Short on light and no CO2 - how do I improve if

[Ami]

Hi Guys

I've already established that my lighting is pathetic - 0.7 watts per gallon or something! I want to improve the situation on my main tank (see sig) but I'm not planning on having a full tropical rainforest like those gorgeous tanks of GF225 & Nodding Dino just yet!


This is a close up of my tank, although I have just chucked the java fern and replaced it with another sword because it didn't look healthy! Any ideas what that was?

Ami's Tank
Ami's Tank - with my new babies!

As you can see, I haven't added a background yet so that's my wall you can see. )

I just want the tank to have a few plants, that will grow well and stay healthy, without too much work. I understand from reading the posts that I'll need 2-3 watts of light per gallon, that it's good to have 2 lights (a white one & a softer one) and also to have them on different timers and that CO2 is good for the plants, as well as keeping my PH down.

I'm thinking about the Dennerle Special Plant & an Arcadia FW (thanks to lots of reading of GFs posts!), but other than that this is all new to me.

Any pointers would be appreciated.

Ami

 

[nodding_dino]

Hi Ami!

I think you probably meant someone elses tank...as gf and others are in a different league to me, but thanks for the compliment anyway!

I think you've got the basics sorted, I have two of the Dennerle bulbs and 2 of the Hagen life-glo II's and the overall light is really nice. Just work out what will fit in your hood, and then the options you have for wattage to get some idea of where you could go with WPG. For example, the standard lights in my tank are 18w 24" tubes. I have added a further 2 25w 30" tubes to boost WPG.

Don't be afraid of the CO2 side of things...it's really very easy. I'm sure with some more details about your tank we could help you work out how many units you would need.

I have learnt that there is more than one way to dose fertilizers too, in the simplest form, there are lot's (and lot's) of off the shelf mixtures to choose from. I am at the very beginning of my planted tank 'career'...and there are lot's of others on these boards who will be able to help you out no end (they did me!).

Take a look through some of the other threads on these boards. There are some great ones about lighting, and CO2...it might also be worth reading my 'hand holding' thread as it describes my journey so far!

I'll shut up now, and let everyone else jump in with their pearls of wisdom!

GOOD LUCK!

 

[Ami]

Hi ND.

I read through your thread at the weekend actually, although I think I had to go to bed before the end as it was getting late! Will try to catch up later on.

Anyways, your thread is the only reason I know roughly what I need and picked out those specific lights!

I presume that the watts per gallon measurement refers to US gallons? I think that my 24g UK tank equates to over 28g US, so I presume that I need around 58 to 87 watts in total but don't want to overfill the top of my tank with tubes!

I read that reflectors can increase the wattage significantly, so if I was to get reflectors and 2 x 25 watt tubes (one Dennerle Special Plant and on Arcadia FW) would that be enough? Stupid question but, money's tight at the mo becuase I'm inheriting CFCs brackish fish later this week (Hi CFC!), so can you get away with using tinfoil? )

I will try to do some more research later re: lighting units etc but it's time to go back to work now.

 

[George Farmer]

Hi Ami,

If you're not bothered about a "heavily" planted tank then avoid anymore than 2 WPG. To put it simply if you have much more light than 2 WPG without a lot of plant growth then you will grow a lot of algae. High plant density is balanced by high lighting/CO2/nutrients. Low plant density - lower lighting and nutrients (CO2 constant though - plants make more use of it than algae.) Hope that makes sense.

The WPG rule assumes US Gallons with good reflectors.

1 x 30" 25W Dennerle and 1 x 30" 25W Arcadia would be ideal and take you to 1.8 WPG - fine for most plants. Reflectors are ideal but if you're on a budget then Mylar is good (like tin foil without the creasing). However, are you sure 30" tubes would fit in your 30" tank? I only just fit 30" in my 32" tank (allow room for the ballast end caps).

As for CO2 - you can't go wrong with the Nutrafin units. One unit would be fine (but a lot of mixture changing) but two would be better in your size tank - less mixture changing and increased CO2 stability by changing mixtures alternately.

 

[Ami]

Hi Ami,

If you're not bothered about a "heavily" planted tank then avoid anymore than 2 WPG. To put it simply if you have much more light than 2 WPG without a lot of plant growth then you will grow a lot of algae. High plant density is balanced by high lighting/CO2/nutrients. Low plant density - lower lighting and nutrients (CO2 constant though - plants make more use of it than algae.) Hope that makes sense.

The WPG rule assumes US Gallons with good reflectors.

1 x 30" 25W Dennerle and 1 x 30" 25W Arcadia would be ideal and take you to 1.8 WPG - fine for most plants. Reflectors are ideal but if you're on a budget then Mylar is good (like tin foil without the creasing). However, are you sure 30" tubes would fit in your 30" tank? I only just fit 30" in my 32" tank (allow room for the ballast end caps).

As for CO2 - you can't go wrong with the Nutrafin units. One unit would be fine (but a lot of mixture changing) but two would be better in your size tank - less mixture changing and increased CO2 stability by changing mixtures alternately.

[snapback]857787[/snapback]​

Ok, so that's CO2 then increase lighting. Do I need the CO2 at 30ppm like in NDs hand holding thread, or is there some sort of measuring guideline?

re: 30" tubes, I think my light tube at the mo is 24" because there's plenty of room even with the caps. The Arcadia FW doesn't come in inbetween sizes so I presume that's the case with the Dennerle also?

I haven't even heard of Mylar! Where do you buy that? It would be a good stand in until I can sneak the reflectors into the budget next month!

Ok, off to do some research and find prices etc before I have to do some real work!

 

[SarahBravo]

Mylar is available on ebay - I just bought some off this guy - he has 'buy 1 meter get 1 meter free', the price is good and the postage is free. mylar

 

[George Farmer]

That's right Ami - get your CO2 running before increasing lighting. 30ppm is ideal at any lighting level.

You will have to use 24" 18W tubes. 3 or 4 would be ideal - I use 4 x 18W in my 34G, 2 Dennerle and 2 Arcadia. They give a very pleasant light IMO.

 

[Ami]

Cheers Sarah!

I will bear that in mind if next month's budget can't stretch to 'real' reflectors!

GF - I've just read through your pinned topics for the 2nd time, except this time I took notes (about 3 pages of A4 ) ) so I finally understand the degrees Kelvin thing! I also now know that the starter unit I have is an arcadia unit like this one:
Arcadia Starter Unit

But I'm not sure if it's magnetic or electronic, despite the fact that it plugs in....is that a clue? )

Someone has also helped me work out how to view posts going back more than a few days so I'm off to find another thread I did asking about online retailers. I'm going to compare prices for CO2 units and starter units as the one I've got will only do one bulb.

I plan on moving the starter unit to the brackish tank I'm setting up at the weekend. I've researched that only a few plants (java fern & moss, or vallis if SG is now more than 1.002) will cope in brackish water and as they don't need much light, I was hoping my existing 20w tube and starter unit would be enough. Any experience in the brackish lighting area?

Thank you!

 

[George Farmer]

That Arcadia unit is a magnetic ballast (starter/control unit). Very reliable but inefficient through lots of heat loss - it may use up to 80W total power for a 18W tube - 62W in heat, 18W for the tube.

I use the Hagen Electronic ballasts - very efficient and good value. You'll need Hagen Glomat Double Starter Unit 20w to power two 18W (or 20W - the Hagen 24" is 20W) tubes. http/www.aquatics-online.co.uk/addtobask...tp=044&rets=147

They do Nutrafin units too - http/www.aquatics-online.co.uk/addtobask...tp=079&rets=193

 

[Ami]

Thanks GF - I ended up being so tied up and stressed at work I've just got home (it's 7.30) and haven't had a chance to look yet. Plus my hubbies having withdrawal syptoms from Half Life and is now hanging around in the background sighing...

Those are very reasonably priced compared to one of the suppliers I've used near by. They charged me the same for the arcadia unit, which was only £12 on the Anglia Aquatics site I linked earlier.

The Hagen ballasts are apparently the same price for every wattage, so I might as well go for the max in case I have success with the plants and get carried away! Will defenately buy from aquatics online as they very speedily delivered my new ClearJet3 filter yesterday and I was well impressed with how quick, helpful and friendly they were.

I'd already spotted the Nutrafin unit, but thanks for taking the time to look! I saw suggest in one of the other threads (maybe nodding dino's) that it was just as easy to use bakers yeast and bi-carb soda for the unit instead of buying the expensive refills. Sounds like a pretty good tip for all us miserly Scots.