3 Gallon Planted

[blabadie]

Hello! I have the 3 gallon eclipse tank with bio wheel, etc. I need to add more light to it, here's what I'm thinking

I will probably have to DIY some things to get the fixture to fit under the "hood" of the tank, but it already has a nine watt t-5 on it.

Any suggestions?

The plants I have in there are pretty low light right now.

 

[nry]

Only comment is that they were marine bulbs, not the best for freshwater.

 

[arif_93]

ur tank is 3 gallons and ur lightin is 9 watts that mean u have 3wpg this is classed as medium to high lighting lvls and
i would reccomend changing the marine bulb to freshwater aquaglo bulbs

 

[nry]

Except 3wpg for a 3 gallon tank is not really that high. I have 3.2wpg in my 5-gallon and plants really don't do as well as my 2.5wpg 15-gallon. Small tanks need higher wpg ratings compared to their larger cousins though I don't personally know what these levels should be

 

[Danno]

That lighting system would work. The freshwater light in that link contains 18 watts so thats about 6 watts per gallon. That is very nice. Just remember with that amount of lighting you MUST have CO2.

 

[Neo8223]

i have a 9w(poor DIY reflector used) in my 2.7 gall tank, roughly 2.5 WPG and its nothing but hassle with the algae. The algae is like hair, and it grows fast despite CO2 and plant feed (bottle jobby, not the EI) I had to make a custom lid, so i ended up making a custom base too. I also once put 2 brisslenoses in there to no effect either

I have mountains of hornwart in that tank and its still not sorting out the problem. Moral of the story, go for low wattage as you will be limited for options due to the small size of the tank and also water parameters can swing over night.

 

[blabadie]

It has a nine watt bulb in there...if i added another nine watt would that be good for low light plants and not have to deal with co2?

 

[Neo8223]

It has a nine watt bulb in there...if i added another nine watt would that be good for low light plants and not have to deal with co2?

Adding CO2 does help lower the algae problems. It really does. DIYing CO2 is sooo easy, you might aswell do it.

 

[Themuleous]

Unless you want to go high light, I would stick with the 9w fixture you have, it'll be plenty. Check out Llj's journals if you want to see the type of thing that can be achieved with low light and no Co2. You'll be surprised, it just takes patients.

Sam

 

[lljdma06]

Unless you want to go high light, I would stick with the 9w fixture you have, it'll be plenty. Check out Llj's journals if you want to see the type of thing that can be achieved with low light and no Co2. You'll be surprised, it just takes patients.

Sam

Patients? From which hospital? Physical or Mental? Don't you mean patience?

I'll add my two cents worth. for my 2.5g, which is pretty close to your 3g, I'm using a 13W daylight CF office desk lamp, and I get pretty good growth. But I also get a bit of direct late-afternoon sunlight with this tank, about 2 hours worth. This sunlight, however, is seasonal. I am, however, still working out the layout of this tank. The plants are doing very well, but good layouts are hard to achieve in a tank so small.

llj

 

[Themuleous]

I think you'll find I mean patients, like you get from a hospital, add 1 or 2 a day to any tank and the plants will thrive. Its better than tropica plant nutrition IMHO and it wont cause algae.

Sam

 

[blabadie]

The light is actually a 6 watt. I went and bought a replacement hood and stole the ballast off of it. There is now 12 watts sitting over my 3 gallon tan. I bet that will be fine!