[Vpaw]

Ok, so I decided to finally get a plant light for my 20 gallon tall! But now I have some questions. This light looks super different! Like a black light, but lighter. My glofish and some others just light up under it!

Before

View attachment 9594

After

View attachment 9602

Ok... It isn't showing me my pictures... But it's different. Anyone think I should get more plants now? I only add C02 and have the light. I have 2 ottos and a snail for algae. And for the sand substrate I have 3 Cory catfish. And I have a HOB filter, but instead of carbon I use filter floss. And I took away my bubbles. They'll make enough oxygen, right?

The light isn't harmful to any of my fish, right? And how planted should my tank get?

 

[Byron]

Can you provide some data on the light? First, is it fluorescent tube, or screw-in bulb? And what are the specs (watts, Kelvin rating, type...all this will be on the package or the end of the tube if fluorescent.

On plants, do you have any live plants now? And what are your water paramters for the tap water, meaning GH (general hardness) and pH? These you can get from the municipal water supply people, probably on their website.

Do you have any plant fertilizer yet?

Byron.

 

[Vpaw]

Can you provide some data on the light? First, is it fluorescent tube, or screw-in bulb? And what are the specs (watts, Kelvin rating, type...all this will be on the package or the end of the tube if fluorescent.

On plants, do you have any live plants now? And what are your water paramters for the tap water, meaning GH (general hardness) and pH? These you can get from the municipal water supply people, probably on their website.

Do you have any plant fertilizer yet?

Byron.

Oh ya. Ok it is fluorescent. 18 inches long. 15 watts. The brand is Aqueon. I'm not sure on kelvin rating.
yes right now I have 4 plant types. I have moneywort, but it's dying off so I'm not sure if Id count it. I've been removing a lot. Then I have um,,, well I'm not sure on the names but, one is a broadleaf type. One is like thick grass but it's also not looking too lush. Then there's a cool looking kind with little leaves all around like a big cylinder sorta. The other two types are red and green.

No, I wasn't really planning on fertilizer...

Well I condition my water, but i do know that in my area we have generally VERY hard water. I leave it for the goldfish but for the plant tank I put some aquarium salt in. And the ph is a little bit on the basic side.


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[Byron]

Oh ya. Ok it is fluorescent. 18 inches long. 15 watts. The brand is Aqueon. I'm not sure on kelvin rating.
yes right now I have 4 plant types. I have moneywort, but it's dying off so I'm not sure if Id count it. I've been removing a lot. Then I have um,,, well I'm not sure on the names but, one is a broadleaf type. One is like thick grass but it's also not looking too lush. Then there's a cool looking kind with little leaves all around like a big cylinder sorta. The other two types are red and green.

No, I wasn't really planning on fertilizer...

Well I condition my water, but i do know that in my area we have generally VERY hard water. I leave it for the goldfish but for the plant tank I put some aquarium salt in. And the ph is a little bit on the basic side.

First thing, do not use salt in freshwater tanks. Depending upon how much, this will harm many plants. But moreso, soft water fish (like the Glofish which are a modified zebra danio) are affected by salt.

Second, can you post a photo of the aquarium so I can see these plants?

Third, you will likely need a basic liquid fertilizer, but I may have more when I have seen what they are. I'll explain a bit below.

Fourth on the light, a different tube will be better. I know the Aqueon one, it came with one of my fixtures, and it is not very intense light. It highlights blue and red which is why the fish may look nice, but plants will struggle. Over your 20g, I would suggest a Life-Glo or a ZooMed UltraSun. The latter is a bit less expensive, but otherwise these are much the same.

Now, a brief explanation of plant needs. Plants grow by photosynthesis, and they can only photosynthesize if they have sufficient light intensity and sufficient nutrients to balance. They need 17 nutrients; some of these occur from fish foods, and some in the tap water. For some plants this can be sufficient, but the more fast growing species (like your Moneywort) and any red-leaf plants will not have sufficient without adding them. A complete liquid fertilizer is sufficient for this, I use Seachem's Flourish Comprehensive Supplement for the Planted Aquarium. You use very little; for a 20g tank, just 1/2 of a teaspoon once a week will be enough. This makes quite a difference. But under the new light is part of this too.

Byron.

 

[Vpaw]

First thing, do not use salt in freshwater tanks. Depending upon how much, this will harm many plants. But moreso, soft water fish (like the Glofish which are a modified zebra danio) are affected by salt.

Second, can you post a photo of the aquarium so I can see these plants?

Third, you will likely need a basic liquid fertilizer, but I may have more when I have seen what they are. I'll explain a bit below.

Fourth on the light, a different tube will be better. I know the Aqueon one, it came with one of my fixtures, and it is not very intense light. It highlights blue and red which is why the fish may look nice, but plants will struggle. Over your 20g, I would suggest a Life-Glo or a ZooMed UltraSun. The latter is a bit less expensive, but otherwise these are much the same.

Now, a brief explanation of plant needs. Plants grow by photosynthesis, and they can only photosynthesize if they have sufficient light intensity and sufficient nutrients to balance. They need 17 nutrients; some of these occur from fish foods, and some in the tap water. For some plants this can be sufficient, but the more fast growing species (like your Moneywort) and any red-leaf plants will not have sufficient without adding them. A complete liquid fertilizer is sufficient for this, I use Seachem's Flourish Comprehensive Supplement for the Planted Aquarium. You use very little; for a 20g tank, just 1/2 of a teaspoon once a week will be enough. This makes quite a difference. But under the new light is part of this too.

Byron.

I only use a little bit of the salt, and I was told to use it specifically because of the glofish, actually. Because they kept dying when I first got them, long ago, and it helped with stress. The new ones seem fine, my water quality is better than it was a long time ago as well.

I am trying to post photos but it won't let me. Ill keep trying...

I have Aqueon plant food that I use weekly but I'm almost out so ill probably think about if I even want more.

So you'd say it's better to take it back? Ill want a fluorescent for sure. Are different brands better? Like top fin? I have a lot of those products.


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[Byron]

I only use a little bit of the salt, and I was told to use it specifically because of the glofish, actually. Because they kept dying when I first got them, long ago, and it helped with stress. The new ones seem fine, my water quality is better than it was a long time ago as well.

I am trying to post photos but it won't let me. Ill keep trying...

I have Aqueon plant food that I use weekly but I'm almost out so ill probably think about if I even want more.

So you'd say it's better to take it back? Ill want a fluorescent for sure. Are different brands better? Like top fin? I have a lot of those products.


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The fluorescent tube fixture is fine, so any tube that fits it (the length of the tube, you want an 18-inch, whatever the type) will work but the important aspect is the phosphors that "burn" inside the tube to emit the light. Light is composed of many different colours, wavelengths we call them, and plants have specific needs. But intensity is also critical, as light does not penetrate water as easily as air, so by the time the light gets down to the plants it is much less intense and this has to be compensated for as well. The two types of tube I mentioned are the best for plants and fish colours. I ran experiments with all these tubes over my 29g, which confirmed the theory. Topfin is Petsmart's home brand, and Petsmart carries the Life-Glo (at least the stores in Canada do).

The Aqueon plant food may be less expensive to buy, but not only is it not going to be as good, you will use far more along the way. Flourish Comprehensive is better. Another similar one is Brightwell Aquatics' FlorinMulti.

Don't use the salt any longer, it is not necessary, it will do nothing positive, but it will be detrimental over time.

 

[Vpaw]

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[Byron]

That's nice, and I stand by my previous suggestions now that I've seen the plants. And yes, to answer a question in your initial post, more plants.:lol: If you can find one, pygmy chain sword would be ideal to spread over the gravel (in time). Floating plants would be good too, once you get the other tube (they will shade the light too much with the present tube). Check our plant profiles.

 

[Vpaw]

Ok I took the light back and got another one. It's zoo med like you said but instead of ultra sun they said that flora sun was for the plants.


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[Byron]

Ok I took the light back and got another one. It's zoo med like you said but instead of ultra sun they said that flora sun was for the plants.

You might be OK with this, it is certainly better than what you had. But it would be better with the Ultra-Sun, believe me. The people who work in stores mean well, but they are probably going by what they are told or read on the package, and this is not always accurate.

 

[Vpaw]

You might be OK with this, it is certainly better than what you had. But it would be better with the Ultra-Sun, believe me. The people who work in stores mean well, but they are probably going by what they are told or read on the package, and this is not always accurate.

What's the difference between mine and e ultra sun?


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[Byron]

What's the difference between mine and e ultra sun?

Primarily, the colour temperature which is measured in Kelvin. The Flora-Sun is 5500K (kelvin), the UltraSun is 6500K. So the "colour" of the 5500K is warmer than the 6500K, which is cooler than the other. Warmer means more red, less blue; cool means more blue, less red.

The colour is to some extent just a matter of personal preference. But it does go a bit deeper, because plants do grow a bit better under 6500K. It is thought to be the additional "brightness" of the yellow/green wavelength that is missing in the warmer light. Fish colours also tend to be more natural, because this light is closer to natural sunlight.

Byron.

 

[Vpaw]

Primarily, the colour temperature which is measured in Kelvin. The Flora-Sun is 5500K (kelvin), the UltraSun is 6500K. So the "colour" of the 5500K is warmer than the 6500K, which is cooler than the other. Warmer means more red, less blue; cool means more blue, less red.

The colour is to some extent just a matter of personal preference. But it does go a bit deeper, because plants do grow a bit better under 6500K. It is thought to be the additional "brightness" of the yellow/green wavelength that is missing in the warmer light. Fish colours also tend to be more natural, because this light is closer to natural sunlight.

Byron.

So would you then still recommend floating plants? Are those the semi aquatic kind? Or just floating?


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[Byron]

So would you then still recommend floating plants? Are those the semi aquatic kind? Or just floating?


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Floating plants, as those in our profiles under that section
Floating Plants
or there are a few of the stem plants that can be left floating.

 

[DKRST]

I agree with everything Byron says (mainly 'cause he's correct!) :lol:

The Ultrasun gives significantly more light at the substrate (20-40% more depending on depths I've measured with a meter) than the Florasun and using the Ultrasun, you'd be fine with a nice floating plant cover as well. Enough light would penetrate to grow some nice chain swords in there. Absolutely ditch the salt.

Be cautious regarding big-box pet store advice. First question to casually ask the person helping you is "how many tanks do you have at home?" If the answer isn't 2 or more, they may not know anything about fish! I've had both great advice and horrible advice from pet store employees over the years.