Floruish and Flourish Excel in a 75gallon:

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Another poster had a post along the lines of this subject but afetr looking at my post I thought it'd be best to make a new thread and not hijack theirs.


My goal is to keep various mosses (flame, java, christmas), various java ferns, and various anubias in a semi lowtech tank. I say semi because the light fixture I plan to use is the Hagen Glo T5HO 48" double light fixture. The bulbs are a 6700K and an 18000K (lLfe Glo and Power Glo). They only had 3 bulbs to choose from and the third was the actinic. These are 54 watt bulbs btw.

A) For those who have experience with the Hagen Glo fixture, am I stuck to using the 3 bulbs they have available/listed or can I use another brands with this fixture? I could find no info on the fixtures compatibility with other bulbs

B) Will the 1 54watt 6700k bulb be enough for the plants/tank size or would it be too low light? I ask this because from my understanding the Power Glo(18000K) is useless for plant growth? Or am I just uneducated here. I got the Power Glo because it was the only option to get some 'bright' light in the tank to make the colors 'pop' on the fish.

C) How long should flourish and flourish excel last me in a 75gallon tank with these types of plants? I ordered them with my lights/filter/foods/etc because they were 50% cheaper than the local LFS.

Thanks for any advice.
 
A) you can use any brand of bulb,as long as it is a T5,and has the right size pins.
B)If I am reading this right,the 2 bulbs that came with the fixture will be fine for the plants you listed.
BTW,what is the total watts of both bulbs?
C)It is hard to say how long the ferts will last.What size bottles did you get?What types of fish are in the tank?I personally would not use regular Flourish,and just stick with the Flourish Excel.Dosing with the regular Flourish might cause unwanted algae growth by introducing too many nutrients into the water.And if the plants do not use up the nutrients fast enough,the algae will,and could become a problem.Because you are going with lowlight plants,the fish waste and Excel should be enough for the plants you listed.
 
Bk828 said:
hmmm i heard something about the Hagen Glo fixtures having special bulbs and that standard ones wouldnt fit. Perhaps someone can back me up or prove me wrong..

Like Rich said, the regular flourish and excel would run out within month(s) of use. Instead go for dry ferts and a pressurized system.
Click to expand...


yes this is what I had read from a few other people on the web, and was wanting to get some confirmation from folks who have the actual fixture?

I tried talking to the fellow at the LFS and he was clueless about it. No help.

I know that the coralife T5 bulbs can be mixed with other T5 fixtures but something I though was different with the Hagen T5 bulbs to keep you buying theirs instead of others, to maximize their profits. If that's the case, I don't care, as the fixture itself has great reviews.
I may end up having to order a 2nd Life Glo bulb though.


edit:

also regarding the pressurized co2 system.. the things I have seen were quite expensive, ranging from 300-400$$ and at which point it wouldn't be really lowtech any more would it? Just a normal planted tank. The budget doesn't really allow for extra pricey equipment such as a pressurized co2 system. What $$ would I be looking at for one?
 
Yep thats what i heard. And another thing was that Hagen was going to discontinue that line of fixtures (and i would think bulbs as well) so though the cost of them might go down, is it really worth buying something which you wont be able to use later?! idk lol

Buy another bulb(s) for now and see how the light goes in your tank. If anything you can always sell it and get another one.
 
For the plants you are wanting to keep,pressurized CO2 isn't necessary IMO,but it never hurts either.For the plants you listed,Flourish Excel,and the right lighting should be fine.
 
Bk828 said:
Yep thats what i heard. And another thing was that Hagen was going to discontinue that line of fixtures (and i would think bulbs as well) so though the cost of them might go down, is it really worth buying something which you wont be able to use later?! idk lol

Buy another bulb(s) for now and see how the light goes in your tank. If anything you can always sell it and get another one.
Click to expand...


Huh?! Where/when did you hear this? I thought the Hagen T5HO light fixture was fairly new????!!!!! I googled for info on that rumor and found nothing. if you see it again, can you let me know/link it? if it is going to be discontinued, then I'll buy a few hundred dollars worth of bulbs to last me for a few years.

((this fixture will be obsolete in 3-4 years anyhow as I'll upgrade to a much larger tank then))


thanks for any more info!
 
I would say that even though you'll be going through a lot of excel on this size tank, it would probably be easier than dealing with a pressurized Co2 setup and more fert dosing. I haven't had problems dosing less than the recommended dosing and less often than recommended dosing with both java ferns and anubias, which would cut down on costs.
 
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