New Compact Flourescent

[Isthan]

Hi there, I just bought a new lighting system with 2x65 bulbs and moonlighting to boot. I am using one 10,000k and one 8,000k bulb. I have a 37 gallon tank with a decent amount of live plants that i've been keeping with standard flourescent beforehand.

Plants:
Anachris
Cabomba
Crinum Calimistratum
Crypts (green/bronze)
Red and Green Tiger Lotus
Anubias
Telanthera
Hornwort
Dwarf Sagittaria

What I would like to do is have complete ground cover besides the listed plants, something like glossostigma. I estimate that I have 3.5 wpg. Please respond with any suggestions.

Note: If anyone has any experience, are ghost shrimp sensitive to bright light? I have 20 in my tank and they all seem to hide.

[John N.]

shrimp always tend to hide, especially if there are fish around. But the plants will provide enough shade for them to roam. Glosso would be a great foreground plant to start with. You seem to have just the right amount of light to keep it low.

Good luck,

-John N.

[Isthan]

Thanks for the tip, since I do have fish like clown loaches roaming around constantly. I have noticed a few ghost shrimp hiding among the crypts and hornwort.

A second question, my discus are also growing a bit more skittish with the brighter light. I have the cover of some floating plants like hornwort, but they seem to want to hide in a rock shelter. Should I invest some thought into a shelf system of rocks for them to hide?

[loaches r cool]

Hmm, I am surprised your ghost shrimp are still alive? Those loaches must be small. I threw in a dozen ghost shrimp a long time ago when they were on sale, not nowing if they would become tank inhabitants or a nutritious snack. My loaches wolfed them down pretty quick along with some other fish. They were all gone within about 1/2 hr except for the biggest pair which dissapeared sometime later that day.

I have a post here about lighting the last couple days I didnt really get all the answeres I was looking for. I have read somewheres thats its best to either have wide spectrum lights or a variety of lights, but no one here seemed to back up those claims. I am re-doing my canopy and wondered if I could put on a ~200 watt SunPaq light. Didnt get any response to that. I fear the SunPaq might be too narrow band. Most ppl I talk to suggest 5000-6500K for freshwater plants and pretty much any plant bulb I have ever seen have been in this range. I am going to try to keep my existing bulbs and overdrive em 2x with the ODNO concept.

[pbecot01]

Most any bulbs are going to have "full spectrum" lighting. The color of the lighting is the limiting factor on what bulbs to choose... plants do good with light between 5400k and 10,000k.

The SunPaq bulbs were all 50/50 bulbs, no? I remember when I first started shopping for lighting looking at them, but I don't recall seeing a freshwater colored bulb, and I also remember that coralife is cheaper anyway.

[Isthan]

Any need for Co2 fertilization with 3.5 wpg? My plants are simply exploding with growth sofar, so i'm really happy with the result of this new lighting. I had little pieces of root from the crypto wendtii that was stuck in the filter inlet growing into full leaved plants. All I can say is WOW!

[loaches r cool]

Isthan- I'll let the more experienced plant keepers make the final say on the co2 but in my book 3.5wpg is on the high side. I am running co2 with about 2wpg.

pbecot01- Alot of bulbs dont have full spectrum lighting, thats why your better plant bulbs usually cost more and not often used in 'fish only' tanks. Some lights like actinic are very narrow spectrum which is why I asked about such things. Color and spectrum are the same thing but color is very general. The human eye sees color but cant discern the exact spectrum of light. Form my browsing amoungst the lights I have noticed that typicaly the higher the Kelvin temp the narrower the spectrum.

http://tristan.homelinux.net/fish/forum/spectrum1.JPG
The few times I have seen natural sunlight on a graph it apears more as a big lump instead of a few spikes at certain points. I think the verdict is still out on what spectrum is best though... some plant lights say green, other red&blue, some yellow...etc Thats why I originally got 3 different types of bulbs, to try and get as broad as I can.

[reiverix]

Any need for Co2 fertilization with 3.5 wpg?Oh yeah :D Or at least Excel.

[Isthan]

All right, well I will most likely try to do the DIY CO2 setup, but the proportions listed in the sticky on these forums are for a 30 gallon tank. Could the same idea be utilized for my 37 gallon?

[loaches r cool]

Should be fine, especially if its already working for you. CO2 is important to balance with light & fertalization but to my knowledge its not an exact science. Depends on the types and number of plants you have, how much ferts you put in, water chemistry. Also depends on how efficient your diffuser/reactor is but its not like your going to get efficiencies labled on the device or anything.There are certain signs to look for in certain plants that may reveal certain defficiencies and so forth but I cant get mose specific off the top of my head. TYry it and see I suppose, if you think you need more than add more. Alot of this stuff is trial & error. If you are getting good lush growth, have no algea, and your water chem looks good, I'd say you got it right.

[Roan Art]

Loaches,

Here's an interesting -- actually more fun than anything :) -- discussion that Indiginess and I had on plants and the light spectrum back in November of last year.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62327&highlight=color+wheel

Might help, might not, but it was all fun.

Roan