# needing urgent help for 63gheavy planted tank lighting



## rikeshpatel85 (Aug 22, 2014)

Hello
I am making aquascape in my 4 x 1.5 x 2 ft tank which is 90g. The top surface area is 6.2sq.ft. I have monte carlo, Hc cuba, Christmas moss in my tank, I am using normal tap water and general fertilizer. I don't have any fish in my tank, in light I have 2 tubelights 40w each, co2 on 1bpm daily 12hrs lights n co2.

Now the problem is after making all, I found all setup is working good but after a week all plants are getting weak and floating in the water I don't know actually what's wrong with them after 1 week I have changed 20% of water on evry 2nd day. All my plants are in final stage still I want to make my aquascape best. Please suggest me with lighting system and other suggestions for making it.


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

What is the tap water like? What is a general fertilizer? What is the substrate? What exactly are your lights? 
Doesn't sound like you have very much light.


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## TropTrea (Jan 10, 2014)

rikeshpatel85 said:


> Hello
> I am making aquascape in my 4 x 1.5 x 2 ft tank which is 90g. The top surface area is 6.2sq.ft. I have monte carlo, Hc cuba, Christmas moss in my tank, I am using normal tap water and general fertilizer. I don't have any fish in my tank, in light I have 2 tubelights 40w each, co2 on 1bpm daily 12hrs lights n co2.
> 
> Now the problem is after making all, I found all setup is working good but after a week all plants are getting weak and floating in the water I don't know actually what's wrong with them after 1 week I have changed 20% of water on evry 2nd day. All my plants are in final stage still I want to make my aquascape best. Please suggest me with lighting system and other suggestions for making it.


For a 90 gallon tank I would go with at least 4 40 Watt T-8 or T-12 40 watt bulbs with a combination of Daylight and Chroma 50 bulbs for the right spectrum. What you have now is not enough for even low light. I personally would go to LED lighting as you can save money on bulb replacement as well as use less total wattage with LED's.

Water perimeters is also important as well as what your using for fertilizer and how much. I'm not an expert on fertilizers as the ones I'm most familiar with are no longer on the market.


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## rikeshpatel85 (Aug 22, 2014)

Thanks for replying guys, my whole setup is now scraped. I have bought 4x54w t5 ho for my tank but it was too late. Now planning for foreground plants n i will buy only monte carlo, and for tree i will buy Christmas moss, please suggest me easy maintenance moss as well as thick look.

Thank you


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## TropTrea (Jan 10, 2014)

rikeshpatel85 said:


> Thanks for replying guys, my whole setup is now scraped. I have bought 4x54w t5 ho for my tank but it was too late. Now planning for foreground plants n i will buy only monte carlo, and for tree i will buy Christmas moss, please suggest me easy maintenance moss as well as thick look.
> 
> Thank you


Your 4 54 Watt bulbs will be a huge jump from what you already had. If you got a quality light fixture with individual reflectors the change will even be more drastic. Right now I'm running a light bulb fixture on mt 120 gallon 2' X 4' X 2' but I have had to cut back to only using two bulbs. The bulb combo I'm using is 1 GE 6,500K and 1 ATI Purple Plus bulb. However most of my plants are in the medium range of light requirements.

For a Moss in your tank with your current lighting I would recommend a MARSILEA SPP. But yout best off with a fertile substrate.


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