is this enough light for a carpet of saggitaria

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
D

downset21

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Nov 6, 2005
1,211
2
68
Quincy, MA
I have a 65 gal. planted tank and I'd like to have a carpet of sag or hairgrass (I'd love glossostigma or babytears, but I dont think i have enough to pull those off). Can I pull it off?

I am using flourish, iron, and flourish excel along with eco-complete/flourite substrate. I will also be using fertilizer tabs from aquariumplants.net

light fixtures: 36" glo-light t5's. 2 10k bulbs
aquatic life t5fixture with: a roseatte bulb(dont know what this is) and a 6700k bulb

is this enough to accomplish my goal of a carpet plant on the ground? pictures to follow later
 
Dwarf sag isnt too hard to get going; That 6500k lighting will make it really happy. I've had it growing under some really really old compact fluorescent bulbs in my old tank. Im not sure about other memeber's experiences but my personal experience with dwarf sag is that it takes a while for it to take off, but once it does it goes.

Hope this helps, happy growing!
Chonh
 
I think your light is fine. And sag is suppose to be easy. You could grow the other carpet plants but you would need CO2 only cause they are poor competitors for the limited CO2 in the tank. With CO2 supplement then they can grow. Another way is to not put many aggressive growing plants. If say, you were to only have hairgrass or dwarf baby tears, and say something undemanding like java fern or anubias nana, then you probably can grow a carpet with out CO2 supplement. There is some other plants you probably could use too. Some people have managed to grow carpets like this. But carpet plants are very vulnerable to algae so some floating plants would help and also not compete for any CO2 since they draw CO2 from the atmosphere.


But I know this isn't the route you wanna take. But it is good to understand the reasoning about it.
 
thank you very much. Pyramid, that was extremely informative and it may very well be the route I take now. I am looking into co2 cannisters and may start dosing that way. Id love to get some of those nicer carpets going.
 
Something sorta critical is to not use any of those HOB filters (hang on back). The splashing/surface agitation gasses out CO2. Using Excel like you do in a tank that size will be expensive in the long run. You could use a DIY CO2 but I hear that DIY CO2 is not really recommended for tanks over 30 gallons.
 
I'm researching the whole co2 thing now... money is a factor as the light set me back a little. I have an FX5 on this tank.
 
You actually got too much light. I would only go with 1 fixture and I would start by running only one bulb. Also use some 6500K bulbs. Using 10K bulbs are alright, but I would run 6500K. I think you do well with fertilization and having a good substrate. Your issues would be CO2 rather than light.
 
one of my bulbs is 6000k. one is a roseatte. two are 10k
 
chonhzilla;5001788; said:
Dwarf sag isnt too hard to get going; That 6500k lighting will make it really happy. I've had it growing under some really really old compact fluorescent bulbs in my old tank. Im not sure about other memeber's experiences but my personal experience with dwarf sag is that it takes a while for it to take off, but once it does it goes.

Hope this helps, happy growing!
Chonh
Click to expand...
I've had the same exact experience. It looked like it was dying/doing nothing for about 2 months, then all of a sudden it just took over. I have a 17w 6700k over a 3.5g nano.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom