75g planted tank journal

[suicune]

Btw, if you ever decide to go high light and co2... I heard the new plant led marineland is very powerful

[armthehomeless]

On another note, my tank cycle has been completed! Can't decided if I should do one shoal or two. If I did two, it be lemon tetra and rummy nose tetra. If I did one shoal it be rummy nose tetra. What do you guys think one or two shoal?

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I like the two shoals idea . . . lemon tetras are nice!

[mistahoo]

your tank is 4 feet long though, so you'll need to make sure there is enough par. The Par rating on that webpage is the point directly below the light fixture, not below and 3-6-9 inches away.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=189944

Look at this link for the charts on different Finnex fixtures. Since your tank is 4 feet long. if you are gonna put 2 x 18'' across the width and 2 feet across each other. You'll end up having low light tank. with 2 shiny spot directly below the fixture at only 37 par. I suggest that you can try 1 x 48" across the length of the tank, which according to the chart, your brightest spot in the tank will be 73 par. the dimmest spot will be around 56 that is within medium light range. 2 x 18" in such a long tank may not sustain much plants. The cost for both option is only like 10-20 dollars apart.

Also, I'd take these numbers with a grain of salt because manufacturer may exaggerate their products a bit. I hope I've been helpful =d. good luck to your planted tank

Fortunately for us, these numbers are accurate and have been proven true on numerous occasions with PAR meters from several customers. The numbers Finnex provides are true for the most part (maybe a few more or less).

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[mistahoo]

I'd get the monster and the 48" Ray2 dual 7,000k. The monster will help get the dimmer spots that the Ray2 can't get. You could also do the monster, 1 48" Ray2 Dual 7,000k, and 1 48" Ray2 10,000k/actinics too. That would be a baller setup. You could have moonlights this way and also have a fuller spectrum. That's just my 2pesos.

Even with low light plants, they can thrive in higher light conditions. My 5g was running high light and all the plants were low light. I didn't have any algae issues when I swapped from lower lighting to the Ray2.

If you fill in your tank with a ton of plants at the beginning, it makes it much harder for algae to take over. The cause of algae blooms isn't necessarily increased light, but more of an imbalance of nutrients. Having extra plants will help combat this as they'll out-compete the algae for nutrients.



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[wesleh]

I like the two shoals idea . . . lemon tetras are nice!

Thanks for your input, Tim! I'm leaning towards two at the moment.

I'd get the monster and the 48" Ray2 dual 7,000k. The monster will help get the dimmer spots that the Ray2 can't get. You could also do the monster, 1 48" Ray2 Dual 7,000k, and 1 48" Ray2 10,000k/actinics too. That would be a baller setup. You could have moonlights this way and also have a fuller spectrum. That's just my 2pesos.

Even with low light plants, they can thrive in higher light conditions. My 5g was running high light and all the plants were low light. I didn't have any algae issues when I swapped from lower lighting to the Ray2.

If you fill in your tank with a ton of plants at the beginning, it makes it much harder for algae to take over. The cause of algae blooms isn't necessarily increased light, but more of an imbalance of nutrients. Having extra plants will help combat this as they'll out-compete the algae for nutrients.



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Oh I see, thanks for all the advice. I do like the moonlight but I know they only have one power control for both lights. Its going to be on a timer and I would like to have it where I can start them at separate times so I'm probably going to avoid that one and maybe get a separate moon light later.

That may be my problem on the algae. I didn't actually get algae until I started to plant heavier. I had no algae at all in the beginning. Hmm kinda weird.

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[suicune]

Thanks for your input, Tim! I'm leaning towards two at the moment.



Oh I see, thanks for all the advice. I do like the moonlight but I know they only have one power control for both lights. Its going to be on a timer and I would like to have it where I can start them at separate times so I'm probably going to avoid that one and maybe get a separate moon light later.

That may be my problem on the algae. I didn't actually get algae until I started to plant heavier. I had no algae at all in the beginning. Hmm kinda weird.

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Did you dose more fertilizer when you put more plants in? If you didn't then that probably causes algae problems. It's been proven that algae outbreak begins when plants use up some nutrients, which inturn stun their growth. Algae is opportunistic and highly adaptable, they can take that advantage and grow on whatever nutrients left in the tank. Since your plants couldn't grow, they can't use other nutrients. Most of the time, it's the absent of a macro nuitrient like Nitrogen, Potassium or phosphate. Nitrogen is easiest to measure since it's included in most test kits. If you check your tank and see 0 Nitrate, Nitrite and Ammonium then you might need fertz that have nitrogen to dose your tank, etc.

[wesleh]

Did you dose more fertilizer when you put more plants in? If you didn't then that probably causes algae problems. It's been proven that algae outbreak begins when plants use up some nutrients, which inturn stun their growth. Algae is opportunistic and highly adaptable, they can take that advantage and grow on whatever nutrients left in the tank. Since your plants couldn't grow, they can't use other nutrients. Most of the time, it's the absent of a macro nuitrient like Nitrogen, Potassium or phosphate. Nitrogen is easiest to measure since it's included in most test kits. If you check your tank and see 0 Nitrate, Nitrite and Ammonium then you might need fertz that have nitrogen to dose your tank, etc.

Now that you mention that, I did start dosing fertz when I add more plants. Did not dose in the beginning. Nitrate is good at a stable 10ppm for the last two weeks. Thanks for the great info again!

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[suicune]

then you might be missing phosphate or potassium

[mistahoo]

then you might be missing phosphate or potassium

This ^

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[mistahoo]

I like the two shoals idea too. Rummynose and bleeding hearts would be cool.

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[suicune]

Shoals of rainbows like forktail, threadfin, or signifier would be beautiful too as they are so active. I've even seen a tank of with 20 tiger barb that looks just as perfect.

[wesleh]

then you might be missing phosphate or potassium

I see, and yea I barely started to dosing those.

I like the two shoals idea too. Rummynose and bleeding hearts would be cool.

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Thanks, bleeding hearts look just like the lemon just red!

Shoals of rainbows like forktail, threadfin, or signifier would be beautiful too as they are so active. I've even seen a tank of with 20 tiger barb that looks just as perfect.

Thanks, I was going for threadfin or signifer rainbow but there a little more costly. I think they would look nicer with the discus as well. That might change though as I still havent really deceided.

[mistahoo]

Yup! Bleeding hearts would complement the red color of the rummynose. Unless you were trying to get two different colors?

Signifer rainbows are nice. Homeless Aquatics (Armthehomeless/Tim) has a ton of them in stock for $3 each. Can't get much cheaper than that. The only thing I don't really like about rainbows is that it seems that they shoal, but often times explore on their own away from the school. It makes it look just like a bunch of fish instead of a school.

[wesleh]

^sorry just saw this post lol

Just remember seeing Tim having some rainbows and just went to confirm on his stock list and they are nicely priced, I will probably will end up with signifer or furcata rainbows and rummy nose.

[wesleh]

Yup! Bleeding hearts would complement the red color of the rummynose. Unless you were trying to get two different colors?

Signifer rainbows are nice. Homeless Aquatics (Armthehomeless/Tim) has a ton of them in stock for $3 each. Can't get much cheaper than that. The only thing I don't really like about rainbows is that it seems that they shoal, but often times explore on their own away from the school. It makes it look just like a bunch of fish instead of a school.

As for as colors, I am pretty open but would like two different colors, but as long as they look awesome and colorful. Yes, thats why I am for sure getting a school of rummy as I read from many people that they are the tightest schooling fish. Thats actually another reason why I might not go with rainbows because of that.