advice on lighting

[b0r3db3ar]

hi all bros, i'm not very good with planted aquariums and light requirements and such, hope you guys can help me out

what is the recommended lighting for best fissiden growth in a 40cm x 22 cm x 25cm (LxBxH) non c02-tank? [ 29litres / 5.81 USgallon ]

assumptions: only plants are fissidens

questions:
1) type and wattage of light
2) duration of lights on

p.s. im currently using a 13w pl light [2.1wpg]and hair algae are forming lighting regime is 5 hours in the morning, 5 hours at night

[barmby]

The lights look OK to me due to 2.1 WPG rule

10 hours can be alot of amount. Duration of lights on depend on the maturity of the tank, CO2, and fertilization if any.

[b0r3db3ar]

I do not those ferts, or introduce CO2 into the tank. The tank is housing sakura shrimps and 2 Otos and the moment.
Barmby, so should i reduce my lighting duration? Could you suggest a number? And do i break the duration into half? (8 hours lighting = 4 hours in day 4 hours at night)

[barmby]

How long you have been having this set up ?

[b0r3db3ar]

about 3 months now, WC @ 10% twice weekly or 20% weekly depending on free time

[barmby]

I will -

1) Manual removal of the algae
2) Slash the light hours to 4-hr a day
3) Try to bring down the tank temperature to 27 C, anything more - algae is active

A low tech tank should be slow. Even for algae growth.

[b0r3db3ar]

Will do so Barmby. Just to clarify, you said bring temperature down to 27 C, anything more algae is active. Which means <27 C = Good or > 27C = Good.

My temperature is about 25 C currently, cooled using a Dymax clip-on fan.

[Shadow]

Not necessary, I seen 22C-23C tank with algae outbreak and I also seen tank 28C-29C without algae problem. But some moss do grow healthier in lower water temperature

Is your tank happen to place near windows or receive sun light somehow?

[barmby]

<27 C = Good. Lower than 25 may result in condensation on your tank surface.

Put it this way. I can get away with more errors with tank temperature less than 27 C vs 30 C. FYI - plant and algae alike metabolism gets speed up and make more food at higher temperature. But higher temperature means less O2 and less CO2. The ability to hold gas is poorer at higher temperature. For this reason, we raise temperature when treating sick fishes, at the same time we "power up" the air pump to have more air into the water column so that the sick fish gets more oxygenated water.

Isn't it tough ? Planted tank and you have to balance so many things. And I love it...