Question Re: T8 Lighting

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That's fine,what I was saying is the algae is due to the CO2. Not the plants or light.
 
Have a read of the links I provided, they explain that colour temp doesn't make a deal of difference when it comes to growing aquatic plants. Melting is also a part of most aquatic plants as they are all but a few grown emersed. The melt can occurs in a few days or a few weeks. Melt isn't a light problem, it's almost always a c02 related problem...as said most aquatic plants are grown emersed so are used to concentrations of c02 of around 300ppm in the air around us. They then get plonked into a tank either with c02 (which incidentally we should aim for 30ppm of c02 on a high energy tank, so think of the concentrations in a low energy tank), so they have to adapt their leaves, the way they do this is by melting and growing new leaves which are adaptable to the conditions they a put in. Aquatic plants are real tuff things and I'm not a believer in using high light as there really isn't any need. We should be concentrating on the c02 we use or don't use in you case.
 
Just to add to Ian's post I'd say it's important to remember that light is the driving force in the tank - The higher the light the greater the plants need for CO2, if that need outsrips what is naturally in the water you will see melt.
If you're plants are melting and it's not a change from air to submerged (as said, also a CO2 effect) then your lights are too high for the amount of CO2 in the water....
 
I do have too add that some temps can make a slight difference as the amount of light given off by a temp of tube can be greater if it has a higher kelvin,such as 6500K could give of so many lumens being say a 54W tube but a 54W 15000K will give off more lumens giving higher amounts of light, meaning the driving force behind plant growth could be more powerful with brighter lighitng K's.
 
They don't make any difference with the amount of light. It's got nowt to do with the lumens, but the par when it comes to aquatic plants. Remember we're talking about plants here. If a bulb is rated 54watts, that is the amount of light it will produce, k, lumens etc etc wont change that. It may look brighter but that's it. Saying that, I have seen aquatic plants grown under marine bulbs and they do just fine, they adapt. There are plant growers on here ukaps and elsewhere which choose 9000k and make/grow the healthiest plants around.

Have a read of the links above...
 
But saying the above, it's worth keeping your eye on this thread and the threads within the link as some of the experts are saying Pur is now the most important thing.
 
So do you think that a powerhead will make an improvement in my tank as well? I was thinking about something like a Koralia 1600 to just push more water around nearer the bottom of the tank? It seems like it's okay, but I don't want to much flow, because the angels and apistos probably wont like that.
 
So, since I have increased my lighting, I have seen a little bit better plant growth, but also a bit more algae. Not a serious outbreak, but enough to annoy me. I went ahead and ordered a powerhead, because I am not really happy about my flow towards the left/back side of the tank. Now, I am trying to figure out where to put it? I don't have a diagram of my tank or anything, but I run two externals: one on each back, side of the tank. Basically I have normal outlet pipe pouring into the right hand side, in the back of the tank, and then a spray bar on the left side of the tank, running along the side wall of the tank. The spray bar is aimed at the glass, rather than spraying out, because my angels and apistos don't like too much flow. I am thinking somewhere along the left side of the tank, underneath the spray bar, pushing slightly down and along the back?

Also, I have planted up my tank a bit more in the last couple of weeks, and I am thinking about changing my dosing regime. I was dosing TNC Lite and using root tabs before, but as I have increased the amount of plants I was thinking about something like Excel + TNC Complete possibly? Does this sound like a better possibility? I am still not ready to go down the pressurised C02 route just yet, but does liquid carbon lower PH much, like pressurised does? I just want to make sure as my PH is 6.4-6.2, and I don't want it to really drop much lower. Thanks for any advice!
 
Although I have read that Excel melts vallis and egeria, both of which I have quite a bit of...
 
Excel does melt those yes, if your still going to use it then you really want the complete as with excel the plants will use up the macro nutrients quicker so they need dosing and are in complete. :)

As for the powerhead I'd put it on the wall the water from the spray bar hits facing slightly down and in the middle of the tanks height so the flow comes from one end to the other and is then pushed back towards the filters intake creating a circular flow all round the tank.
 
Yeah, I have a pretty decent sized wall of vallis in the back, right corner, and it's doing really well now, so I am bit worried about the liquid carbon. I am assuming it's not just Excel that does this? I have read similar type things about EasyCarbo for example.

To be honest, it really seems that it is always the plants I have in the back of the tank, on the left side that seem to have an issue (the ones under the spray bar). This is why I am going to try the powerhead first, and see if the my plants not doing very well have something to do with flow in that part of the tank. Stevo, do you think I should put it near the back wall of the tank, or closer to the front? I am assuming near the back?
 
So long as it compliments the current flow you have anywhere it does this will be fine, just remember where your flow goes after it leaves the outlet before it runs round the tank back to the intake, last thing you wanna do is have two currents fighting.
 
Okay, I am going to try this out and see how the plants do, before I start thinking about the liquid carbon route. One other question though... As I said, I have been dosing TNC Lite, plus adding root tabs as far as ferts go. TNC Lite is supposed to be good when you are lightly planted, with a lot of fish. I would say that I am moderately planted now, rather than lightly. I still have a pretty stocked tank as far as fish go. Should I change liquid ferts at this point, or is TNC Lite okay to stick with? Do I need to start dosing something that has nitrates and phosphates? Sorry for all of the questions, but this is my first planted tank, so I am still trying to get the balance right between everything.
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Not if your well stocked and have low light, if you start dosing carbon or co2 then you need ferts with npk.
 

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