Paul
July 16th 03, 03:49 PM
Hi I have a 50L freshwater tank.
Substrate<4mm gravel .
A double outlet air pump connected to both ends of a 4 ft long airstone,
placed under the gravel across the back of the tank.
Resun 1200LPH filter loaded with Filter foam, Filter wool, Bio Balls,
Ceramic rings& Activated Carbon.
Heating
20 watt electric heater positioned about a half an inch from the filter
inlet, Thermostat set at 28 degC (82.4F) Thermometer mounted at other end of
tank (in a sort of current dead zone) reflects that exact temp. We are in
the tropics here and temperature in the summer is more of a problem than the
tank getting too cold. In the middle of winter without the heater turned on
the temp only went down to 21deg C (69.8 F) before turned it on. I don't
think it would have got any colder. It looks like our three weeks of winter
(14 and 15 deg C minimums ... 57.2 & 59 F ) is over and we are back into
spring. I think I will need to put a fan under the canopy to remove some
heat next summer, though. It went to 32 deg C (89.6 F) during the last heat
wave The tank had not cycled and the two gold fish and the two Bristle nosed
catfish that were feeding the bacteria did not appear distressed at all.
Lighting is 2 x 36 watt fluros. One a Triphosfor, the other a 30,000K
Growlight. Both controlled by a timer set for 11 hrs a day. No direct
sunlight gets onto the tank. I was told by the LFS that what I have would be
sufficient lighting. I have been reading about it and I am having doubts
now. The LFS said that the triphosfor tube was only to make the fish look
good. The Grow light was the one that help the plants grow. But it
definitely said on the box 30,000K and from what I am reading, lighting in
the higher spectrum is not of any use in promoting plant growth
Quote from http://www.aquabotanic.com/litg.htm
"Colour Spectrum or kelvin
The term kelvin designates the colour spectrum of the light bulb. A "full
spectrum" bulb is anything between 5000k and 6500k. This has nothing to do
with brightness, and bulbs that are very high in the colour spectrum,
(10,000k) have no value to plant growth. Standard fluorescent, VHOs, and MH
all come in full spectrum."
I don't have the box any more..... maybe it said 3000k.... I didn't think
so, though.
Rocks and boiled driftwood placed in it.
Planted with Crypts, Spaths, Swords, Java fern, Anubia, Dwarf Mondo grass
and another plant I can't remember the name. It is a stalk plant, 50-60 mm
long leaves about 5 mm wide. Throws roots from the stem above the gravel as
well as below it. .... Very frustrating.. I can't remember the name of it
....I'll have to go to the LFS and look at the name again.
Fish.... 2 Platys, 10 Neon Tetras, 8 Silvertips, 4 Silver Sharks, 4 Bristle
nosed catfish, 2 Clown loaches, and Mollys, Mollys and more Mollys. My wife
liked a couple of white ones in the LFS. We bought them and one had some
babies straight away.... like two days after we put them in. The other
started swelling. A mate of mine told me there was a rare condition where a
female will die instead of discharging unfertilised eggs. He was worried she
was getting very big for her length. So we bought a male black sailfin
Molly. He is VERY virile!!!!
The fish are doing great. Every thing gets on well most of the time. 2 of
the Bristlenose catties have laid eggs. I am worried that the eggs are not
alive because they are not bright orange like I have seen in pictures on the
web. They are a dull brown colour. The male is guarding them and fanning
them, however. About every two weeks one of the silvertips (I think it is
the same one) starts to defend a particular two cubic inches of water above
a certain corner of a rock. It is like he has put signs up and everyone
should know to keep out but they don't and he chases them to a point half
way down the tank then comes back to his spot. Great watching during the ads
while the TV is on!!!
Ph is 6.8
Ammonia and nitrates 0
Water changes are 10% each fortnight.
Don't know what KH is.
My questions relate to my plants. Some of them are not doing very well ....
the crypts are doing great the spaths are doing well the Java fern is not
great the plant I cant remember looks ok in the leaves but has not much root
development. The swords are not doing well, they are not growing new leaves
very fast. the old leaves go brown and end up just a skeleton. I thought
every thing was good and was thinking of going to CO2 injection but now I am
thinking I might have to put more light in anyway and I might have to change
the type of light because it might not be right anyway. My problems may be
not enough light rather than not enough CO2. I was going to ask what about
if I were to turn the air pump off during the light on time and have it
back on during the light off cycle the wouldn't the CO2 rise while the pump
was off and the plants would be using it out of the water then during the
dark time when they are drawing O2 the pump would be replacing it.
I know this is a long post but I wanted to give the group as much info as I
could about my tank.
I think I will post this on my web page so I wont have to make further posts
so large.
Thanks in advance for any advice I get.
Paul.
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Substrate<4mm gravel .
A double outlet air pump connected to both ends of a 4 ft long airstone,
placed under the gravel across the back of the tank.
Resun 1200LPH filter loaded with Filter foam, Filter wool, Bio Balls,
Ceramic rings& Activated Carbon.
Heating
20 watt electric heater positioned about a half an inch from the filter
inlet, Thermostat set at 28 degC (82.4F) Thermometer mounted at other end of
tank (in a sort of current dead zone) reflects that exact temp. We are in
the tropics here and temperature in the summer is more of a problem than the
tank getting too cold. In the middle of winter without the heater turned on
the temp only went down to 21deg C (69.8 F) before turned it on. I don't
think it would have got any colder. It looks like our three weeks of winter
(14 and 15 deg C minimums ... 57.2 & 59 F ) is over and we are back into
spring. I think I will need to put a fan under the canopy to remove some
heat next summer, though. It went to 32 deg C (89.6 F) during the last heat
wave The tank had not cycled and the two gold fish and the two Bristle nosed
catfish that were feeding the bacteria did not appear distressed at all.
Lighting is 2 x 36 watt fluros. One a Triphosfor, the other a 30,000K
Growlight. Both controlled by a timer set for 11 hrs a day. No direct
sunlight gets onto the tank. I was told by the LFS that what I have would be
sufficient lighting. I have been reading about it and I am having doubts
now. The LFS said that the triphosfor tube was only to make the fish look
good. The Grow light was the one that help the plants grow. But it
definitely said on the box 30,000K and from what I am reading, lighting in
the higher spectrum is not of any use in promoting plant growth
Quote from http://www.aquabotanic.com/litg.htm
"Colour Spectrum or kelvin
The term kelvin designates the colour spectrum of the light bulb. A "full
spectrum" bulb is anything between 5000k and 6500k. This has nothing to do
with brightness, and bulbs that are very high in the colour spectrum,
(10,000k) have no value to plant growth. Standard fluorescent, VHOs, and MH
all come in full spectrum."
I don't have the box any more..... maybe it said 3000k.... I didn't think
so, though.
Rocks and boiled driftwood placed in it.
Planted with Crypts, Spaths, Swords, Java fern, Anubia, Dwarf Mondo grass
and another plant I can't remember the name. It is a stalk plant, 50-60 mm
long leaves about 5 mm wide. Throws roots from the stem above the gravel as
well as below it. .... Very frustrating.. I can't remember the name of it
....I'll have to go to the LFS and look at the name again.
Fish.... 2 Platys, 10 Neon Tetras, 8 Silvertips, 4 Silver Sharks, 4 Bristle
nosed catfish, 2 Clown loaches, and Mollys, Mollys and more Mollys. My wife
liked a couple of white ones in the LFS. We bought them and one had some
babies straight away.... like two days after we put them in. The other
started swelling. A mate of mine told me there was a rare condition where a
female will die instead of discharging unfertilised eggs. He was worried she
was getting very big for her length. So we bought a male black sailfin
Molly. He is VERY virile!!!!
The fish are doing great. Every thing gets on well most of the time. 2 of
the Bristlenose catties have laid eggs. I am worried that the eggs are not
alive because they are not bright orange like I have seen in pictures on the
web. They are a dull brown colour. The male is guarding them and fanning
them, however. About every two weeks one of the silvertips (I think it is
the same one) starts to defend a particular two cubic inches of water above
a certain corner of a rock. It is like he has put signs up and everyone
should know to keep out but they don't and he chases them to a point half
way down the tank then comes back to his spot. Great watching during the ads
while the TV is on!!!
Ph is 6.8
Ammonia and nitrates 0
Water changes are 10% each fortnight.
Don't know what KH is.
My questions relate to my plants. Some of them are not doing very well ....
the crypts are doing great the spaths are doing well the Java fern is not
great the plant I cant remember looks ok in the leaves but has not much root
development. The swords are not doing well, they are not growing new leaves
very fast. the old leaves go brown and end up just a skeleton. I thought
every thing was good and was thinking of going to CO2 injection but now I am
thinking I might have to put more light in anyway and I might have to change
the type of light because it might not be right anyway. My problems may be
not enough light rather than not enough CO2. I was going to ask what about
if I were to turn the air pump off during the light on time and have it
back on during the light off cycle the wouldn't the CO2 rise while the pump
was off and the plants would be using it out of the water then during the
dark time when they are drawing O2 the pump would be replacing it.
I know this is a long post but I wanted to give the group as much info as I
could about my tank.
I think I will post this on my web page so I wont have to make further posts
so large.
Thanks in advance for any advice I get.
Paul.
---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.501 / Virus Database: 299 - Release Date: 7/15/03