Is 14 Watts Enough? Advice

[Ficious]

i have a 3g with smazon sword, mondo grass(taking out soon), and cryptocoyne w.

my desk lamp is 14 watts and is on for about 8 hours per day.

do i need the light on more or less? temp is at 78 and slowly ranges between 78-74

i have gravel substrate, should i mix anything in with this??

any good ferts that can be ok with shrimp?

im going to the pet store today to make a few purchases, just researching.

thanks for any of your advice guys

 

[RadaR]

14W is fine, as long as it's at an appropriate colour temperature (daylight) and fluorescent.
The Amazon Sword will soon grow out of the tank.....
All fertilisers are fine with shrimp. Lots of people worry about the tiny, tiny, tiny amount of copper in some ferts, but it is no problem at all. A good fertiliser is Tropica Plant Nutrition. You many need to dose nitrogen and phosphorus, therefore the Tropica Plant Nutrition + would be better.
Remember, 3 gallons isn't very big, so multiple water changes a week should be performed.

 

[Ficious]

yea ill look into some ferts today. im HOPING i dont need to do A TON of water changes, my tank cycles itself once every 2 minutes or 35 gallons per hour. i will do a small water change every other day or so. im still new to this hobby and am unsure about messing up the balance and chemistry of the water.

as for colour of the light...id say its very natural. its a new energy efficient bulb that will last for 9 years and is low heat.

no organic substrate needed??

 

[fozziebear]

14w isnt a lot for a 3g at all, ur gonna be limited to mosses, anubias, java fern, nymphea zenkeri and stellata, some amazon swords, and crypts, which isnt all that much of a limitation but when you look at the amount of plants available, its a fraction really, if your gonna want to grow amazon swords your gonna need a nutrient rich substrate, but all the other would be fine with an off the shelf fert.