Hi All,
I am new to aquatic plants and I am not sure which light my tank needs. I have a 65 gallon tall aquarium, which is 36"x18"x24". Tank parameters are 0ppms Ammonia and Nitrite, and under 5ppm nitrates. Temperature is a consistent 80 degrees. It has a GH of about 5.0, KH of 3.0 and pH of 6.8. It's home to a P. Senegalus, a handful of Congo Tetras, a green cory, an African Butterfly, and a pair of Dwarf Flag cichlids. Filtration is an Eheim Ecco 2236 with a modified spray-bar (install kit 2).
I ordered some plants last month and have thus far had mixed results (but none really good). I am keeping a small anubias nana, a mid-sized anubias congensis, narrow leaf micro-sword (lilaeopsis mauritania), some vallisneria gigantis, some nasaea pedicellata, and later on, some Java Fern. I realize that these plants have differing light preferences and placed them in my tank accordingly. I purchased some water lettuce which later turned out to have worms, so they were removed.
The water lettuce was doing the best in the tank regardless of the worms which eventually appeared, but I removed them. The valliseneria melted but never really bounced back. Some bolbitis put up a fight for a bit, but eventually browned and died out. The rest of the plants are just sort of in purgatory. Not dead but not growing, and certainly not flourishing.
I started dosing Flourish after the plants arrived. I also used Flourish root tabs in the Flourite substrate (about 70%, the other 30% being white sand). I am still using the Flourish products, but I am not using Co2. I initially purchased an Ecoxotic E series (E-90) 36" LED fixture. The first one overheated very quickly, so I sent it back for another. The same problem is happening with the new Ecoxotic now, and I will be returning it. I have a 30" Finnex Ray2 that I used while replacing the Ecoxotic (sat flat on the versa top and didn't overheat once), and the nasaea seemed to benefit, in addition to the dwarf hairgrass (spread a bit rather than just growing tall and stationary).
I am now in the market for a new LED fixture (to replace the Ecoxotic E90) to help the plants in my deep tank grow. I am debating the 36" Finnex Ray2 or the WavePoint daylight (10,000k). Can anyone provide any recommendations on these 2, or perhaps others? I do not want to scorch my fish and I don't want to blast the 'shy' plants with light, but want the plant growth in the tank to increase. I am also very open to any other suggestions.
Thank you in advance for any help or suggestions you can provide.
I am new to aquatic plants and I am not sure which light my tank needs. I have a 65 gallon tall aquarium, which is 36"x18"x24". Tank parameters are 0ppms Ammonia and Nitrite, and under 5ppm nitrates. Temperature is a consistent 80 degrees. It has a GH of about 5.0, KH of 3.0 and pH of 6.8. It's home to a P. Senegalus, a handful of Congo Tetras, a green cory, an African Butterfly, and a pair of Dwarf Flag cichlids. Filtration is an Eheim Ecco 2236 with a modified spray-bar (install kit 2).
I ordered some plants last month and have thus far had mixed results (but none really good). I am keeping a small anubias nana, a mid-sized anubias congensis, narrow leaf micro-sword (lilaeopsis mauritania), some vallisneria gigantis, some nasaea pedicellata, and later on, some Java Fern. I realize that these plants have differing light preferences and placed them in my tank accordingly. I purchased some water lettuce which later turned out to have worms, so they were removed.
The water lettuce was doing the best in the tank regardless of the worms which eventually appeared, but I removed them. The valliseneria melted but never really bounced back. Some bolbitis put up a fight for a bit, but eventually browned and died out. The rest of the plants are just sort of in purgatory. Not dead but not growing, and certainly not flourishing.
I started dosing Flourish after the plants arrived. I also used Flourish root tabs in the Flourite substrate (about 70%, the other 30% being white sand). I am still using the Flourish products, but I am not using Co2. I initially purchased an Ecoxotic E series (E-90) 36" LED fixture. The first one overheated very quickly, so I sent it back for another. The same problem is happening with the new Ecoxotic now, and I will be returning it. I have a 30" Finnex Ray2 that I used while replacing the Ecoxotic (sat flat on the versa top and didn't overheat once), and the nasaea seemed to benefit, in addition to the dwarf hairgrass (spread a bit rather than just growing tall and stationary).
I am now in the market for a new LED fixture (to replace the Ecoxotic E90) to help the plants in my deep tank grow. I am debating the 36" Finnex Ray2 or the WavePoint daylight (10,000k). Can anyone provide any recommendations on these 2, or perhaps others? I do not want to scorch my fish and I don't want to blast the 'shy' plants with light, but want the plant growth in the tank to increase. I am also very open to any other suggestions.
Thank you in advance for any help or suggestions you can provide.
