extra lighting

beetlebz

Gravel works just fine for most of us here. Ive used planting substrates and gravel and gravel has by far been the best all around (cost, growth, and maint.)

A T8 will only grow low to moderate light plants. HOWEVER, without balancing nutrients (which can easily mean dry ferts and co2 injection) high lights wont grow your plants much better. In some cases, especially without balanced nutrients, plants will do worse.

Quantum

a single 24" T5 HO over a 22" tall 30" tank seems to me to be almost ideal for a low tech set up, just turn off the 5000K bulb

scott36854

i just turned the daylight bulb off. the flora plant grow bulb makes the tank look kinda red and not much light. it looks good, just different.

Byron

Yes, if you can turn one tube off, fine. You may have to limit your duration, but it should work with just the one tube, and a 6500K daylight/full spectrum type.

On the substrate, you don't need soil, in fact I discourage it; small grain gravel or sand works fine.

scott36854

i want to take a pic and post it, but i am embarrassed. tank looks like crap. however, i do have the neatest looking piece of driftwood ever!
can i use photo bucket to post a pic, or is there an easier way?

scott36854

Byron

That's coming fine. Three suggestions [can't resist suggestions].

1. Move the wood a tad to the right--off-centre is always more natural and the tank will appear larger--and angle it very slightly, just so it is not straight across if you follow.

2. Substrate plants in front of the wood, Pygmy chain sword would be ideal. Plants at the points where branches of the wood enter the substrate are very natural.

3. Floating plants, Water Sprite here.

scott36854

as you can see, i have no design capabilities at all. i have just been buying plants and sticking in there. Seems like the fish stores around here have very limited plant selection.
does gravel size look ok? i have no soil underneath.
@ Byron, thanks for the info, please keep it coming.

i am still lost on what to do about the lighting. I am going to try and find a fixture like in the other post from kangy. the aqueon t5 that will fit my glass top that i bought. is it the bulb or fixture that make it HO?
the fixture from zoo meds won't allow the glass top.

Quantum

the fixture

my advice to Kangy applies here as well, the dual tube Aqueon fixture, even though it is non-HO is more than what you want (more than double what Byron has in his 29, which obviously works well), the coralife single non-HO I linked to is the better choice

the Zoomed running one 24" T5 HO will produce more light than the 30" non-HO coralife (though not as much as the dual tube aqueon), but yours is a taller tank (22" vs 18") and the zoomed fixture sits a few inches above the water so some of the light will not be directed directly into the tank, so in your case the single HO should work well, though not being able to have the glass lid is a problem

scott36854

will the glass top work with the dual aqueon or will i have the same problem as with the zoo med?