# 29 gallon lighting



## elkhunter (May 24, 2012)

Do I have enough light on my 29 gallon to grow just about anything? I am also dosing PPS Pro and injected CO2 with regulator. 

I currently have a Marineland Plant LED and also a finnex ray 2. 
The reason I ask is because my plants are not seeing very much growth at all.


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## Tugg (Jul 28, 2013)

the Finnex should being giving you enough. PPS Pro is designed to run lean on the ferts. Perhaps you have a deficiency.

Also, how long has it been up/planted? Have the plants had a chance to get acclimated to the tank?

Also, what kind of plants? With that much light, slow growers will likely just grow algae on their leaves.


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## elkhunter (May 24, 2012)

Well I recently replanted my entire tank with HC, Blyxa japonica, and Downoi but so far its been small results and also ive just grown algae everywhere. 
Im wondering if its not the CO2 im going to watch it and see if there is enough in the water that could be what is holding me up. I just wish there was an easier way to measure CO2 w/o counting bubbles that are to fast to see usually.


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## TropTrea (Jan 10, 2014)

elkhunter said:


> Well I recently replanted my entire tank with HC, Blyxa japonica, and Downoi but so far its been small results and also ive just grown algae everywhere.
> Im wondering if its not the CO2 im going to watch it and see if there is enough in the water that could be what is holding me up. I just wish there was an easier way to measure CO2 w/o counting bubbles that are to fast to see usually.


there used to be a nice conversion table for CO2. You would check both your hardness and pH then go to the table and would tell you want your CO2 level was. As far as counting bubbles go if they are so fast your having difficulty then there is a strong possibility your over dosing with CO2. When I was dosing a 75 gallon tank I would be running 40 bubbles every 30 seconds in fairly soft water. Now if your running hard water you can probably run a lot more.


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## elkhunter (May 24, 2012)

Yeah Tom Barr has one on his site that I used. I think im running like 20-25ppm.
Also here are my parameters what do you think

Ammonia: about .15
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: about 100 maybe more 
PH: 6.9
KH: 6 or 7
GH like 9 or 10
Phosphate: like 0 idk the test didnt seem like it worked right it was supposed to be like anywhere from white to purple and it was kinda yellow white.


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## TropTrea (Jan 10, 2014)

elkhunter said:


> Phosphate: like 0 idk the test didnt seem like it worked right it was supposed to be like anywhere from white to purple and it was kinda yellow white.


Phosphate kits can be touchy. I was getting 0 readings with two different types of kits repeatedly when I knew I had high phosphates. A third kit gave me a reading of about 10 ppm. Check the expiration dates and hope that someone did not have them in a hot location during storage before you got it.


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## elkhunter (May 24, 2012)

Yeah I will check what do you think about the other parameter 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## TropTrea (Jan 10, 2014)

elkhunter said:


> Yeah I will check what do you think about the other parameter
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Yes your nitrates are high however your more concerned about your plants than your fish. 50 ppm is usually considered the max safe limit for fish and 0 the ideal. But in a planted tank 0 nitrates results in little plant growth. Often people dose planted tanks to keep the nitrates from being depleted by the plants.

Amonia level indicates to me your tank is still cycling. I have seen it as high as 4ppm on new tanks but after about three months will usually drop to 0.

As far a phosphates go if they are too high you will have an algae issue. If they are too low it again will effect plant growth.


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## elkhunter (May 24, 2012)

well I dont know how my tank could be cycling still because its a tank thats been setup for years. I'm still dealing with algae and little growth. I just tried out a PH controller but didnt seem to be helping my plants so I unplugged that and now put my co2 back on the light timer and I bought a max mix co2 reactor to hopefully help my co2 dissolve better I also upped the dosing of my ferts to 6ml each of macros and micros PPS Pro method.


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