plants, active carbon and light

[Ryu1981]

hi all

ok first off got my plants in my tank seem to be growing ok my tank is 10 gallon i have 6 plants as far as i have checked they are all low light plants as i only have a low light bulb . Now i got a new plant book to read and found out active carbon in filters can take nutrients out of the water that plants need ..... now should i take the active carbon out of my tetratec 300 filter and replace it with some filter foam or is this a bad idea and would it hurt the fish to take it out and replace it with another filter foam piece ?

Basicly my plants are growing fast but i have noticed a few brown spots on the big leaves is this potassium or the active carbon or light or something else? been reading up on it but its a bit confussing.

Aslo i have a t8 15w white bulb that came with the tank now could i get a better bulb then this that will be good for the fish and better for the plants .I read that some bulbs are for plants and others are for fish but i haven't read about any that do bother , i need is a wattage or name so i can look for one ((i know its hard to give advice on little information sorry)) any help would be great as always thx for reading :)

[customdrum]

carbon is truely a waste of money, you can use filterfloss or 100%polyfill, they sell it at walmart for 3.50 for a pillow size bag. just rip some off and put it in the filter where the regular filter goes. you can change it out every week or 2 and it works great, alot of people use it. youll save a ton of money this way and never have to buy a 2.00 carbon filter again.

the brown spots maybe iron defeciency, if you can get some root tabs from your local pet shop and they will make the plants grow alot better. just put them under the plant.

the 15 watt light is the biggest light you can put in the fixture,im sure theres a plant bulb or 6500k bulb you can replace it with to get alittle better lighting.

[timwag2001]

use carbon to remove medications from your tank after treating for illnesses

[Ryu1981]

ah rigth so i take it the carbon ain't really doing any thing in my filter, i know it just collects dirt all the time which worries me if it still works when the white side turns brownish

Now i know i have some round holed balls in the bottem and the filter medium sponge and then just the carbon so if i get rid of the carbon and change it far the filter floss should everything still be fine and will the bulb for the plants still be ok for the fish ?
as for the tablets i will get some today only reason i didn,t is the lfs said they would be fine in a 10g tank without food

[timwag2001]

that brownish stuff isn't just dirt and fish poop. its your biological filter, the most important part of your tank.
i dont know what kind of filter you have but if you want to play it on the safe side. try to stick some filter floss in there WITH your old filter for a few days so that you can build some bacteria on it and avoid a mini cycle

[Ryu1981]

well what i have done is got rid of the pre packed active carbon out of my filter and left the carbon filter foam in ((the black foam with the bacteria )) with the active carbon taken out
I have but some filter floss in its place and some more black carbon filter foam to hopefully increase the bacteria as my old foam is very thin ...will this help me in any way ? and i have now got some plant taps as was mentioned so hopefully better plants !! and i did find a bulb that was day light 15w 2800k and one that was 15w and 6700k can i ask which is best ? thx for the replys as well very help full

[katana1200]

From everything I've read here the 6500k range is best for growing plants. GE sells a 20 watt 24" bulb and a 40 watt 48" bulb but the kelven rating on it is only 3100K both are T12 lights. Perhaps they have an increased color spectrum on those bulbs off sets the temp.k. rating. I know at Wal-Mart they're a heck of alot cheaper than those ones at the LFS!

Edit: ok so those two lights won't help you and the 10 gal, however there is an example of Kelvin differences....wish I could be more helpful.

[timwag2001]

support your forum community and get great plants at the same time. buy them here

[Cluunox]

I would use the 6700k spectrum bulbs with plants and i think the fish look good with them. Not sure but if you have dual bulbs like mine 15w bulbs may be to much wattage unless you are going to dose c02 and ferts.

[Ryu1981]

thx katana 1200 for the reply and i was plannign on gettign my plans online when i get my new tank so if they deliver to where i am then i willbe happy to buy them from here

the 6700k was 15w ((is 15watt to much kinda got me worried now as i have a 15watt in but it ain,t that bright and i only have oen bulb fitting so can't have 2 ))

also i wasn't going to but co2 in as theres only 6 plants i have but root tablets under the plants and i turn my airstone off at day and leave it on at night my plants are growing fair tall and new shoots are growing up but i'm really unsure if i should get one of these co2 kits ((the one where u add the chemical to the bottle and but a bubble dispenser in your tank and 48 hrs later its working ))

thx again for the replys

[timwag2001]

those co2 kits are the same thing as a diy method (the chemical is yeast and sugar). they just make a fancier looking comtraption. you should just make your own if you're not going pressurized.

[Ryu1981]

yeah think i will from what i have found it really helps them should i put a shut off valve on it to turn it off at night or just leave the co2 running ?

[timwag2001]

NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

never shut off your diy. if you stop it from releasing pressure, it'll build up untill something pops off or... BANG. something blows up. some people set up a valve so that the can divert the co2 out of the tank at night.

[Ryu1981]

ah ok thats a no then lol
i just wondered whether u need to stop in from running into the tank at night or if it was safe to just let it run all the time .
i'm sure i read once it wasn't very good to leave it in the tank working all the time

on the plus side it would be good for me to get some experience wiyth the co2 now before i upgrade to my bigger tank and have to have it on a bigger scale

[Slappy*McFish]

Just let it run all the time. No need to turn it off or divert the gas in any way. As long as there is sufficient surface movement and the tank isn't overly stocked, you should be fine and will have plenty of CO2 for the plants when the lights come on. I run my CO2 24/7.