# Help me find light for my tank



## Aquafreak (Jul 25, 2005)

Hello everyone All points bulletin for help.!!!!!

I have a 44 gallon corner tank, 32" high. 

ph = 7
kh = 110ppm

I am adding CO2 and fertlizers once a week. Fish seem to be very happy ( Rosy Tetra 5 ) as I am starting this planted tank from scratch, been going on now for about 2 months. 

I started out with a peat moss mixed with good earth and a layer of peat fibers as I am on wel water that is a little on the hard side. I toped it off with a very nice filter sand which I found at a local home depot.

I have recently added extra light to mixture but I am not sure if it's right. I am using the standard canopy 15w daylight fluorescent and have added a 20 watt compact fluorescent which gives off 100watt comparability. Does this mean I'm getting 115w of light in my tank. 

You see the plants are giving me new growth but the only at the the very top of the plants, and the bottom seems to be dying off.

What's wrong here????


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## titan97 (Feb 14, 2005)

The Watts-per-gallon "rule" applies to the actual wattage of the fluorescent, not the comparible incandescent wattage. So, no, you don't have 115W, you have 35W. 35W in 40gal is less than 1.0 wpg, so don't expect to grow things very quickly. Some low light plants can be found in the PlantFinder, listed on the bar. 
And it sounds like your tank is pretty tall, so you will want to increase your total wattage if you want better growth. For a moderate light setup, try getting to 80-120W. This should give you the equivilent of 1.5 to 2 wpg. 
How are you adding CO2? What ferts are you using? What are your other tank parameters (nitrate, gh, phosphate, etc)?

-Dustin


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## Aquafreak (Jul 25, 2005)

*Good to know*



titan97 said:


> The Watts-per-gallon "rule" applies to the actual wattage of the fluorescent, not the comparible incandescent wattage. So, no, you don't have 115W, you have 35W. 35W in 40gal is less than 1.0 wpg, so don't expect to grow things very quickly. Some low light plants can be found in the PlantFinder, listed on the bar.
> And it sounds like your tank is pretty tall, so you will want to increase your total wattage if you want better growth. For a moderate light setup, try getting to 80-120W. This should give you the equivilent of 1.5 to 2 wpg.
> How are you adding CO2? What ferts are you using? What are your other tank parameters (nitrate, gh, phosphate, etc)?
> 
> -Dustin


Good to know!! thank you for clarifying this.

I am running a yeast CO2 system (DIY) 1 bubble per second through my fluval 304, have not taken a gh or phosphate test as of yet. Will do upon arrival tonight and let you know tommorrow.

But the question now is what to do with the lights I have 18" fluorescent capability but everything I am seeing is truly too weak. Maximum 15 watts per strip is what I have seen is there anything else out there that I can use.

I am using Big Al's plant food supplement which they guaranteed me had everything I need in it.

I do have the option of removing the canopy and replacing it with clear plaxi glass or glass top which I have acces to. It would allow for probably 25 inch clearance to accomodate maybe 3 strips of light.

Thanks for the Help


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## titan97 (Feb 14, 2005)

It sounds like we both have an oddly shaped tank to work with. My 35 gal tank is hexagonal, and it came with a fixture for 18" bulbs. I was able to put 3 of the 18" bulbs in the enclosure, but last week I noticed that they were starting to warp the plastic fixtures. Trying to generate enough light with 18" bulbs in tanks like ours can be a real challenge. 
In my case, I have started a project to build my own light hood with 24" bulbs, overdriven to produce more than double their normal light. So, my 4x20W (24") bulbs will instead produce 200W total. That should net me about 6 or 7 WPG, but with a tall tank, maybe closer to 4WPG. I can always remove one or two of the wires from the bulbs to reduce the light, if needed. If you are interested, Google ODNO fluorescent. It is very easy to set up and wire together, but you will probably need to make a box to hold them in. With this system, you would use the clear top inplace of your existing canopy.
Also remember that T-8 bulbs produce more light per watt than T-12 bulbs.
I looked up the Big-Al's Supplement on thier site. It doesn't state that the supplement contians any MACRO nutrients, only MICRO nutrients. For a low light tank, that might be barely adequate. But even then, I'd want to add some macros as well. You will need nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. NPK for short. You can buy them cheaply and easliy from www.gregwatson.com. Personally, I went to my local nursery and bought some Muriate of Potash (KCl/K2O), Stump Remover (powder) (KNO3), and then I went to my pharmacy and bought Fleet Enema (PO4). I then had everything I could need for my macro ferts. 
Depending upon how far into this you want to go, look into the PPS or EI fertilization systems promoted here at APC. I use PPS (modified for my ferts). 
It looks like you should have enough CO2 based upon your setup, about 17ppm. I, too, use the DIY system, hooked up to my Eheim filter. Works too good, as my CO2 levels are nearly 70ppm, double what I really need.

-Dustin


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## Jason Baliban (Feb 21, 2005)

Depending on your goals, you will probly want at least 120 watts over that tank. I might venture to say more given the height of the tank. What are your goals?

jB


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