Planted Shrimp Tank

[Craster]

I've bought myself a second tank, a 9G cube that I plan to have carpeted, lots of wood covered with mosses, and a couple of java fern to provide a little shrimp haven.

I've just checked out the lighting that came with the tank, and it appears to have a pair of 13W lamps. By my reckoning, that's a total of 26W which is about 3WPG. Based on that, if I only grow low-light plants in there, am I going to have a real struggle to combat algae? I don't really want to have to dose and inject - that's why I wanted only slow growers in there, I was hoping for a nice low maintenance tank.

Advice welcomed.

Thanks.

 

[aaronnorth]

are the tubes T8 or T5?
You could dose easycarbo or excel as a carbon source, it will work out very cheaply on your tank.

 

[Craster]

are the tubes T8 or T5?
You could dose easycarbo or excel as a carbon source, it will work out very cheaply on your tank.

Good question.... they aren't strip lights, they look more like household energy-saving bulbs. I'm not entirely sure how to tell what they are, or even if they fit into the standard aquarium lighting categories.

I dose excel on the downstairs tank, so I can use it on both if needed, thanks. It just seemed like a massive wattage for such a small tank.