lighting my 29G, some help

anafranil

Junior Poster
Apr 25, 2009
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Hi,new 29G tank,it has been running for almost 2 weeks now with 2x28w t5 bulbs.im dosing EI and co2 going a little bit rich on the ferts with 70% weekly water change.my kh is 3.5 and ph 6.no fish.everything fine so far and plants are pearling.do you thing i could use some more light?also how many hours per day would you suggest?any comments will be appreciated..
 

Ghostie

Prolific Poster
Mar 3, 2009
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Seems like more than enough light! T-5's are vey effecient. If everything looks happy I wouldn't change it. It can be done, but adding more light means more work for you! Meaning, more Co2, more ferts, more trimming and more work to keep all the parameters in balance.
 

Left C

Lifetime Members
Sep 26, 2005
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Burlington, NC
Try it, if you wish. If you see problems, cut back on the hours or if it helps, add more hours.

Are you using pressurized CO2? Do you have a drop checker with the 4 dKH carbonate based and bromothymol blue solutions? You'll probably need to increase your CO2 level and add a tad more ferts to find your balance.

Read Ghostie's post a few times and think about it. Having a balanced tank is sometimes hard to achieve. Usually when I get there, I don't like to 'rock the boat.'
 

shoggoth43

Lifetime Charter Member
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Jan 15, 2009
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Why are you looking to do more? More plant growth? Or you want to see your tank longer? If the latter it's easy enough to just program in an hour or two middway with the light off. This can also help with algae problems as the plants handle the "siesta" better than the algae can. If you decide to increase the lighting period, you may just want to try a 1/2 hour at first for a week or so to give everything time to settle down and see if you have problems, then bump it up again and continue as needed. Once you hit ten-12 hours you'll probably find that the plants are done for the day despite the lights being on. at that point you're pretty much just wasting power and possibly feeding algae, at least from a plant side. The fish, and you, might like the extra viewing time however and that's really up to you at that point.

-
S
 

anafranil

Junior Poster
Apr 25, 2009
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ok i think you all agree that my wattage is enough,I was wondering about how many hours the lights should be on for optimum plant growth,nothing more..for the moment is 7 hours per day,I will slowly increase it to 10 as you have suggested IF i got that right..im running pressurised co2.im keeping no fish or inverts in there cause i want to keep co2 high without the risking fish health,at least for the moment..im dosing 24ppm N03,24ppm K,3ppm P04 weekly and 9ml of flourish..on and off days etc..with 60-70% weekly water changes,how about this?regarding drop checkers I need some more studying,is there a different solution for specific KH values?can someone give me a link on how to prepare and use drop checkers as well as general information on them?thanks a lot..
 

shoggoth43

Lifetime Charter Member
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Jan 15, 2009
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There should be some sticky thread on this site regarding drop checkers. Generally you put in the solution and place it in the tank and look to see that it changes color. If it does not, you need to add more CO2. HOWEVER, it takes a while before it will change color and it's only there as a general guideline. You'll also want to move it around to different locations in the tank to make sure all places get enough CO2. It's a spot checker for general CO2, but it's not super accurate. It will just tell you that at some point in the last couple of hours you had at least that amount of CO2 in that location. It won't tell you what's going on right now.

The 10 hour time was a random guess but you can easily determine what works best for you as you slowly work your way up. Different KH values in the drop check will give a different point at which it will change color. 4 KH is recommended as that will get you roughly 30 ppm CO2 when it changes. Different KH values will more the point at which it changes color. I beleive high KH values result in more CO2 but I can't say without digging that up.

Hopefully that helps.

-
S
 

anafranil

Junior Poster
Apr 25, 2009
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ive noticed the first algae signs today,some green spot algae and hair algae,very little though,should i take it as any sort of deficiency problem or is it normal in the start up phase?thanks a lot..
 

captain_bu

Prolific Poster
Nov 7, 2007
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SF Bay Area
Suggest you get a drop checker so you have a better idea of approximately how much CO2 you have in your water. A lot of new tanks do develp algae in the start up phase as you are finding the right balance point for the tank. Since the tank is only a few weeks old and you are now seeing the first algae I suggest not increasing your photoperiod yet. There can be a few weeks lag between the appearance of algae and the event that caused it. In this case your light may be more intense than you thought and your CO2 levels lower than you think they are. Your dosing levels look okay so concentrate your efforts on getting adequate stable CO2 levels in the water and making sure circulation in the tank is good. Remember that plants need time to adjust to changes in CO2 levels so make changes slowly, you won't get instant results. Remove as much hair algae as possible even if it means pruning back plants more than you would like. If you can raise your fixture a bit it may also help as you find the balance point. Less light makes it easier to provide adequate CO2.

Is the green spot algae on the plants or only the glass? I generally only get a small amount on the glass and it is easy to scrape off if you keep up with it. A bit more phosphates can sometimes help with GSA.
 

anafranil

Junior Poster
Apr 25, 2009
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thanks a lot for the feedback,the GSA is only on the glass..the drop checker is the first thing on my list,I will set it up as soon as possible so i have a better idea of what's going on in the tank.regarding circulation im running a canister doing 185G per hour.which is the easiest method to identify dead spots in the tank?drop checkers measuring low co2 values?
 

anafranil

Junior Poster
Apr 25, 2009
18
0
1
3 weeks now,incredible plant growth,no signs of algae.the drop checker is yellow to green.plants appear yellow the last few days and the stems of cabomba are naked for several inches between leaves.is this iron deficiency issues?is this possible with the amount of flourish i am dosing?you can check on my dosing schedule above,thanks..