Planting Dilemma

[Plowboy91]

Ok so I admit that I messed up when setting up my 150gal i got last summer... when i was researching I made the mistake of taking the advise of someone which stated the WPG rule wasn't that important and that less could be used. Well that may be partially true but now I have one of two choices... find and buy some expensive PC lights and replace the new lights and bulbs I just bought with PC's or use low light plants. Since I haven't won the lottery yet, I am going to try to do the latter (if you experts out there reading this think it's possible). Anyway the situation is this...

I have substrate additive, and heater cable, Pressurized CO2 w/ powerhead and 2 T-8 Triple tube lights with 4 tropic c sun and 2 reef sun bulbs (grand total of 150 watts).

I have several plants which I transplanted from my previous tank and some are doing well while others are barely alive. Based on this I think that I can grow other low light plants.

So my question is...now what?

I have seen some great tanks with a variety of plants that thrive in low light but I have no idea what they are. My plan was to put a kind of Val behind the driftwood and other plants around the tank because it is seriously lacking vegetation. So the bottom line is...

Is my light too low for even low light plants?
What are some hardy plants that can give me some background and foreground that will survive low light? Thanks!

 

[rich311k]

What are the K ratings of the bulbs? Are any of the atnic bulbs? 1 wpg with CO2 to should grow some plants on a 150 gallon tank. Crypts, anubias, java fern and mosses all grow well in low light. You can pack as many as you want in and should be able to create a nice aquascape.

The other option is to get new lighting. For that size tank it will not be cheap.

 

[majolo]

I think Reef Sun bulbs are half actinic.

 

[Plowboy91]

Reef Sun - 50/50 combo of 65000K trichromatic daylight and 420 phosphor
Tropic Sun - 5500K trichromatic full spectrum

What is the K rating anyway?

Yea it is an expensive fix...ugh

 

[rich311k]

Those reef sun bulbs are giving you only half the wattage a non atnic bulb would give you for plant growth. Replacing them will up your wattage a bit. Not enough for higher light plants but certainly enough for low light plants.

K is a measure of the temperature of the light a bulb gives off. Helps determine the color of the light. I don't completely understand it myself.

 

[Bert B]

I just replaced my zoo med ocean sun 10000K lights which were so bright but would cause a brown film over everything in 3 days at 12 hours of light a day. Those cast a bright white light into the tank, i replaced them with zoo med tropic sun 18 watts each ( 2- 24 inch lights for my 100 Gallon freshwater 4 amazon swords and 2 oninon plants. The tropic sun casts a dimmer, yellowish light and they are rated at 5500 K My tetras liked the tropic suns and decided they can swim higher up in the tank.

 

[Purrbox]

The substrate heater cable is considered to be snakeoil by most people. A few do swear by their results, but most have seen absolutely no difference in plant growth with or without them. You might want to at minimum consider unplugging it to save on energy, or removing it if it won't damage your scape too much.

Once you swap out your 50/50 bulbs for full daylight bulbs you should see some improvement in your plants. Your aquarium is large enough that with 150 watts of daylight you may even be able to grow some of the medium low light plants. PlantGeek is a great place to check out for plants listed by their lighting requirements. If you have room to add a third (or even fourth) fixture like the two you already have, you would really open up your options even more.

It sounds like you've got a really great start, and with a few tweaks you should be able to get a lot closer to what you want. While high light isn't necessary for a lush planted tank, a bit more light than what you currently have will make it easier to achieve.

 

[Plowboy91]

So should I replace the Reef Sun Bulbs with Tropic Sun Bulbs so they do not have any atinic in them?

And for the next step in the process...what type of fixture should I be looking for to increase my light levels? Would some double power compacts work (36") and are there any places I can buy them a little cheaper since the prices are pretty steep?

 

[rich311k]

Replace the bulb. You could l;ook in to building your own canopy if you are handy

 

[Bert B]

The tropic suns i found to be "too yellow looking " and did not light the tank very well :? i took those back and i found a fish dealer that has had her store for 40 years and she knows her stuff. no more chain stores for me I got my loot back from petco for the lights and went to this dealer i never knew existed and what a treat to walk into her store. It has the smell of a true aquarium store. anyway i bought 2 aquaglow lights from her and the tank once again looks great. colors of the neons and other fish JUMPED OUT with these aquaglow lights.

 

[Plowboy91]

well rich, I am now looking into possibly building my own fixture as you suggested. My next issue is how many PC's should I install and what kind of bulbs should I use (straight pin or square pin) (10,000K daylight, 420nm actinic, 460 actinic, 6,700K or some various mix of two). How does 2 X 36" fixtures containing 2- 32" PC bulbs each sound? That would give me about 384 watts which is 2.56 WPG . I would assume that is sufficient lighting.

I think I am going to check with you experts before I make any decisions this time because I am not going to replace my lighting a 3rd time!

 

[rich311k]

I would mix 6,700 and 10,000. That is the combo I use. The pin type does not much matter. I have fixture that require both kinds, never noticed a difference between the fixtures. That will be plenty of light for just about anything you want to grow.

Please post pictures of the building. Check out AH supply for light kits.

 

[Plowboy91]

Here is another question....my kH is very high in my tank (probably because my area is known for having limestone in it). Is there any other way besides adding distilled water to the tank? Since kH is responsible for the buffering of the pH I am assuming a high kH leads to difficulty in lowering the pH when injecting CO2 meaning that I am going to have high CO2 levels. Someone I spoke to in one of these forums reccommended lowering the pH by one unit (7.5 to 6.5) to have an optimum amount of CO2 (30ppm?). Will this still work or is the high kH causing CO2 levels to be too high.

Ideally I would like to alter my CO2 injection rate by changing the pH at which my controller kicks on rather than having to lower my kH in the tank by dumping lots of distilled H2O in my tank.

Also, would Aquarium salt cause my kH to be so high?
Thanks

 

[Purrbox]

As long as the KH is still within reasonable ranges for fish, then the 1pt drop for approximately 30ppm CO2 should still hold true.

 

[Plowboy91]

ok thanks. I looked at what is in Aquarium Salt and there is minerals that would cause the kH to be higher.

 

[Plowboy91]

Another question about lighting...

I went to a LFS that is very reputable and asked his opinion on my situation and he recommended T5 bulbs rather than PC's. He also said that T5's cannot be judged by the WPG rule since they have a higher output. Since I messed up buying lights the first time, I want to be sure I am getting the correct lights this time. He recommended I get 2 - 36" T-8 fixtures with 2 lights in each and the wattage was not that high (I think they were Nova Extremes with 70ish Watts per fixture). What does everyone think about this advise and what would you do?

Thanks

 

[NoSvOrAx]

T-8? thats a no no
4x39w T5HO is not enough imho for a 150
I have 10x39w T5HO on my 180 and its not enough.
You might want to check out finnex T5HO fixtures, they are alot cheaper than the novas and have a 6x39w 36" model. However the ballasts burn out fast if you let them get hot, so you gotta make sure they stay cool.

 

[Plowboy91]

Opps... I meant that he recommended T-5 fixtures rather than the T-8 fixtures I have now. Sorry about that NoSvOrAx.

Ok thanks for the tip...I'll check on it

 

[Plowboy91]

Well due to bad luck, I don't have to worry about lights or plants or anything else right now because the front corner of my tank decided to pull away from the side piece allowing about 100 gal of water to spill onto my floor. The top glass pieces also fell in since the tank was slightly wider and therefore my lights followed. This of course happened overnight so I could wake up Monday morning to this mess. I also think I lost my PH pump that I used to circulate water through the CO2 reactor. The plants and fish were moved to my 30 gal which I had stored away.

The next task is pulling everything out of the tank and then cleaning/repairing the side that pulled apart. Is there any cement that is recommended to hold the corner of my tank together?? And is there any caulk that is recommended to seal the seam after it is back together?? I am going to install some piece that bridges the tank in the middle so less stress is on the corners of the tank. I also have to build a new stand since the one I had was a particle board stand and it is probably ruined/weakened from getting wet. Oh and the lights are shot too.
help!

 

[Purrbox]

Sorry to hear about the disaster. Good thing that you had another aquairum that you could house your inhabitants in temporarily.

If you're dealing with glass, then you'll want to use an aquarium safe silicon. With plexiglass I believe you'd want to an appropriate plexiglass glue and then go over top with an aquarium safe silicon.