I Cant Stand It

[blackfinshark_3]

I promised myself i wouldnt plant this thing but with trimmings and clippings from the 35g always going to the trash and me having no lfie and what not ive decided to start planting this baby

Its only got 95 watts since i have the shop light which gives out 80watts and the lights from my old 10g.

I was thinking of ditching the 10g light fixture and going out and getting another shop light and putting in another 80watts.

160 watts which is still not very good but i think it'll do for a ncie low tech planted tank.

For this low light will i need co2? i would be dosing flourish excel but thats about it.



Thanks for future help!

 

[demonmagus]

is it below 2wpg? apparently anything below can be done with no C02

 

[blackfinshark_3]

sweet

 

[Themuleous]

That's not quite right, the WPG 'rule' was designed for tanks around 30g and doesn't work for very small or very large tanks. 2PWG over a 90g is very different from 2WPG over a 10g. As a guide I would say over 1.5WPG for a 90g and you'd need CO2, but to be honest I don't think I would run a 90g on over 1WPG without CO2, just to be safe.

Sam

 

[netcode]

Excel will do. your also going to need to add inorganic ferts.

take your test kit and test your levels of nitrate and phosphate, if they are low, add some, and then check them again to find out the nutrient uptake. also you can increase the recommended dosage of excel. if u want you can get a co2 system but i don't think its totally mandatory. you have options. just remember excel can get expensive, especially in larger tanks and there isn't alot of documented use with excel as there is co2 systems.

 

[blackfinshark_3]

So what should i do?

i think co2 would get kinda expensive at this level.

ive been doing DIY co2 bottles for my 35g and its working fine.

could i do this with the 90g? it has a powerhead in it so i could run it through there.

 

[voo]

You could probably use DIY if you had 2-3 bottles giving off CO2 in the tank. But with the amount of effort you need to keep refilling them people find it easier just to use pressurised CO2, and have better growth in their tanks

 

[blackfinshark_3]

ill give DIY a whirl

 

[netcode]

with bigger tanks most people use pressurised, this however can be an expensive choice. If you want to stay cheap you can use DIY co2, but you might not be able to achieve the co2 levels that a pressurised will give you. With this in mind you can adjust the amount of ferts you will be dosing to the proper levels. My suggestion if you are going to use DIY is to use 2-3 bottles. You might also want to check into adding on a "gas seperator" as to avoid a situation of built up solids in your tubing, when using multiple bottles this can be an issue. A gas seperator would consist of something like a smaller pop bottle which has an input(from yeast bottle), output(into tank) and uses gravity to seperate solids/liquids from the gas. There are some very good DIY co2 guides out there on the net, as well you have experience using DIY which will also help. I think this can be possible and would like to hear about the outcome.

Goodluck

 

[Waterloo Kid]

If your water is soft then DIY can be an option. I used 2 one litre bottles on my 400 litre tank and ended up overdoing the CO2 and killing a fair amount of fish. That's mainly due to my ridiculously soft 2 degree KH water though. It's easy to set up the bottles in series. A separator is a good idea, as is a check valve and a designed in weak joint/point in the system to prevent a bottle going bang if the tube blocks. Better the tubing goes than a bottle!

WK