Upgrading! Help Please!

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

ZachAttack

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 10, 2008
27
0
0
Minnesota
Alrighty, I'm thinking of upgrading my lightly planted 20 gallon aquarium to a more moderately planted one, and I'm looking for more vigorous plant growth. I was going to start dosing CO2, upgrade my lighting, and possibly, hopefully i don't have to, change my ferts. I have a few questions on each of these topics...
Lighting:
For lighting i was planning on upgrading from 1x15W Flora-Glo Flouresccent to 2x24W T5 HO. This would give me close to 2.5 WPG instead of the >1 I'm currently getting. I was going to do one Life-Glo bulb and one Power-Glo bulb.

CO2:
For this i was planning on going with the simple Hagen CO2 Natural Plant System that i can get from my LFS. I currently am not dosing CO2.

Ferts:
As of right now, I'm just using simple Seachem Flourish Root Tabs.

And now for the questions
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(1) The main one is will all of these things go good with eachother. Will the lighting be too much for the CO2 coming into the tank, giving me and algae factory? Or on the otherside not enough meaning my plants can't take in enough CO2, raising my levels, and possibly killing my fish. I have a feeling if anything it'd be too much. And finally will just the root tabs be enough for fertilzers.
(2) If all of this does work together, could i replace the diffuser that comes with the CO2 with just a regular air stone. I don't think it will be a problem, I just don't want to look at the big diffuser everytime i look into my tank.
(3) Any input, experiences, or places i can find the lights or CO2 cheap would be great!
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Links to what i am looking at:
Lights- http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...9&pcatid=19759
CO2 - http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_Aquari...nt_system.html

I'm planning on adding some ludwiga, more water wisteria, and possibly some microsword. I'm mainly just looking for more vivid colors on my plants and better growth. I'm currently using just regular medium gravel from PetSmart, no flourite or any of that other stuff. If you need to know anything else about my current set up, just ask.
Thanks!!!
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the light is good. i have the duel one on my 29 and can grow almost anything. i would consider the single linear light to be about med light. i would do a co2 system on any planted tank because it does help alot with growth and algea. but i would not get that system. that system is pretty much a DIY system. the DIY will be alot cheaper to start up and cheaper to refill. if you search around you should be able to find some plans to make one. either way i would run an airstone with air at night to remove any build up of co2 in the tank.

hope that helps
 
thanks, that does help...the main thing i was worried about was the amount of light. I'm already running a bubble stick at night for the excess CO2 my plants give off at night.

Only other thing is will ferts be okay?
 
I finally found an easy recipe for CO2...now could i just use that recipe in the Hagen System instead of buying the expensive activating stuff?
 
i really think youre gonna need to do a complete dosing regime. you cant increase everything else and skip one of the key elements, everything has to be in a delicate balance. with the addition of more light and co2, you need to dose for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, as well as the trace supplements.

do a google search for EI dosing (estimative index) using dry bulk fertilizers. this is the best way to go when dosing a planted tank. $30 in dry ferts will last you well over a year as opposed to the expensive seachem stuff.
 
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