This is my master plan! :)

Cruise Control

AC Members
May 12, 2004
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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Hi guys, I have a plan and I need to run it by you guys before continuing (this has become a habit, I'm glad to say!)

Tank: 15G (24x12x12)
2 x driftwood
Substrate: Some German plant substrate layering with black sand
DIY C02

For my lighting I'm thinking of 36W of light which comes up to 2.4W/gallon.

I'm trying to plant Glossostigma and Java Moss. With the above setup, my plants should thrive, right? I've got everything else, I'm just slightly confused about the lighting. Should I go with the 36W PL tube? Any suggestions?

If I go for flourescent tubes (of course I'll go for ~6500K) is it better?
 
sounds good to me. maybe some more light, I don't know how much you wanna spend. where are you going to get your lights? if you haven't yet, www.petsupplyliquidator.com has some good prices.
 
Plant heavily and give them a 2 week head start before fertilizing.
Read the Fert. Sticky. When you start dosing, start lightly. Watch the plants. They will tell you if more is required.
That lighting in a 15(long?) with CO2 should be sufficient to grow Glosso.

Len
 
This is what is weird, the LFS lady told me that with the substrate that I bought from her, I DON'T have to fert! But if I see that my plants are not thriving, I'll definitely start fertilizing. I trust the opinions on this forum much more than the LFS.

And what is a 15G long? My tank measurements are 24x12x12 (Oh dear God, he's a newbie!)

Also I just thought of this. With DIY C02, you want to minimize any surface turbulation right? But if this is the case then how does OXYGEN exchange take place for the fish? I mean with no air stone or powerhead generating air bubbles, how would the fish survive? Just a thought...
 
The plants convert co2 to o2(oxygen). in high lighting and co2 tanks, at the end of the day, the water will be supersaturated with o2 and bubbles of oxygen form on the plant's leaves. There is enough oxygen if you don't overstock.
 
Hi guys, just an update. I finally got my lights over the weekend! Gonna hook it over this week. And add plants over the next weekend. Another question, though. I was wondering if Riccia or Mini Riccia can be used to make a moss wall? I have a choice of Riccia, Mini Riccia and Java Moss and I was wondering which the best option would be to make a moss wall. I really like the colour of Riccia (nice bright green!)

I'm gonn make you guys so proud of me once I'm done! Just wait and see! :)
 
Go with Riccia, it looks much nicer than java moss. The trade off is that it won't adhere to any surface, it is strickly a floating plant, so you'll need to hair net it down. Don't worry, in a week, you won't see the hair net anymore.

Java moss is a nice, deeper shade. You don't necessarily have to choose between them. Because it will cling to just about anything, it's pretty durned versatile.
 
I'm going to go with the knowledge I gained here (exclusively!) and plant heavy to begin with. I plan on going with Mini Riccia (on driftwood), Java Moss (moss wall) and Glossostigma (on the substrate).

Now does this sound like a plan?

(I'm so excited I'm all jittery! Or could it have been my coffee...?)
 
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