I need a little help...ok maybe a lot

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
i wouldnt recommend going with power compact bulbs for your tank. its too much light and youll run into lots of algae issues unless you start adding co2. besides, with the plants you have you dont need a lot of light.

all you really need is a twin bulb fixture with normal output fluorescents like the one you have. try to get bulbs that have a kelvin rating between 6,500~10,000k. in a nutshell, the kelvin rating is the color of the bulb. the higher the number, the more blue/purple color the bulb will have. the lower it is, the more yellow the light. freshwater plants will work well with the color spectrum in the range i mentioned above.

with the plants you have, you dont need to switch your substrate. plain gravel or sand will work. anubias shouldnt even be buried in the substrate. you should tie them to wood or rocks as the rhizome should be exposed.

i do suggest that you start dosing Fluorish Excel everyday, this will help with your carbon supplementation. you could also look at the rest of Fluorish line for the rest of your nutrients. your setup is not all that bad, i just suggest getting one more light tube like the one you have.

let me know if you have any other questions
 
another thing - amazon sword plants will melt away all their leaves as the plant transitions from emersed to submerged growth, so it most likely would have grown back if you gave it enough time...
 
thankyou very much cardona for your advice. I am interested in keeping more plants that require higher lighting so I'm not just shopping for the plants i have now. I've also read and it makes sense that eco complete is just a better substrate for an aquarium ecosystem, also, the substrate i have now is hard on my fishes barbels so the eco complete would be better for them too
 
keep in mind that raising the light level also means you need to increase everything else. your lights are you gas pedal. higher light intensity means you will need to start adding co2 and all your macro/micro nutrients. just because you have more lights doesnt mean everthing will get better; its gets more difficult to balance.

i havent used that co2 system, but i do know you can get very good results with Excel. you should also look into DIY co2...
 
I dose with excel, flourish, iron, and trace every water change. I have looked into DIY Co2 but it seems very hard to regulate and hard to assemble with no kinks
 
Monsterpleco;2604545;2604545 said:
I dose with excel, flourish, iron, and trace every water change. I have looked into DIY Co2 but it seems very hard to regulate and hard to assemble with no kinks
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yeah i didnt like the idea of DIY, thats why i bit the bullet and went pressurized. as far as dosing goes, you got the micro nutrients covered but youre missing the most important macro nutrients: N, P, and K (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash/potasssium).
 
also, a pressurized setup isnt that expensive when you look at it:

- milwaukee regulator/solenoid $100
- 5lb co23 bottle $50
- DIY reactor $15

so for about $175 you can have a good pressurized co2 setup to get you going
 
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