AquaVitamins Posted January 21, 2010 Report Share Posted January 21, 2010 Does anyone else have one of these? i brought my one at the 'Aqua fun day' From Animates. Its a nice tank, but im have problems with hair algae, on my two small Java ferns and i would like to start planting then tank more it to hopefully solve the issue. What plants would do well in this tank? Blue planet specs : 2X 13W T5 lighting 70 long x 42 high x 45 deep ish (cm) Because the lighting adds to 26 Watts, does that mean that it is low lighting? Also being T5 does that solve that problem? **Edit** Heres a photo Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 21, 2010 Report Share Posted January 21, 2010 Plant some tiger lotus's in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaVitamins Posted January 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2010 oohh there cool, nice color What ill do is, with all the recommendations make a list and post it in the Private sale section Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted January 22, 2010 Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 i cant see the pic cause im at work, but ill go home and post a list of plants that should grow under that light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaVitamins Posted January 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 i cant see the pic cause im at work, but ill go home and post a list of plants that should grow under that light. Ohh cool thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morcs Posted January 22, 2010 Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 According to my calculation, that lighting gives you 0.62 watts per gallon. To grow with good to strong lighting requirements you will require 2-4 wpg (so 74-148w) Though there are plenty of good plants you can grow under low-light Bobo has my plant bible so I dont have the list in front of me :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaVitamins Posted January 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 0.62 WPG , well thats good.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted January 22, 2010 Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 wpg does not apply to any modern light. watt is a unit of electrical consumption not light emission. you should be able to grow any green plant under there, including tiger lotus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morcs Posted January 22, 2010 Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 wpg does not apply to any modern light. watt is a unit of electrical consumption not light emission. you should be able to grow any green plant under there, including tiger lotus. I religiously use wpg, but I only ever use T8s. Maybe I should get with the times! :lol: :lol: :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaVitamins Posted January 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2010 so were all learning here So look out for the green plants Thanks Phoenix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Posted January 24, 2010 Report Share Posted January 24, 2010 Here's our tank, it grows Crypts and Java fern great! JBL aquabasis under the crypts. 5ml Flourish Excel & 2ml Flourish Comprehensive every 3rd day. 2 Lace Gouramis 2 Mother of Peal Gouramis 2 Sparkling Gouramis 2 Female Bristlenose plecos 5 Chain Loaches Monthly water changes - for real... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaVitamins Posted January 24, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2010 OM Gosh!!!!!!! Wow thats Great! good to see that this tank can actually grow anything! Whats the Ph of ur water? I will be out to buy ferts! I had been using " API Leaf Zone " but i dont think its done much Have you added reflectors? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted January 24, 2010 Report Share Posted January 24, 2010 OM Gosh!!!!!!! Wow thats Great! good to see that this tank can actually grow anything! I told you so :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaVitamins Posted January 24, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2010 Hahaha, well you said Green plants I brought some the other day, i got a Amazon Sword which is, well was nice until my Goldspot mauled it :evil: Also brought a few more Java ferns. I hope they will start to do well, as the other ones havnt grown and they have lots of holes in the leafs as well as clearish blobs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Posted January 24, 2010 Report Share Posted January 24, 2010 Don't know what the PH is, we've never checked it. I'd imagine it's quite acidic as we've got a huge bit of driftwood in there. Never lost a fish in over a year and never had any disease, so there's no problems there. We do check the big three every 2 weeks or so, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate. Ammonia & Nitrite always come back 0, and we've never seen Nitrate over 0.20ppm. Haven't added any reflectors, though it would be a great idea to do so. Would also be a good idea to have a long light period, 12+ hours because of the low lights. I'd strongly recommend Flourish Excel, it helps keep ontop of any algae as well as providing excellent growth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaVitamins Posted January 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 Thats Great news. Ill be of to buy some flourish Excel :bounce: When you say 12+ hours of lighting, how many exactly? i use a timer so i can just dial it in Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Posted January 25, 2010 Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 Well according to Alanmin it takes the plants 2-4 hours to realise that the lights are even turned on, from memory he uses very high lighting for up to 18 hours a day on some of his tanks. So just whatever you can afford and feel comfortable with, the longer the better in other words. But 12 hours should be about right. If you can keep the water parameters in balance and use the correct amount of Flourish Excel with the correct redosing periods, thus keeping ontop of algae, you could use even more light hours. Note: Flourish Excel isn't a magic bullet for "algae", there are many types all with different weaknesses and required parameters, but in my experience if you keep ontop of water changes and Flourish dosing, and have a good plant cover, the algae will slowly deminish over time. It's a balance between 1) Carbon [eg], 2) Lighting, and 3) Nutrients [eg]. If you combine these three with the correct type of plant then you should be able to grow them easily. As long as these three are in blanace you'll be in control of the algae, if one's out, then some types of algae will grow rapidly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaVitamins Posted January 26, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 Could i use "leaf zone" with Excel? - containing Iron and potassium?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Posted January 26, 2010 Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 Personally I found Leaf Zone to be pretty ineffective, it's only got Iron and Potassium, but Flourish Comprehensive has heaps of stuff in it, and apparently it's the "Micro Nutrients" that are important for plant health - ie: holes in leaves, brown spots, yellow leaves etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaVitamins Posted February 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2010 Well i brought 2 new Java ferns, about a week after i got the excel. And they have slowly started to go brown and are spotted with holes. All covered in hair algae and havnt grown in size. Do u think i should go and buy a whole lot more Java ferns to help with the hair algae? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoon Posted February 13, 2010 Report Share Posted February 13, 2010 when you think of t5 lights there are 3 kinds t5 refers to the thickness of the tube but there is HO and VHO (high output and very high output ) normally aquarium t5s (that cost a lot of money) are HO or VHO the ones in the blue planet range are just ordinary t5s so less wattage but thats not necessarily a bad thing as the bulbs are a lot cheaper and can be brought at lighting wholesalers in different colour temperatures a lot cheaper than the LFS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted February 13, 2010 Report Share Posted February 13, 2010 I don't have any tanks with high light. Mine are low to moderate and are all t8s. Some of my tanks have lights on up to 16-17 hours/day but 12-14 is enough realy. Flourish excel is a source of usable cabon but it also has an algaecidal affect that they don't advertise (something to do with the laws in the US I think) I have just got a tank with 3 t8s going to convert emersed pup Echinodorus to submersed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Posted February 13, 2010 Report Share Posted February 13, 2010 Well i brought 2 new Java ferns, about a week after i got the excel. And they have slowly started to go brown and are spotted with holes. All covered in hair algae and havnt grown in size. Do u think i should go and buy a whole lot more Java ferns to help with the hair algae? Sounds like a Micro Nutrient deficiency, may be a good idea to invest in some Flourish Comprehensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaVitamins Posted February 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2010 Do you think that ( forgets the name - Pmmd?? / home made ferts ) could substitute it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Posted February 13, 2010 Report Share Posted February 13, 2010 I'm not too familiar with PMDD, but I had the same problems with my Java Ferns in my AR380 and the Flourish Comprehensive turned them around within a month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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