Doing it right this time.

After sitting idle for several years I’ve finally revived my 32g hex tank. It’s 10” per side and 24” tall. I’ve never had great success in the past with live plants. I could usually keep them alive, but they never did well. I realize now my lighting probably had a lot to do with that, (and the fact that I was also buying a lot of bog plants, not true aquatic plants as well.) At one point I had a 15w or 20w incandescent light, then I “upgraded” to three 20w halogen lights. I realize now that the halogens were probably worse, but at least my heater didn’t have to work as hard to keep the water up to temp. (I actually prefer the way the tank looks with the halogens over the 6500 color temp CF’s, but I also prefer that the plants look, . . . well alive and healthy.)

So this time I’ve built myself some redneck CF lighting fixtures (using two 6” metal dog dishes, and a couple of light sockets I striped from an old light fixture, and lot’s of silicone), and a DIY CO2 rig.

With a tank this size (32g) and this deep (24”), what’s the appropriate amount of lighting? At the moment I’ve got 80w (two 40w) worth of 6500 color temp CF lighting. Is this a good amount? Would a black light be good for plants?

As you can see from the pic’s my redneck CO2 reactor is pretty basic. Just an air stone stuck under a 2” bottle cap with a few small holes in it. It’s probably not very efficient. Any suggestions for improving it without creating too much of an eyesore in the tank would be most appreciated. Sometime in the future I’ll upgrade, from the under gravel filter, to a canister type filter, but for now I just want to make the best of what I have on hand.

Thanks

Ok, so higher output lights are in order.
I understand that my CO2/filtration setup isn’t optimum. But they are better than nothing. The PH in the tank has dropped from 7.8 to 7.4, that’s a pretty good indicator that some CO2 is getting into the water. Maybe the reactor like the one described in this article would be the way to go to take care of both CO2 diffusion and filtration: http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html

Thanks for the feedback:thumbsup:

Mgamer20o0 said:

... i would look for the 26w ones. you can find them at walmart.

Click to expand...

I picked up a pair of 26w, and a pair of 15w, since I noticed the 10, 15 and 26 are all different sized physically. The 26w bulbs don’t fit in my dog dish reflectors the way I currently have them constructed. But the 15w bulbs do (just barely). I have room in my hood for one more so I may run 3 15w bulbs, or I may rework my reflectors so the socket is on the outside of the reflector so the 26w bulbs will fit. But for now I’ll see what I can do with two 15w bulbs.