Planted tank lighting

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
pjsmetana;4364558; said:
For a solid answer we need to know how tall the tank is, how far the lights are from the surface, reflectors or not, bulb specs, and so on... to be sure. If you don't have all that or don't post it, don't be so pushy. Also, questions end in a question mark. It looks like this "?".

Short answer. It should be fine. Because, technically, having a house light near a tank with 0 top lights would be fine for some plants.
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its a basic 75 gal tank, lights are about 3 inches from surface sitting on a glass top, all the lights say is 40 watts 120 volts 60 hz f40/wwp, there lights my grandpa used to grow plants outside of water tho, so guessing they would be fine?
 
Sounds pretty good. Assuming your tank is 24" tall, you should be inside the High Light portion of the graph on the sticky. Happy trails with plants, btw, and good luck. Use a good fertilizer and do not over dose, and you should be looking at happy healthy plants for a long time. CO2 is a must if you are impatient, but not a requirement for most plants. Most plants just grow slower without it. Personally I have no problem getting any plant to grow on my planted tank... with the exception of grasses... and I do not use CO2.
 
pjsmetana;4366951; said:
Sounds pretty good. Assuming your tank is 24" tall, you should be inside the High Light portion of the graph on the sticky. Happy trails with plants, btw, and good luck. Use a good fertilizer and do not over dose, and you should be looking at happy healthy plants for a long time. CO2 is a must if you are impatient, but not a requirement for most plants. Most plants just grow slower without it. Personally I have no problem getting any plant to grow on my planted tank... with the exception of grasses... and I do not use CO2.
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i plan to use co2 eventually, which type of fertalizer do you recommend that is fish friendly, liquid tabs, what do you think? and thanks for the good luck :)
 
That light should work for now. Buy an expensive one later if you need it. For ferts, I have good luck with root tabs & Flourish Excel in my non-CO2 tanks. The Iron-based liquid ferts should be used very carefully until you get either UV or CO2 running to keep the algae out of the tank.
 
JakeH;4371734; said:
That light should work for now. Buy an expensive one later if you need it. For ferts, I have good luck with root tabs & Flourish Excel in my non-CO2 tanks. The Iron-based liquid ferts should be used very carefully until you get either UV or CO2 running to keep the algae out of the tank.
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okay i have a few questions

algea sharks wont be able to keep up with the algea growth? as for uv dont you need a canister type filter to run the uv through it? right now i jsut have bio wheels about how long till you think i need a canister for uv?
 
there's really no fish out there that is willing to eat the types of algae we get in planted tanks. GSA, BBA, BGA, GDA, cladophora...most fish wont touch the stuff
 
warlord651;4371843; said:
okay i have a few questions

algea sharks wont be able to keep up with the algea growth? as for uv dont you need a canister type filter to run the uv through it? right now i jsut have bio wheels about how long till you think i need a canister for uv?
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Like Jose said, Otto's don't eat ALL the algae. No need for a canister, you can get a nice powerhead-style UV for under 50 bux. If you upgrade to a canister later, then you can get a better model for the same money as a "UV canister".:naughty:
 
JakeH;4372369; said:
Like Jose said, Otto's don't eat ALL the algae. No need for a canister, you can get a nice powerhead-style UV for under 50 bux. If you upgrade to a canister later, then you can get a better model for the same money as a "UV canister".:naughty:
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okay what would be a good power head stye UV, can you show me a link, sorry for questions new to this wonderful hobby and enjoying it very much but still dont know much, also as for algea eaters i have found this fish at my LPS that likes all of my plants / algea, he looks like this in the link below, found him to be the best find for algea.
http://www.tropicalfishandaquariums.com/Sharks/SiameseAlgaeEater.jpghttp://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...page=1&ndsp=14&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0&tx=54&ty=62
 
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