plants and c02 or is it o2 ?

[Star_Rider]

i have a 48" 4 40 vho, too much

is this T-5 VHO or T12 VHO

really I noticed the T-5 HO are the same output as the T-5 VHO

I wonder as the T-12 VHO are 110 watt bulbs. but the selection is slim as most are used in marine tanks.
the closest I have found in a VHO for plants in T-12 is Tri phosphor.
outside of that the spectrum is wrong.

 

[plantbrain]

how many plants can i get away with in my 180 without adding a c02 system

I guess I'd ask you a question or two: why do you want to avoid CO2 and what is your goal with the aquarium?

Your plants will do much much better and be able to use more of the low light if you use CO2, than if not. So you can use even lower light with CO2 than you can without CO2 gas enrichment.

At low light, using CO2 is also much easier.
Do not avoid CO2 because it's something you do not know about => learn about it and that will help you much more:idea:

At 110W x 4, you have way too much light.
I use 96W x 4 for this tank and the light is raised 14" off the surface to boot and I add a lot of CO2 gas:

About 2.1 W/gal, still a fairly high light tank.
You are at 2.4 W/gal and fairly high.

You could use 1/2 the light and CO2 and still do pretty well with most common plants.

I think you spent a fair amount on a 180, spend time working on it, it takes a large part of the home, central focus, may as well do a nice job and have it look the way YOU WANT(Not me, not other folks etc).

Many avoid CO2 because they are unsure about it, some because they think they do not "need it" but have not used it either(ignorance is not bliss here), and do not realize that will greatly enhance the growth and ability for plants to use the light.

You also have $$$ lighting, so cost is not that much of a consideration, better to go cheap on lights, $$ on CO2.

Learn more about CO2, it's not hard at low light, at higher light, it's more challenging(everything in planted tanks are with more light).

Sit down and think about what it is that you want, then go about adding things to aquarium to get there. Do not allow yourself to avoid useful tools because you are not familiar with them.

Learn about them instead.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[dmann]

thanks tom

i want big bright fish and the lighting to pop the colors. the lights are 110w vho. i only want to add plant for decoration and hiding spots for the fish. like 6-10 plants so i am not sure if i should spend the 200$ on the co2 system. also what bulb combo l use, i was thinking 2 10,000k and 2 6,500k

 

[jpappy789]

The combo will work.

 

[mikeb210]

I don't think you need 4x110w just to light the fish. Seems like you're asking for algae problems. If you want to grow a bunch of plants, then you are on the right track. But that seems like a bit too much light otherwise. If you already have the fixture, I'd only run half the bulbs.

 

[plantbrain]

thanks tom

i want big bright fish and the lighting to pop the colors. the lights are 110w vho. i only want to add plant for decoration and hiding spots for the fish. like 6-10 plants so i am not sure if i should spend the 200$ on the co2 system. also what bulb combo l use, i was thinking 2 10,000k and 2 6,500k

Well, fortunately, you can spend maybe 100$ or so if you are thrifty for the CO2.

Ebay CO2 regulators, they often go for 10-30$.
Then a needle valve(maybe 15-30$)
Now you just need a gas tank, local fire supply places sell them refurbished for about 40-50$.

Best 100$ you ever spent.

Believe it or not, colors look better at lower, not higher light for fish.
Not for photography, but to our eyes.

Say 1.5w/gal and nice deep color bulbs that high light blues and reds.
You have very few color options with VHO, PC you have many, T5 you have many.

So for fish highlighting, PC/T5 would be the bess options for that goal.
Since plants are secondary, I'm guessing you might be after something like this:
http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2004.cgi?&Scale=3&op=showcase&category=0&vol=3&id=141

The plants are well cared for here, the water changes are done often.
CO2, higher light etc.

I use lighting at angles to direct the light on the sides of the fish and not on the glass(grows algae there). That might be of use to you.

This is a tank I did for a client:

You will note: the darker planted background high lights the fish well.
The lighter, whiter example washes out the color, but gives a nice bright feel to the aquarium.

Really depends on the goal you are after.
This client wanted an overgrown dark forest look.

I like cardinals for my 180, and the clor seems bright, that's because I turned on the HQI lights for this pic, but the tank typically only used the PC lights and then at 14" high over the aquarium, so it's not that intense.

Dark moss looks good, you can also do something like this which is mostly wood for a background:

I'd chose tough plants, and then use low light.
CO2 will certainly help, and once set up, CO2 is pretty simple and easy to use. Still, with good water changes, light is stable, nutrients are easy, this leaves a little tweaking of CO2 to optimize the tank.

Then you have a good focus on the fish, the plants and the overall display.
If you chose a good selection of plants, eg Crypts, maybe some Amazon swords like the Discus example above from Jeff, then you are in good shape.

Likely only need one bank of the lights, then turn the other bank on for viewing only.

The other option is to get fish viewing lights only and mount at a 30 degree angle going back towards the plants.

Regards,
Tom Barr