Well thank you very much.. I appreciate the help and will check it out to see if they have it here... Do you have any other good tips to help a guy out who has already wasted hundreds of $$$ on plants but can't get anything to stay alive more then a month??? LOL.. I have been homing fish for 30 years and do great with them, I keep all my water perfect at all times but just don't have that green thumb!!! Thanks again..
Mike's 45 gallon long (48"x12"x19") planted tank
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Read this article, don't pay attention to the lighting section because it talks about wattage per gallon (WPG), wpg is outdated and no longer used for lighting, we now use PAR which stands for Photosynthetically active radiation. But the sections about substrate, and nutrients/fertilizers are helpful to understanding what's needed for a successful planted tank.
http://www.plantedtank.net/articles/Basics-to-starting-a-Planted-Tank/4/
PAR
Light intensity can be measured in lux, which is the intensity as perceived by human eyes. Or, it can be measured in PAR units, which is the intensity as perceived by plants. PAR - the radiation (light) that is used by plants for photosynthesis. The units of PAR are micromols of photons per square meter per second. So, a PAR of 1 is one millionth of a mole of photons striking a one square meter area every second.
Human eyes see the yellow green area of the spectrum of light very well - our eyes are very sensitive to yellows and greens, but we see reds and blues much less well. Plants are very sensitive to reds and blues, absorbing most of the light in those colors, but less sensitive to yellows and greens, reflecting a lot of the light in those colors. That is why most plants look green or yellow.
Low light - 15-30 micromols of PAR - CO2 is not needed, but is helpful to the plants
Medium light - 35-50 micromols of PAR - CO2 may be needed to avoid too many nuisance algae problems
High light - more than 50 micromols of PAR - pressurized CO2 is essential to avoid major algae problems
http://www.plantedtank.net/articles/Basics-to-starting-a-Planted-Tank/4/
PAR
Light intensity can be measured in lux, which is the intensity as perceived by human eyes. Or, it can be measured in PAR units, which is the intensity as perceived by plants. PAR - the radiation (light) that is used by plants for photosynthesis. The units of PAR are micromols of photons per square meter per second. So, a PAR of 1 is one millionth of a mole of photons striking a one square meter area every second.
Human eyes see the yellow green area of the spectrum of light very well - our eyes are very sensitive to yellows and greens, but we see reds and blues much less well. Plants are very sensitive to reds and blues, absorbing most of the light in those colors, but less sensitive to yellows and greens, reflecting a lot of the light in those colors. That is why most plants look green or yellow.
Low light - 15-30 micromols of PAR - CO2 is not needed, but is helpful to the plants
Medium light - 35-50 micromols of PAR - CO2 may be needed to avoid too many nuisance algae problems
High light - more than 50 micromols of PAR - pressurized CO2 is essential to avoid major algae problems
Hey Mike I just wanted to say thanks again for the help... The article did help me a lot, I never knew you could use too much light or that you need co2 in bigger tanks.
I have a 90 gallon I have been trying to use, it use to be a salt water reef tank that I took down when I got out of the salt water game. I thought it was a great salt water plant tank so it should make a great fresh water plant tank... but I still use the same light for plants as I did corals and I now think it may be too much light, it has the 2 blue bulbs and 2 white bulbs that I think was 118 watts together but it also has (2) 250 watt MH bulbs witch brings it to about 620 watts in a 90 gallon tank... I also never heard of using co2 in a fish tank so I have never tried that, and I only used sand as my substrate for the plants.. so now I will take the whole tank apart and start over..
Do you think if I only use 1 of the 250 watt MH it would work or should I just use a different light altogether??
I have a 90 gallon I have been trying to use, it use to be a salt water reef tank that I took down when I got out of the salt water game. I thought it was a great salt water plant tank so it should make a great fresh water plant tank... but I still use the same light for plants as I did corals and I now think it may be too much light, it has the 2 blue bulbs and 2 white bulbs that I think was 118 watts together but it also has (2) 250 watt MH bulbs witch brings it to about 620 watts in a 90 gallon tank... I also never heard of using co2 in a fish tank so I have never tried that, and I only used sand as my substrate for the plants.. so now I will take the whole tank apart and start over..
Do you think if I only use 1 of the 250 watt MH it would work or should I just use a different light altogether??
Well the blue bulbs you're referring to I'm assuming are actinic bulbs? Actinic bulbs are good for plants because plants have 2 different chlorophyll stages during photosynthesis, chlorophyll A responds to 660nm spectrum lighting, and chlorophyll B responds to 420nm spectrum lighting which is what most saltwater actinic bulbs are. Now as for MH lighting, in my opinion is a bit excessive when it comes to planted tanks, this is because people who use MH for planted tanks will raise the MH fixture around 12" above the top of the tank this way it doesn't burn the plants, and by going with MH lighting means you would need to invest in a co2 injection system.
My advice would be that you're better off investing in a whole new lighting fixture, but it all depends on how big of a hit your wallet can handle lol. If you wanted to go with a good low light planted tank that doesn't require a co2 system, and can be sustained with Flourish Excel as a carbon source, then I would say invest in a 48" Green Element EVO LED fixture.
http://www.aquatraders.com/LED-Aquarium-Lighting-EVO-Freshwater-Plant-p/56547p.htm
This will give you plenty enough light for a 90 gallon planted tank, and puts you into the medium light range that will grow 90% of aquatic plants on the market. Beginners of planted tanks tend to go with liquid fertilizers to begin with, and then make the trek into dry fertilizers. Once you get the hang of things, and your planted tank is thriving then you can make the move into a co2 injection system.
Sand can be used for a planted tank, most people will just use sand as a cap layer for their planted substrate, but sand itself can be used for planted tank you just need to put root tabs in the sand near any root feeding plants. But in my opinion, I prefer to use Flourite mixed with FloraMax as my substrate in my planted tanks.
Here's a couple pictures of my old 75 gallon hi tech planted tank...
Breakdown of the tank...
Lighting - 48" Coralife Freshwater Deluxe Power Compact 4x65w
Co2 - 10lb co2 cylinder w/ Azoo Regulator - Fed to inline co2 diffuser connected to Magnum 350 canister filter
Substrate - 1/2" Mineralized Topsoil capped by 3" of Flourite, and playsand
Heater - 2x 300w Hydor Theo submersible heaters
Filtration - Jebao 915 4-stage canister filter, Magnum 350 canister filter
My advice would be that you're better off investing in a whole new lighting fixture, but it all depends on how big of a hit your wallet can handle lol. If you wanted to go with a good low light planted tank that doesn't require a co2 system, and can be sustained with Flourish Excel as a carbon source, then I would say invest in a 48" Green Element EVO LED fixture.
http://www.aquatraders.com/LED-Aquarium-Lighting-EVO-Freshwater-Plant-p/56547p.htm
This will give you plenty enough light for a 90 gallon planted tank, and puts you into the medium light range that will grow 90% of aquatic plants on the market. Beginners of planted tanks tend to go with liquid fertilizers to begin with, and then make the trek into dry fertilizers. Once you get the hang of things, and your planted tank is thriving then you can make the move into a co2 injection system.
Sand can be used for a planted tank, most people will just use sand as a cap layer for their planted substrate, but sand itself can be used for planted tank you just need to put root tabs in the sand near any root feeding plants. But in my opinion, I prefer to use Flourite mixed with FloraMax as my substrate in my planted tanks.
Here's a couple pictures of my old 75 gallon hi tech planted tank...
Breakdown of the tank...
Lighting - 48" Coralife Freshwater Deluxe Power Compact 4x65w
Co2 - 10lb co2 cylinder w/ Azoo Regulator - Fed to inline co2 diffuser connected to Magnum 350 canister filter
Substrate - 1/2" Mineralized Topsoil capped by 3" of Flourite, and playsand
Heater - 2x 300w Hydor Theo submersible heaters
Filtration - Jebao 915 4-stage canister filter, Magnum 350 canister filter
Today I picked up a 36" Current Satellite Plus for the tank, and a SunSun 302 canister filter. Tomorrow I'll hit the local river in search of driftwood for the Amazon Biotope look in the tank!!!!
Nah, just the Sat+ and a SunSun canister filter, I love messing with the settings on the light, the setting to mimic lightening freak out the fish lol.
