Java ferns, 2 banana plants, and an unknown smaller plant which are currently in quarantine after a bleach dip. I'm glad I dipped because at the very least there was a tiny, lightning fast swimming thing that I'm certain I didn't want in my future tank.

My plants are in a plastic shoebox sized storage tote, I change the water twice weekly and dechlorinate it. I also add FlorinMulti with the water change, and API CO2 booster liquid once daily. I have a blue LED submersible light that sits at the bottom of the container, I leave it on for about 12 hours. However, my banana plants are not looking the best, the small unknown plant's leaves are turning transparent, but the Java is hanging in there. Any advice on how to better care for my plants in a quarantine container?

Thanks! It's great to be back!
DesktopDiva

 

[Andy Sager]

Hi everyone,
I was active on this forum about 5 years ago when I tried starting up my small desktop aquarium. It ended up failing before it even cycled completely because I had a snail hitchhike on one of my plants. I scrapped the entire thing and now I'm ready to give it another try.

I have a 3.5 gallon acrylic desktop tank which I'm currently deciding on decor for. I have 2 Java ferns, 2 banana plants, and an unknown smaller plant which are currently in quarantine after a bleach dip. I'm glad I dipped because at the very least there was a tiny, lightning fast swimming thing that I'm certain I didn't want in my future tank.

My plants are in a plastic shoebox sized storage tote, I change the water twice weekly and dechlorinate it. I also add FlorinMulti with the water change, and API CO2 booster liquid once daily. I have a blue LED submersible light that sits at the bottom of the container, I leave it on for about 12 hours. However, my banana plants are not looking the best, the small unknown plant's leaves are turning transparent, but the Java is hanging in there. Any advice on how to better care for my plants in a quarantine container?

Thanks! It's great to be back!
DesktopDiva

The LED might be too hot/intense for the plants being so close. Try using overhead lighting.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome back to the forum

Plants should get light from above, and water lilies don't use light hitting the underside of their leaves. You also need to use a light that has a 6500K (K is for Kelvin) rating and contains red, blue, green and white light. Blue light on its own will not keep any plant alive.

The banana lilies will get too big for the tank and you will probably have to move them into a pond or bigger aquarium.

 

[DesktopTankDiva]

Hi Colin T,
Thanks so much for your reply. Can you recommend a light appropriate for my tank size? And include a link? I wouldn't mind purchasing one for temporary use in my quarantine container, but then moving it to, and securing it to the lid of my permanent aquarium when it is cycled and ready. The blue LED light was my first light purchase ever, so I'm not experienced in lighting choices. I guess my blue led was more decorative because it came with a bubble wand.

 

[Aiken Drum]

A note about the CO2 booster.

This is a chemical called glutaraldehyde which is commonly used for sterilising medical equipment. It is toxic to fish so you have to be very careful not to overdose and it also does nothing to boost CO2. In an aquarium it acts as a very mild algaecide, so might help keep a plants clear of algae, but in reality isnt going to be of any benefit.

There are many products out there that arent really of much benefit, they dont work as well as they claim, they solve problems that dont exist, in some cases they outright are hazardous for fish. CO2 booster products are right up at the top of the list of these products.

 

[Colin_T]

I would just use a desk lamp with a 6500K globe.

 

[DesktopTankDiva]

Hi Aiken,
Oh my gosh, I didn't know any of this. I was aware co2 booster liquid wasn't near as effective as actual co2 canister injection types, I think I read somewhere it was only 40% as effective. Goes to prove there's a lot of misinformation out there. I will discontinue using it then, especially since it's potentially harmful to my future fish.
I am still looking for an led light that was recommended on this thread. I want a light that I can use in my future tank, not just a makeshift one, but the small size of my aquarium is making this a big challenge. Aside from the led light, is there anything else I should be doing to keep my plants happy in their quarantine container?
Thanks for the info!

 

[Colin_T]

You can get a liquid iron based aquarium plant fertiliser. It contains iron and other elements that help plant growth. I used Sera Florena but there are other brands too. You use an iron (Fe) test kit and keep the iron levels at 1mg/L (1ppm).

Floating plants don't need CO2 because they get it from the atmosphere.

There's plenty of CO2 in most aquariums and it's produced continuously by bacteria and fish.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Aside from the led light, is there anything else I should be doing to keep my plants happy in their quarantine container?

Id just put your temporary container somewhere were it can get some daylight. Not sat in a window where it gets direct sunlight, but just somewhere not in the dark. Change water frequently so you dont get algae build up.

Practically any light will do. A desk light with an 8W (40W equivalent) 6500K bulb in it is ideal. Put it on a socket timer for 6 to 8 hours a day.

 

[melosu58]

Welcome aboard. We are glad you found us here at AA.

 

[DesktopTankDiva]

I ordered an aquarium light for my quarantine plants and they've been doing well! No idea why this pic posts upside down though.
I have a 6w Hygger clip-on light that I attach to the side of the container. It has white, blue, and red lights, but I didn't see any with green lights. It has a timer as well as adjustments where you can choose dimness and which color lights turn on. It was advertised online to have 6500k, but the manual does not specify. If it's not I hope it comes close.
I've been using it for about 4 days, I keep it on low intensity for 6 hours a day. I change the water twice weekly, condition the water, and add FlorinMulti fertilizer. I discontinued use of the liquid co2 booster altogether. The Java fern and banana plants look no different, but the small unnamed plant has shown significant improvement. Its leaves had turned translucent, and within just the few days of using the light they have dramatically improved with most leaves regaining over 50% of their green coloration. Yay!
Thank you all for your advice on this!

 

[Caliban07]

Glutaradehyde or co2 booster works by removing the periphyton layer built up over time on leaves which significantly increases the leafs access to co2 in the water. There are online threads that suggest it does add some carbon but the levels are minuscule and it’s not 100% proven.

By the way anacharis hates glutaradehyde and will melt with its use. Now you have discontinued using it try anacharis again since you like it so much. It may have tolerated the bleach dip but succumbed to the glut.

6500K bulb isn’t necessary. It has nothing to do with plant growth. Kelvins are just units of temperature and on the subject of lighting specifically, colour temperature. It means the colour a light source turns when heated. When people say ‘I’m red hot’ it means they are warm but there are also such terms as blue hot and white hot. These colours are displayed at a much higher temperature than red.

The sun is 6000K and appears warm red which is why the marketing gurus who design aquarium lighting market their lighting at 6500K. It fools hobbyists in to thinking that the plants desire this specific temperature but it’s not at all true. So in terms of Kelvins you choose the colour you like the appearance of most. Some people prefer a muted warm colour whilst other prefer a whiter or blue tinge to the aquarium.

The problem in a small tank will be the intensity of the light. How many photons are hitting the leaves per second. This is what kills plants that are restricted to only water levels of co2 because photons are catalysts for photosynthesis and co2 is essential for the cycle to complete. At high intensity the plants are forced to start a process they cannot complete.

For a nano tank I would use a single bulb as suggested by Andy. Some kind of CFL hanging high over the top. No hood required. If you can’t then a very low PAR (intensity) LED light will work.

 

[Colin_T]

6500K bulb isn’t necessary. It has nothing to do with plant growth. Kelvins are just units of temperature and on the subject of lighting specifically, colour temperature. It means the colour a light source turns when heated. When people say ‘I’m red hot’ it means they are warm but there are also such terms as blue hot and white hot. These colours are displayed at a much higher temperature than red.

The sun is 6000K and appears warm red which is why the marketing gurus who design aquarium lighting market their lighting at 6500K. It fools hobbyists in to thinking that the plants desire this specific temperature but it’s not at all true. So in terms of Kelvins you choose the colour you like the appearance of most. Some people prefer a muted warm colour whilst other prefer a whiter or blue tinge to the aquarium.

Going to disagree with you on Kelvin rating. The sun has a Kelvin rating between 5500 & 6500K and produces lots of red, blue, green and yellow light, along with purple and ultra violet. Plants primarily use red and blue light but white light should be added to increase the brightness because plants need intensity with light as well as colour spectrums.

Fish also need a balanced light (depending on where they come from) and don't naturally occur under blue or red light, but rather under a combination of wavelengths of light. Having light globes around 6500K helps replicate sunlight and is more natural for plants and many fish found in shallow water.

For the OP, the light you got is fine and it's not a big issue if it doesn't have green.

 

[Caliban07]

Going to disagree with you on Kelvin rating. The sun has a Kelvin rating between 5500 & 6500K and produces lots of red, blue, green and yellow light, along with purple and ultra violet. Plants primarily use red and blue light but white light should be added to increase the brightness because plants need intensity with light as well as colour spectrums.



Fish also need a balanced light (depending on where they come from) and don't naturally occur under blue or red light, but rather under a combination of wavelengths of light. Having light globes around 6500K helps replicate sunlight and is more natural for plants and many fish found in shallow water.



For the OP, the light you got is fine and it's not a big issue if it doesn't have green.

White light is light that is made up of all other light wavelengths and ‘whiteness’ has nothing to do with intensity or brightness. Lumens is what we use to determine how bright a light is to the human eye but lumens doesn’t mean that a light is intense. Intensity can only be attributed to PAR and PAR is all visible light which also happens to be the wavelength band that plants use for photosynthesis.

PAR is a measurement of the number of photons crossing a unit area per unit time. It is the number of photons that strike a pigment molecule per unit time, It has nothing to do with wave or band. Light is both particle and wave, PAR determines the number of particle collisions with the chlorophyll's valence electron. The wave property determines the energy inherent in each collision.

You can have whatever visible light you want above your aquarium with whatever wavelength peaks and temperature but to the plants, the things that matters the most is the photon. All the wavelengths are accounted for and used under that light.

In the good old days, when we used fluorescent lighting for example the light that is emitted is made up of the specific wavelengths emitted by whatever concoction of phosphors are coating the inside of the tube coupled with the emission lines from the low pressure mercury arc which runs down the tube and excites the phosphors. This creates a discontinuous spectrum of added up wavelengths. This means that when you look at the side of the tube box you see a picture similar to the lower graph in the picture below. But when you compare this to sunlight (upper graph) it’s nowhere near. But nobody ever complained about fluorescent light not growing plants back in the day??



However, the lower graph isn’t a fluorescent tube either its an LED at 6500K (photo courtesy of the 2hr aquarist) in short. Manufacturers use colour temperatures that resemble ideal black body calculations because of how they appear to the human eye but they can still give different wavelengths of light.

Sorry Colin T. You have been lied to all your life like millions of other people. This news should be liberating because it means we can use any light so long as the PAR is not too high for the conditions.

https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/light-3pillars/k-rating