I'm gonna be modifying my All Glass hood soon to get more lighting for my
new 55G tank. I'm hoping to achieve a tank that gives me ok growth (ie:
trim once a month or two). One that won't require CO2 (although I will be
using Flourish Excel). I have fertilizers on hand, so I don't mind using
those, but I would like to have some room for error since this will be my
first planted tank. I don't mind sticking with low/medium light plants if
this means I get a low maintenance tank that doesn't require hours of
work/testing/trimming every week.

So the question is ... is 1.6wpg enough for such a tank? Having only 1.6wpg
would allow me to stick with a cheaper T8 lighting system instead of going
with T5 or compacts in order to fit everything in the All Glass hood. Btw,
a fully DIY hood is not an option unfortunately.

Thanks,
Harry

|| I'm gonna be modifying my All Glass hood soon to get more lighting
|| for my new 55G tank. I'm hoping to achieve a tank that gives me ok
|| growth (ie: trim once a month or two). One that won't require CO2
|| (although I will be using Flourish Excel). I have fertilizers on
|| hand, so I don't mind using those, but I would like to have some
|| room for error since this will be my first planted tank. I don't
|| mind sticking with low/medium light plants if this means I get a low
|| maintenance tank that doesn't require hours of work/testing/trimming
|| every week.
||
|| So the question is ... is 1.6wpg enough for such a tank? Having
|| only 1.6wpg would allow me to stick with a cheaper T8 lighting
|| system instead of going with T5 or compacts in order to fit
|| everything in the All Glass hood. Btw, a fully DIY hood is not an
|| option unfortunately.
||
|| Thanks,
|| Harry

I wouldn't see a problem if it wasn't a 18" deep tank from top to bottom...
My buddy has been 'experimenting' with plants in his 55g, and everything
8-10" from top looks great, but the lower halfs look rough... the java fern
on the bottom is going good, the anubias are looking ok with some algae
around the edges of the leaves...

I do 1.5wpg in a 10g and it's great... but in my 18" high 29g, I had to go
with PCFs to penetrate to the bottom... and with 65W over a 29, I'm getting
2.24WPG...

I'd say you can pull it off..... just pick the right plants and you'll be ok

--
| RedForeman ©® fabricator and creator of the ratbike streetfighter!!!
| ==========================
| 2003 TRX450ES
| 1992 TRX-350 XX (For Sale)
| '98 Tacoma Ext Cab 4X4 Lifted....
| ==========================
| ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤° `°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø
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| for any questions you may have....
| www.gmail.com

"RedForeman ©®" wrote in message
...
|| I'm gonna be modifying my All Glass hood soon to get more lighting
|| for my new 55G tank. I'm hoping to achieve a tank that gives me ok
|| growth (ie: trim once a month or two). One that won't require CO2
|| (although I will be using Flourish Excel). I have fertilizers on
|| hand, so I don't mind using those, but I would like to have some
|| room for error since this will be my first planted tank. I don't
|| mind sticking with low/medium light plants if this means I get a low
|| maintenance tank that doesn't require hours of work/testing/trimming
|| every week.
||
|| So the question is ... is 1.6wpg enough for such a tank? Having
|| only 1.6wpg would allow me to stick with a cheaper T8 lighting
|| system instead of going with T5 or compacts in order to fit
|| everything in the All Glass hood. Btw, a fully DIY hood is not an
|| option unfortunately.
||
|| Thanks,
|| Harry

I wouldn't see a problem if it wasn't a 18" deep tank from top to
bottom...
My buddy has been 'experimenting' with plants in his 55g, and everything
8-10" from top looks great, but the lower halfs look rough... the java
fern
on the bottom is going good, the anubias are looking ok with some algae
around the edges of the leaves...

I do 1.5wpg in a 10g and it's great... but in my 18" high 29g, I had to go
with PCFs to penetrate to the bottom... and with 65W over a 29, I'm
getting
2.24WPG...

I'd say you can pull it off..... just pick the right plants and you'll be
ok

--
| RedForeman ©® fabricator and creator of the ratbike streetfighter!!!
| ==========================
| 2003 TRX450ES
| 1992 TRX-350 XX (For Sale)
| '98 Tacoma Ext Cab 4X4 Lifted....
| ==========================
| ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤° `°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø
| ((((º`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·.¸. ((((º ·´¯`·. , .·´¯`·.. ((((º
| for any questions you may have....
| www.gmail.com



Actually I think from bottom of the bottom trim to the top of the top trim
is 21", it's probably about 18-19" of actual water from the bottom glass
plate to just below the bottom of the top trim.

Btw, did you first try normal fluorescent lighting with your 29? If so, at
what wpg?

Thanks,
Harry

|| "RedForeman ©®" wrote in message
||| I wouldn't see a problem if it wasn't a 18" deep tank from top to
||| bottom... My buddy has been 'experimenting' with plants in his 55g,
||| and everything 8-10" from top looks great, but the lower halfs look
||| rough... the java fern on the bottom is going good, the anubias are
||| looking ok with some algae around the edges of the leaves...
|||
||| I do 1.5wpg in a 10g and it's great... but in my 18" high 29g, I
||| had to go with PCFs to penetrate to the bottom... and with 65W over
||| a 29, I'm getting
||| 2.24WPG...
|||
||| I'd say you can pull it off..... just pick the right plants and
||| you'll be ok
|||
||| --
|||| RedForeman ©® fabricator and creator of the ratbike streetfighter!!!
|| Actually I think from bottom of the bottom trim to the top of the
|| top trim is 21", it's probably about 18-19" of actual water from the
|| bottom glass plate to just below the bottom of the top trim.
||
|| Btw, did you first try normal fluorescent lighting with your 29? If
|| so, at what wpg?
||
|| Thanks,
|| Harry

It was a standard NO floro, not sure what whats it was... it was only a 24"
bulb, so no more than 30w... less than 1WPG, and it wouldn't grow anything
but dwarf lillies... generic ones that you can get from walmart... after it
killed/I killed many plants, I started seeing all these nice lush tanks...
in my head I said, "I want that." I came here and started absorbing all
that the late great JB, NetMax and TomBarr gave, LeighMo was a huge
inspiration, and so many others, I just can't seem to remember....

--
| RedForeman ©® fabricator and creator of the ratbike streetfighter!!!
| ==========================
| 2003 TRX450ES
| 1992 TRX-350 XX (For Sale)
| '98 Tacoma Ext Cab 4X4 Lifted....
| ==========================
| ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸¸¸,ø¤° `°¤ø,¸¸,ø¤°`°¤ø
| ((((º`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·.¸. ((((º ·´¯`·. , .·´¯`·.. ((((º
| for any questions you may have....
| www.gmail.com

On 14 Jul 2004, the world was enlightened by RedForeman ©®'s opinion
about...

|| I'm gonna be modifying my All Glass hood soon to get more lighting
|| for my new 55G tank. I'm hoping to achieve a tank that gives me ok
|| growth (ie: trim once a month or two). One that won't require CO2
|| (although I will be using Flourish Excel). I have fertilizers on
|| hand, so I don't mind using those, but I would like to have some
|| room for error since this will be my first planted tank. I don't
|| mind sticking with low/medium light plants if this means I get a low
|| maintenance tank that doesn't require hours of work/testing/trimming
|| every week.
||
|| So the question is ... is 1.6wpg enough for such a tank? Having
|| only 1.6wpg would allow me to stick with a cheaper T8 lighting
|| system instead of going with T5 or compacts in order to fit
|| everything in the All Glass hood. Btw, a fully DIY hood is not an
|| option unfortunately.
||
|| Thanks,
|| Harry

I wouldn't see a problem if it wasn't a 18" deep tank from top to
bottom... My buddy has been 'experimenting' with plants in his 55g,
and everything 8-10" from top looks great, but the lower halfs look
rough... the java fern on the bottom is going good, the anubias are
looking ok with some algae around the edges of the leaves...

I do 1.5wpg in a 10g and it's great... but in my 18" high 29g, I had
to go with PCFs to penetrate to the bottom... and with 65W over a 29,
I'm getting 2.24WPG...

I'd say you can pull it off..... just pick the right plants and you'll
be ok


I would add that the right bulbs will help too. If you can mix a
daylight with a plant gro bulb, you should be ok.


kev

--
Civilization.

An organized system of alternatives to the stone age - CJCherryh

My 46g bowfront had only 1.3 wpg on it for quite a while with fairly
good results. I kept many plants that required low to medium light.
What I think must have helped tremendously was that the substrate was
a light colored sand (but not white) with Laterite covering the
bottom. It reflected great deal of light back up to the plants. Yes,
there are drawbacks to this substrate (ie. possible anaerobic areas
and some fish don't color up as nicely).

With this setup, I didn't need to fertilize much and the plants didn't
need to be trimmed more than twice a month.

Now that I have switched to CF, and CO2, I will probably change the
substrate to Flourite or Eco-Complete. But the sand served me well
with the low light phase.

Cris


On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 15:24:41 -0400, "Harry Muscle"
wrote:

I'm gonna be modifying my All Glass hood soon to get more lighting for my
new 55G tank. I'm hoping to achieve a tank that gives me ok growth (ie:
trim once a month or two). One that won't require CO2 (although I will be
using Flourish Excel). I have fertilizers on hand, so I don't mind using
those, but I would like to have some room for error since this will be my
first planted tank. I don't mind sticking with low/medium light plants if
this means I get a low maintenance tank that doesn't require hours of
work/testing/trimming every week.

So the question is ... is 1.6wpg enough for such a tank? Having only 1.6wpg
would allow me to stick with a cheaper T8 lighting system instead of going
with T5 or compacts in order to fit everything in the All Glass hood. Btw,
a fully DIY hood is not an option unfortunately.

Thanks,
Harry

On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 15:24:41 -0400, "Harry Muscle"
wrote:

I'm gonna be modifying my All Glass hood soon to get more lighting for my
new 55G tank. I'm hoping to achieve a tank that gives me ok growth (ie:
trim once a month or two). One that won't require CO2 (although I will be
using Flourish Excel). I have fertilizers on hand, so I don't mind using
those, but I would like to have some room for error since this will be my
first planted tank. I don't mind sticking with low/medium light plants if
this means I get a low maintenance tank that doesn't require hours of
work/testing/trimming every week.

So the question is ... is 1.6wpg enough for such a tank? Having only 1.6wpg
would allow me to stick with a cheaper T8 lighting system instead of going
with T5 or compacts in order to fit everything in the All Glass hood. Btw,
a fully DIY hood is not an option unfortunately.

Thanks,
Harry


I have had a 75 gallon tank (25 inches deep) set up for 18 months with
1.5wpg lighting. After going through assorted "take what you get"
internet offers, I finally discovered "low light" plants. I was at
the end of my rope with bad black hair algae. I ordered an assortment
of low light plants, pulled everything out of the tank that had "hair"
and stuffed the bottom with new plants. For over a year the tank has
looked great. Maybe once a month I have to pull excess growth.

I am not saying I have show quality plants, I have nothing to compare
my plants, but I sure am happy and my tank is stable. I never vacuum
the bottom, which is a plus. All of my tanks are at or above the "1
inch per gallon fish population. The 75 tank has two Penguin 330 bio
filters. I change out the filters only when I can't rinse them enough
to get a good flow (when the water backs up behind the filters and is
diverted to the Intake spillway). I don't adjust any chemistry and
change 20% of the water weekly straight from the tap.

I also have 4 other low light tanks. I have all my tanks' lights set
to 13 hours on time. I use an "X10" controller and schedule two hours
off mid day.

As for the bulbs themselves they are all different. Some came with
the tanks, others were recommended, doesn't seem to make much
difference. Also, I am using original bulbs. I know I am not getting
maximum light, but that is the whole point, low maintenance.
Replacing flourescents bulbs every six months is not low maintenance.

dick