new planted tank

louistheloach · 05-29-2009, 09:19 PM

I am in the process of setting up a 15 gallon tall tank for my niece. I had a couple of plants in it (one sword, several pieces of anacharis and a small val that I am not sure will make it) that I replanted and may put in one or two more. For lighting it has a 40 w compact flourescent.

I know my niece is not going to want to mess around with ferts, CO2 etc. So my question is:

If she has a medium bioload in fish and reduces the amount of time the lights are on to six hours, as opposed to 7-8 or more, will she be able to have this light and treat it as a low light, low tech setup with only occasional ferts?

Thank you in advance.

ltl

Jay · 05-30-2009, 08:01 AM

I think she will be able to do that. I would leave the light at 8 hours and cut back if problems come up.

Jay

stevegoods · 07-26-2009, 10:32 AM

I hate to admit it, but in my 25G with swords I was not adding anything because the swords were doing just fine without anything. I added new plants though and I am adding Flourish and Flourish excel as directed. I'm a novice with plants, I confess, so we'll see how it goes.

Swords seem very easy to keep alive and maintain, IMO.

Jay · 07-26-2009, 02:57 PM

Quote:

I hate to admit it, but in my 25G with swords I was not adding anything because the swords were doing just fine without anything.

Not Possible

The nitrates, potassium, and phosphates (NPK) that plants need to flourish is available or being produced by the tanks bio system. CO2 is also available in low light tanks, dissolved from the atmosphere, at about 5-6 ppm. Look at your flake food label...does it list phosphates?

The addition of Flourish keeps the micro nutrients available to the plants. Excel is adsorbed by plant leaves and converted to CO2 by plant cells.

All possible in a low tech tank without much fuss

Here is another reason...Most plants have the ability to save up for a "rainy day"<- read that "store nutrients for future use". Plants that come from a grower are really bulked up and often come with their roots wrapped in rock wool which is nutrient soaked.

Where you run into problems is... as your plant mass increases it will eventually exhaust available tank resources (nutrients) and go into decline. Look at the plant mass in my signature, those guys eat 10 ppm of nitrates a day, If I did not dose KNO3 (Potassium nitrate) 3 or 4 times a week they would go into decline.

Jay

stevegoods · 07-27-2009, 10:06 PM

Yeah, all good points Jay. I am now dosing properly with Flourish and Flourish excel and will be doing 50% weekly water changes. That's what the guy at the store said, and I also read one of your posts which said to do the same, as it relates to water changes. I just bought the python tube and man that thing works great!

stevegoods · 07-27-2009, 10:12 PM

oh, by the way, I see everyone saying 8 hours is the appropriate time to leave on lights, but in other places I read 12 hours, and that's what I have my timer set on.

How long should it be? I have a 25G planted tank.

louistheloach · 07-28-2009, 10:10 AM

eight hours really is fine. Longer than that and you could have problems. I know some sources say most of these are tropical plants that get 12 hours of light....but the systems are very different and the 12 hours of light is not light that replicates the brightes part of the day like tank lights do. In the nature, part of the light is subdued and less intense.....similar to the natural ambient lighting that takes place in our homes at sunrise and sunset......just my thoughts on it......

ltl

stevegoods · 07-28-2009, 10:54 PM

Makes sense. I've set back my timer. Let's see how it goes.