lighting and hood question

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Jan 26, 2008
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i am looking to start a 30 gallon planted tank. it wont be for a while caz i want to learn as much as i can first. but i have a few questions

1) i know lighting is important but can i use the hood and light that came with the tank just put a different bulb in it (the light is just a single tube with a white plastic reflector)

2) my tank is 30 inchs wide if i buy a 30 inch fixture will the little legs that hold the fixture up be 30 inches or is the bulb 30 inches.

o my tank is 30widex12.5deepx19tall in inches

thanks for the help.
 
Heres what I've found. Only being in the hobby a few months. A 30 inch lighting system is really a 24 inch system. The light fixture is gonna be 30 inches long. However only a 24 inch bulb is gonna be in it.

You have a 30g tall tank, which isn't the most optimal for planting. Only because it is taller, and the light will need to be stronger to penetrate the water and reach the bottom of your aquarium.

How much money do you have to spend? That's the question. most times if find something you like online, you can build your own for the same price.. however it'll be better than what you buy online.

What I recommend you doing, if you actually want to grow plants.
1) Either use Flourish Excel
http://www.seachem.com/products/product_pages/FlourishExcel.html
or b do a DIY Co2 setup. Can be found in the DIY section.
2) Lighting, one of the more important factors is what spectrum. You want roughly 6500k on the color spectrum. In places like home depot, this will be called "daylight or sunshine bulbs" If you want to grow plants easily, you want like 2-6 watts per gallon... The average bulb to "grow plants" from say coralife etc, is gonna be 24 watts on 30 inch fixture, so even if you get a double fixture, you're looking at 48 watts...
-I instead recommend you either a, do a DIY ghetto setup using daytime bulbs from home depot etc... and get "good enough" lighting, being slightly cheaper or go to this website and have a good read.

http://www.ahsupply.com/

I'd go with 1 55watt bright kit or a 2x 55 watt bright kit, the bulbs are sold seperately. so you're looking at 60-120 roughly for lighting... however with 110 watts you'd be looking pretty decent on lighting.

3) Substrate. If you're doing it on the cheap. I'd use this stuff.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100344047
and top it with sand if you like
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=19178-286-196251&lpage=none
sand has been washed and kiln dried.

Well there you have it. other people will chime in and say what they'd do. I just tend to look for replacements of the fish brand stuff. As soon as it says aquarium, triple the price of it...
 
thanks for the advice i think a kit from that A H supply place would work the best for me. i was wondering is it best to get the bulb from them as well? and what spectrum would you recomend? i want to stick to low light plants like java fern and micro swords if that matters. also for my substrate i have some left over pool filter sand from my 75 gallon is it ok to use this? is it a good idea to mix it with some other sand type plant substrate? thanks again
 
If it was me, i'd just buy the bulb from them. it's competitive with other online sites, and it's hard to find the power compact bulb in stores like home depot etc. the 6500k is what kinda bulb you're looking for, it is the closeist thing to daylight... which is what you want. And for the substrate. I'd buy a couple bags of that stuff from home depot. It adds minerals and nutrients to the water... Cause trust me, I wish I had on one of my tanks before i had it all set up... Basically if can get it from the nutrient rich soil... then cover it with that pool filter sand... or you can add it in with tabs or liquids... to help them grow.
 
thanks for all the help now i just need to research the plants and figure out what to do about ferts and those kinds of things. thanks again
 
The biggest problem with the suggestion above is the lack of balance. At lighting levels that high, you will need to have pressurized co2, and a good handle on fertilizers. Read the stickies, they will get you started. For now, get yourself a 6700k bulb for h
your fixture, and work with low light plants.
 
WyldFya;1637505; said:
The biggest problem with the suggestion above is the lack of balance. At lighting levels that high, you will need to have pressurized co2, and a good handle on fertilizers. Read the stickies, they will get you started. For now, get yourself a 6700k bulb for h
your fixture, and work with low light plants.
Click to expand...

Please listen to this guy as he has way more experience than I. I would like to know however Wyld, what are the effects of high lighting with not enough co2? And can you get by with a DIY co2 system.

Thanks
 
Extremely high lighting without co2 will cause excessive algae growth. Not having the proper. Nutrient amount will cause anything from algae to plant die off. You can get by with DIY co2, but for that much light, you will need 12-15 2L bottles on at all times.
 
well maybe ill post what im thinking about putting in there i want to do all low light plants that are easy to mantain because its my first planted. i was thinking of doing java fern for mid ground and for forground some type of nana or maybe micro swords (i have heard different things about miroswords one that its low light the other that its mid to high) so not sure aobut them. then back ground plants do some type of anubias. which i think are mostly all low light plants.

i was thinking about going with one 55 watt light which i think would be ok for low light.

for ferts with these plants is it a must have? or will my fish be enough (8 platies and shrimp looking to get a few more fish) and i have read http://www.rexgrigg.com/index.html a few times and still confused on ferts but ill keep looking at it tell i understand better. is there some ferts that are pre mixed were u only have to add one thing or are all of them add one at a time?

my tank has PFS for substrate and a AC 50 for filter this enough water movement?

sorry for all the questions but thanks for all the help i want to be sure i understand everthing so i dont kill my plants thanks again
 
i did a little more research on ferts and think i will use flourish. when using this do u have to do flourish and flourish excel caz one is micro and one is macro right if you dont need both which one is better to use? will i even need them with the plants i have listed above. thanks again for all the help
 
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