New To Planted Setup!

[danny1]

Hi There,
I have been running my tank for 18mnths or so, (HX100) It is planted lightley with not to much success some grow
some go limp and die!, Iam now looking to revamp the tank and would like it to be a little heavier planted not
too much just a little more?, I have heard about CO2 injection and a little confused I have seen the nutrafin system
and was also looking at the Red Sea Turbo system any ideas if they are suitable?. Not sure what lighting requirements
are needed? I have 3 T-8
Aquaworld tubes (aquablu,aquawhite and aquabrite) about 12hrs of lighting then 3hrs night lighting
sorry for so many questions all in one, bit of a newbie!


Many thanks,

Danny.

 

[calderfisher]

Hi Danny,
Could you give your tank dimensions as this will help everyone.
Also the wattage of your 3 T8 bulbs and do the have reflectors fitted. What type of bulbs are they (light spectrum) and how old are they.


CraigM

 

[danny1]

Hi Danny,
Could you give your tank dimensions as this will help everyone.
Also the wattage of your 3 T8 bulbs and do the have reflectors fitted. What type of bulbs are they (light spectrum) and how old are they.


CraigM

Hi Craig,
Sorry yes reading back it does sound a bit vauge! OK I dont have all the specs to hand but the hood has a reflective
linning and the tubes are 36"/30Watt T8 1" Dia, the blu tube has a rating of 25000K and the white tube has a rating
of 10000K, I couldn't find any details of the aquabrite doing a quick search!. The tank dimensions are 1000(L)x440(W)x620(H)
all in mm, according to the manual it says its 286ltr (bow fronted).
The tubes are anywhere between 18 and 6mths old, hope that helps?

Thanks again!

Danny.

 

[calderfisher]

Hi Danny,
Your tubes give you 90 watts over a 75 US gallon tank which gives you 1.2 watts/gallon. This would be considered a low level light tank and shouldn't need Co2.
If you up the lighting to over 2 watts/gallon then Co2 is recommended.
You can grow various plants with that amount of light, i.e Anubias, java fern. There are a few pinned articles detailing the plants suitable.
[topic="22604"]Plant list[/topic]
I would say your light spectrums are to high, I've been told you need around 6500K for good plant growth and tubes should be changed after a year.
For the substrate there are various options the give the plants a boost. You can get an ADA ?? substrate or something like Tropica which goes under either sand or gravel.
Hope this helps.

CraigM

 

[danny1]

Cheers Craig,
The added plant list is pretty helpful Ive now just got to figure out what ones are what then I can redecorate
my tank!, Iam not sure what substrate is under my gravel but I said to the guys at my LFS that I would be
looking to plant my set up at some point and there pretty helpful, Its about 2" deep at the back and 1/2" at the front
with about 2 1/2" of gravel on top, as I mentioned before some plants I have seem to take but just dont look
so vibrant and some seem to look weak with thin leaves?, I really need to do some homework and figure out
at least what I have! as for feed/fertilizer I use the Soll daily feed that was recomended.
So would I be right in saying changing my tubes for ones with a lower K rating and more red light would
help my situation?

Thanks for your help!

Regards,

Danny.