HC in 20 gal long

i have some HC right now and it's a PITA.

From everything i've researched co2 is much more important for HC than light is. Tom Barr reported that he grew HC in 50 par lighting which is in the low light spectrum. If you end up getting that fixture i would hang it 10 inches above your tank otherwise you will have way too much light.

remember light drives nutrient uptake for plants so the higher the light the more demands the plant has. This fixture on top of a 20 long would be nearly impossible to provide enough co2 for the plants to utilize all that light and therefor you will have tons of algae and have a long difficult battle on your hands.

I made this mistake with almost the same fixture and had lots of problems with HC.


I would suggest using 1 T5HO bulb 4 inches above your tank for 8 hours a day with pressurized co2. Keep that drop checker lime green. If you don't have your co2 system set up i would take that 1 light fixture and raise it 12 inches above your tank to give you low lighting. With the lower light nutrient demand and growth will be slower and your HC will still grow just slower.
Also with low light you have more room for error. It's much easier to get it right from the beginning than have a long fight with algae.

It is possible to grow HC without co2 but again you just need to have really low lighting.

Definitely needs more then light. I tried it in my 40g with a 3' dual bulb T5HO. It was only under about 4-5" of water since I was trying to get it to blanket the rock pile so it may have actually got too much light. It didn't die off, but it did thin out a lot and pieces were constantly breaking off and getting stuck in the filter. Growth rate was extremely slow and not able to keep up with what kept getting broken off. In the end I took it out, half the size as when it started and more of a tan/dull green color rather then the original bright green.

So are you going to try HC? i totally love the way this plant looks i only wish it was easier to grow. However I like the challenge so it's a great plant for me.

HM is not as demanding & kept clipped short might be worth a try. Mine was quite nice until my BN plec accidentally uprooted it. It stayed short on eco with 96w T-8 over a 75g even without snipping.

yeah no problem. It's always great if you start a build thread so you and us can watch your progress. It's also serves as a great reminder to see how much your tank has changed.