20 gallon long question

[milkman407]

I have a 20 gallon long aquarium that I've turned into a rather interesting project. It consists of; Java fern, Christmas Moss, about 50 staurogyne repens, and some dwarf floating plants (purchased them about a week ago, waiting for them to cover the aquarium surface). For substrate i'm using about 4 1/2" of Brown Flourite gravel. From the substrate to the rim of the aquarium is 8 1/2". My light fixture is a Solar Max, Dual T5HO with 2 6,500k Wave point with 2 x 24watt bulbs in them. Now from my understanding, running both of these bulbs on my setup would be a disaster considering I'm not running c02, Not to mention the light "Was" sitting directly on the aquarium. I've been running only one bulb and have noticed my plants are starting to develop nutrient deficiencies ( I'm not surprised considering the light is 8 1/2" away from the substrate, making this "high light").

Now here's my question, and what I've done.

I put a shelf above my aquarium, and have hung the light above the aquarium. The light is now currently hanging approximately 6 1/2" above the top of the aquarium. From the substrate to the light is now 15". I did this in hopes of achieving low/medium lighting ( preferably medium lighting, then when the surface plants take over, it'll filter the light to "low light")

As I sit here and look at the tank, I feel as if running only 1 x 24 watt T5HO just simply isn't enough. I've checked the " low/medium/high light charts " and did a little research but can't seem to grasp if I should continue to run the 1 bulb, or if I should turn the other one on as well. So here I come to my MFK family for help.

Do I run both bulbs, or continue to run one? If this helps, I have attached a photo of my tank, and my poor plants who are beginning to thin and die. ( I do have macro's/micro's but wan't to get the lighting correct before I start dosing the tank and getting the plants back to good health) I would like this tank to start thriving before I move my future pair of Betta Macrostoma into it.

 

[milkman407]

I forgot to mention; The light is on a timer, it turns on at 12:00 Pm and turns off at 8:30 pm. I also have diy root tabs, and clay, but until I get my lighting correct, have no intention of using anything.

 

[milkman407]

Is MFK dead?

 

[convict360]

Is MFK dead?

Yup, at least in regards to stuff like this lol; doesn't seem like a lot of interest in the lighted stuff, might get a better response on a dedicated planted tank forum, at least that's what I have in mind...

 

[xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx]

The main reason that you're seeing deficiencies in the plants is because of the lack of nutrients present in the tank. Anytime someone sets up a planted tank they should start dosing immediately if plants are present, in my case here's what I do when setting up a new planted tank....

I always have DIY root tabs for specifically setting up a new planted tank, I have csm+b tabs, red clay powder tabs for iron, and osmocote plus tabs. I add them to the glass bottom of the tank (or lay my driftwood hardscape before laying out the tabs) then I add the flourite, and fill the tank. I let the tank run for a week so the flourite has had time to soak up nutrients then I start planting.

Then on the very first Monday after adding plants I start my dosing schedule, I prefer to use dry fertilizers because you get more for your money this way. However I start with a DIY Co2 system exactly 1 week after adding plants to the tank, then I'm off to a good start because the tank has plenty of nutrients to utilize combined with available co2.

So I suggest dosing your tank now because even with 1 bulb going the plants are in need of nutrients which they aren't getting at the moment, I would also do some sort of co2 whether it's an automated system, a DIY system, or a liquid supplement like Excel the plants need co2 to properly utilize the nutrients from dosing to achieve healthy growth.

I would also swap out a 6500k bulb for a WavePoint Ultra Growth Wave bulb, and here's why... Plants have 2 chlorophyll stages to them, chlorophyll A and chlorophyll B, each stage peaks at different wavelengths as you can see from this chart....

You want to hit these wavelength peaks for healthy beautiful plants, now here's the WavePoint Ultra Growth Wave bulb and notice how the peaks of the bulb match up with the chlorophyll peaks...

Hope this helps!

 

[milkman407]

Hope this helps!

It did help, and you seem very knowledgeable about the topic. I have a few planted tanks set up, but this is the only one I'm having a issue with. I have no intentions of running c02 on the tank, I'd like to keep this rather low-tech like my other ones. My main concern is: how far away does this light fixture have to be to achieve "Low light". I did start adding macros/micros for the time being, and am seeing better growth, but that's to be expected. I will go ahead and order a new bulb though, i'm overdue ( current ones are about 7 months old).

 

[xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx]

I would hang the fixture between 12"-15" from the top of the tank this will help to put you in the low to low medium lighting, then I suggest going with EI low lighting weekly dosing regime. Here's a nutrient calculator to get the dosing amounts... Just enter tank size, select what kind of dosing method DIY is for dry ferts or select premixed if using a liquid solution like Flourish, then calculating for EI low weekly, then click calculate...

Nutrient Calculator - http://rotalabutterfly.com/

 

[milkman407]

I would hang the fixture between 12"-15" from the top of the tank this will help to put you in the low to low medium lighting, then I suggest doing with EI low lighting weekly dosing regime. Here's a nutrient calculator to get the dosing amounts... Just enter tank size, select what kind of dosing method DIY is for dry ferts or select premixed if using a liquid solution like Flourish, then calculating for EI low weekly, then click calculate...

this would be with both bulbs running? or just one? And I actually started dosing using the EL method mentioned. I really do appreciate the information you're providing me with. This tank is mainly trimmings and plant-lets that I didn't want to toss, I'd like to eventually give them away at some point so I really don't want them to die off.

 

[xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx]

It's for a single bulb, but you'd have to hang the fixture around 20"-25" above the tank if running both bulbs...

 

[milkman407]

I always have DIY root tabs for specifically setting up a new planted tank, I have csm+b tabs, red clay powder tabs for iron, and osmocote plus tabs

You said you use DIY tabs, I have Osmocote plus tabs that I made. How many would you usually put into a 20 gallon long? I remember putting about 10 in 3-4 months ago.