Planning for a nano iwagumi tank.

[blue33]

You can get one 6500k and one 8000k, 10000k doesnt help much actually.

[Loopy]

I use the following lighting for my HC at work.
- X1 T5 54W @ 10K
- X1 T5 24W @ 6.5K
EDIT: - 25L - 2FTX0.65FTX0.68FT - Nano Tank Setup: Riccia and Fisseden.

A key dimension which most people fail to address is the height of the tank.

As long as you dose it correctly it will be fine, the 10K, for me has never been a problem; you will however notice in some cases the HC's get pressed down. I do not think you will have this problem as I think your tank is higher than mine.

My Personal Experience: HC's (emersed version) on a husk turned brown at the depth of 2FT powered by X6 T5HO 54W 10K Bulbs. Before they died, I took it to work and put them into the substrate there and they came to life and are sprawling all over the place. Since then I tried taking any emersed version and put them in and they will sprawl.

Then I bought another emersed version and put it into my wife's tank which is powerd by X2 7W PL's (I think) and they browned out - to the officemobiletank! they went!

My next experiment is to take the submersed sprawling ones to my wife's tank and see if it will grow.

I think in a nutshell - mad lighting and decent CO2 and HC will grow.

[jerra]

i'm confused. haha mine is a 1ft cube using 24W 12000K. trying to grow HC and HG. So what k should i change to?

[craftsman]

I use the following lighting for my HC at work.
- X1 T5 54W @ 10K
- X1 T5 24W @ 6.5K
EDIT: - 25L - 2FTX0.65FTX0.68FT - Nano Tank Setup: Riccia and Fisseden.

A key dimension which most people fail to address is the height of the tank.

As long as you dose it correctly it will be fine, the 10K, for me has never been a problem; you will however notice in some cases the HC's get pressed down. I do not think you will have this problem as I think your tank is higher than mine.

My Personal Experience: HC's (emersed version) on a husk turned brown at the depth of 2FT powered by X6 T5HO 54W 10K Bulbs. Before they died, I took it to work and put them into the substrate there and they came to life and are sprawling all over the place. Since then I tried taking any emersed version and put them in and they will sprawl.

Then I bought another emersed version and put it into my wife's tank which is powerd by X2 7W PL's (I think) and they browned out - to the officemobiletank! they went!

My next experiment is to take the submersed sprawling ones to my wife's tank and see if it will grow.

I think in a nutshell - mad lighting and decent CO2 and HC will grow.

So loopy, which office tank did the HC go into? the one with 6500k or 10000k lighting?

[craftsman]

You can get one 6500k and one 8000k, 10000k doesnt help much actually.

I suppose i could do that.

[Shadow]

I think in a nutshell - mad lighting and decent CO2 and HC will grow.

I concur , in my case CO2 like mad during the first few weeks, hope to help them convert from emerse to submerse

[torque6]

I concur , in my case CO2 like mad during the first few weeks, hope to help them convert from emerse to submerse

Seems so in my case as well. No special ferts, just co2 + >3wpg lights and they will do well in either ada or gex soil. Of course starting up as emersed form helps alot.

[Loopy]

Alamak, sorry I did not make that clear, silly me.

The 2 tubes are in one single light fixture. I.E. Both on one tank.

It is like a nuclear explosion of light, my colleague next to me uses it as a reading light sometimes.

ADD to Original Poster Jerra: Growing HC's and Riccia really made me learn a lot - painfully a lot. Cause back in the day, my first successful plant tank after 6 months failure was a HC/Riccia tank. So I thought high lighting conditions was the key to everything, NOT!. With the 3 month old "The Jungle" tank (Home 4FT) has really taught me a lot about lighting, photoperiod, CO2, temperature and dosing.

In short, just about everything that the peeps in this forum say are pretty accurately. And like Shadow and Torque6 agreed to, mad lighting! I think it is not even about what "K" or "Watts" you have, just go into the fish shop and say "DUDE I WANT MAAAAAAAAD HIGH LIGHTING!!" *Laughs*

Good luck with your HC brother.

So loopy, which office tank did the HC go into? the one with 6500k or 10000k lighting?

[craftsman]

Alamak, sorry I did not make that clear, silly me.

The 2 tubes are in one single light fixture. I.E. Both on one tank.

It is like a nuclear explosion of light, my colleague next to me uses it as a reading light sometimes.

Ah.. thanks for clarifying bro. Might just head out to get a 10000k tube soon.

[jerra]

A BIG thank you to all the bros here for all your great advices! This forum is full of info and i spend nights reading through, trying to understand and digest the informations.

update on my HC growth. I saw some leaves actually turned brown. Those are the ones slightly covered by the soil. Majority still growing quite well. I will see how it goes before i change the it to a lower K light.

i read that using a 10000k or 12000k light the chances of getting algae if even much higher. But i guess its still lighting+co2+fert in a whole. Still learning.... haha

[Loopy]

No problem at all, I have actually tried it with Two54W 10K Bulbs, the Riccia pearls were the size of 1 carat diamonds (as my colleagues say) and the HC get pressed down into the substrate, just about.

For some people the K rating does not matter, for some it does. What it does for me is the overall colour of the tank, I love the 10K explosive bright white light - that's for the HC/Riccia work tank.

At home, I use a mix of 10K's, 6.5 and 8.

Best of luck dude, on and one more thing, how deep is your tank? (sorry if you posted that somewhere in this thread and you have to repeat)

Ah.. thanks for clarifying bro. Might just head out to get a 10000k tube soon.

[jerra]

mine is a 1ft cube.

[craftsman]

No problem at all, I have actually tried it with Two54W 10K Bulbs, the Riccia pearls were the size of 1 carat diamonds (as my colleagues say) and the HC get pressed down into the substrate, just about.

For some people the K rating does not matter, for some it does. What it does for me is the overall colour of the tank, I love the 10K explosive bright white light - that's for the HC/Riccia work tank.

At home, I use a mix of 10K's, 6.5 and 8.

Best of luck dude, on and one more thing, how deep is your tank? (sorry if you posted that somewhere in this thread and you have to repeat)

Thanks bro. My tank is about 1.5ft deep. My current 6500k lights at a total of 110w is doing my HC wonders actually. I'm just a little peeved about how photos turn out with the 6500k lights. The plants all appear a little too greenish/yellow.

[Loopy]

You know, I totally understand what you are saying about the pictures. The 6.5K lights are a bit ketapang-gloomy or blackwater-like. That is exactly why I never got rid of the 10K.

Good luck to everyone and their HC's! Love them or hate them, everyone wants them!

Thanks bro. My tank is about 1.5ft deep. My current 6500k lights at a total of 110w is doing my HC wonders actually. I'm just a little peeved about how photos turn out with the 6500k lights. The plants all appear a little too greenish/yellow.

[jerra]

i bought a 24w 6500k tube today at aquastar. but it is some china brand, the only 24w tube they have. Any gd brand can recommand? it looks very bluish when compare to the 12000k that i'm using.

[craftsman]

You can try Osram.

[jerra]

Its almost 3weeks since i started my emersed growth. The HG start to send runners. HC is growing and creeping but some leaves turn yellow and some melted. Should i remove the yellowing part? But its rather hard not to destroy other growing leaves.