might stop planted tank need opinions and help.

[conig]

I made a thread earlier this week about my planted 120 wide. it only had a few plants and I am having a time fighting algae. the emphasis of the tank is the fish as well which is a no no I guess for a planted tank. I also have some plant eating fish I need to move over.

So today when my wife was getting frames at Michael's I went nuts with plastic plants and now I am doing the fake plant thing in this tank.

removing my plants was a snap since they are on egg crate and rooted to it. I have them presently in my 20 gal long which is normally my hospital tank. The grid fit in it perfectly.

I am having two thoughts for what to do with the plants and my planted future.

A. Do a half gallon planted with maybe some shrimp no heater but allot of water flow. trade in the rest.

B. Since the plants look so good in the 20 gal long. use this for plants.

Would an aqua clear 200 provide enough water movement.

Would one of these organic CO2 systems be enough to keep algae at bay and really make the plants bloom.
http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3747+14711&pcatid=14711

Would a one or two 15watt T8 bulbs be enough for this little tank?

Should I use sand or a fert substrate.


So A or B or just get out all together. Also I need the above options to be enough in term of equipment. I have Wendi, java fern, several kinds of anubus and a sword. I would like to try giant hair grass too.

 

[jcardona1]

what will the dimensions be of both of those tanks? i'd say T8/T12 bulbs will be just fine since you have low light plants anyway. a co2 system will help keep algae in check, but it's not necessary. you were having algae problems to begin with because you had too much lighting. using normal output bulbs you shouldnt even see any algae. just cut off any leaves that have lots of algae and start over again, this time with the right lighting

 

[jcardona1]

and on a side note, i have a 2x bulb T5HO fixture on my 57g tank. it's running a ton of pressurized co2 and daily ferts. ive been messing with my fixture, raising it, lowering it, running 4 bulbs instead of 2, etc. i started to get algae, and that was WITH co2!

i finally went back to raising the fixture several inches off the tank to go back to a less intense setup. even with lots of pressurized co2, T5HO bulbs can give you algae problems. they really are some intense lights

 

[conig]

being in this tank, I will probable get a chinese algae eater or something similiar to get the rest of the algae. There is really only one leave with beard algae on it.

The CO2 is more because I want it lush.

At the moment there is no substrate. Its a 20 gal long 30" x 12" x 12" fairly shallow.

 

[jcardona1]

having you see the chart i posted in the lighting sticky? since the tank is only 12" high, any light should give you a decent intensity. just one t8/t12 bulb 12" away from the substrate will give you about 25 PAR, this should be good for your low light setup

 

[conig]

I did see it, but I don;t really get it. What exactly is par? I'm still in watts per gallon knowledge.

 

[Pyramid_Party]

Watts per gallon is useless now. Use these new PAR charts for measuring light.

 

[jcardona1]

watts per gallong is useless and inaccurate, ESPECIALLY for T5HO. it was created mainly for T8/T12 bulbs, and even then is no good. people have stopped using this rule long ago.

the chart is easy to follow. just look at the type of bulb you have, then look along the bottom to see how many inches off the ground your fixture is. line it up with the colored line, then look to the left. that is how many total PAR you have. if you have more than 1 bulb, multiply the PAR figure by the number of bulbs to get total PAR.

PAR is the best way to measure light intensity. it stands for "Photosynthetically active radiation". in a nutshell, it's the amount of useable light that plants receive from a given light bulb. it's what can actually be used for photosynthesis.

 

[conig]

If I under stand this correct I am rite at 15PAR.

Anyway the 15watt light is 15in from the egg crate. I still need to get some substrate and a new bulb.

Can I use a hagen powerglow as I will have some fish in here? It has a pink coralife in there now thats over 2 years old. So it needs to go.

Should I use pool filter sand or eco complete black plant sand ? I figure the extra miderals wount hurt and I like the black. I also set up organic CO2 but havn't gotten yeast yet.

Pics of were I am at.

 

[jcardona1]

it's important to note that you wont have the same amount of PAR at the ends of the tank because your fixture does not span the entire length of the tank. as for substrate, if you want a black color, might as well spend a little more and get Flourite or Eco Complete instead of pool filter sand. it's not needed right now, but the plants will benefit from it and will give you greater flexibility down the road.

as for the bulb itself, the Power Glo will be fine. it's rated at 18,000k but it's not a true 18,000k if you look at the kelvin scale. it's a white/pink/purplish color. it will be just fine for your plants.