Reply With QuoteMost likely you bought marine tank tubes. Go for fresh water plant tubes. E.g Arcadia Plant Pro. It is around 5000K. But it is expensive around $30. You want to save$$ then buy tubes with full spectrum OSRAM, Philips
Guys help!
My 1.5ft tank is now running on Aquazonic 45cm T5 fixture coming with 2 16w/12000k (15.9") tubes.
I am not really sure if the watts are enough but I'm having at least 2wpg.
My main problem is, I am quite worried that my color temperature might be a little too high but I had went to all C328 & Polyart as well as Qian Hu itself in search for a lower Kelvin tube only to realise that the minimum Kelvin they have for tubes this length is 12000k.
Had anyone encounter this problem before? Or does anyone knows where can I find tubes this length with lower Kelvin?
Or maybe can any senior advise me if i can actually dismantle my current fixture and change the original ballast included so i can change to other higher watts tube as i really can't find much variety of 16w tubes in the market.
Most likely you bought marine tank tubes. Go for fresh water plant tubes. E.g Arcadia Plant Pro. It is around 5000K. But it is expensive around $30. You want to save$$ then buy tubes with full spectrum OSRAM, Philips
When you said too high - you mean for plants? If so, I would say don't worry. I achieved the following using 4x24w aquazonic stock tubes and fixture. Same 12k temperature. Initially worried like you but learnt from my shifu 12k works for plants as well.
Yea, tried to find but there wasn't any available for my length requirement. Am now checking to see if there's any brandless tube that can fit into my fixture.Originally Posted by horst
Nice setup!When you said too high - you mean for plants? If so, I would say don't worry. I achieved the following using 4x24w aquazonic stock tubes and fixture. Same 12k temperature. Initially worried like you but learnt from my shifu 12k works for plants as well.
4x24w? what's the length of your tank bro?
For 1.5ft quite dificult to find. 12k tubes still can grow plants. Do tell us ALL info of your tank to Id the cause. Fert regime,co2,light hours,soil....
still learning the hard way!!
Thanks bro, it's a 2feet tank. So I'm suggesting you stick to the stock tubes, no need to change. If your plants are not growing, as bro neondagger suggest, it's probably due to other reasons.
12k tubes can grow plants? Cause i gather from a couple of references showing that for planted tanks the best would be 6500-8800k whereas anything above 10000k are more for Reef tanks.
Maybe you guys can take a look at my info and please advise.
Currently having a 42L planted tank, dosing of those normal all-in-one fert once every 3 days, CO2 running about 2.8bps and 12hours photoperiod.
I'm now having Pogostemon Helferi, Staurogyne sp, Proserpinaca Palustris as well as HC as my carpet.
But now my Pogostemon Helferi & Proserpinaca Palustris seems to be slowly melting away which is really worrying me.
Please advise on what may be going wrong with my setup.
Surprise
Very old tubes. Low tech lapis sand + potting soil. Very slow but quite steady.
Learning the hardway, not the highway.
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"if he cant be bothered to take the time to write his question properly, why should I take the time to answer him."
Zonkie background vivi para?
Sorry for slight OT
Learning the hardway, not the highway.
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"if he cant be bothered to take the time to write his question properly, why should I take the time to answer him."
Good information! But need a couple more details... what brand fert are you dosing? Also, how are you injecting Co2 into your tank? First glance, could be 2 problems, the plants you have are high lights plants like HC and Proserpinaca Palustris. Typically, will need 4 tubes instead of 2 tubes. (For mine, it was 4 tubes and I took out the acrylic cover). Co2 at 2.8 (how did do you measure so accurately!) also seems high for your tank size.
yes, vivipara. Super painful plant to maintain, need to trim twice a week. No wonder considered a weed in some countries. Never again will you find this in my tanks!
He might have taken what his eyes could capture over few times and divided them. i used to do that it's a rough guage.... later on i take average of 3 and round off.. it's bubbles not money :P
OT: give and take, look at my low tech.... super super slow but the least until now i only trim moss (plus the tank is way too ugly compared to big bro tank above it).
Pinkish, I have a small question, how long since setup.
If quite fresh setup, often i encounter acclimatization issues with leaf melting from emerse to submerse growth i have that with crypt and some slow to mid paced growers.
Use this to check the plants. some actually state emerse vs submerse growth description. and if the plant can do grown emerse in the 1st place.
http://www.aquascapingworld.com/plantpedia/
Learning the hardway, not the highway.
Photo Blog - impervious-endeavors.blogspot.com
Semi-Active currently
"if he cant be bothered to take the time to write his question properly, why should I take the time to answer him."
That's the difference between high tech and low tech - high tech generally is accelerating things within a shorter time. At the beginning, need to monitor closely until balance is achieved. Low tech we can slowly watch the plants grow and tweak. Even if algae grows slower than in high tech.
Maybe some pictures will explain more..
Anyway, how i count the exact bps is using a stopwatch.
1) Start stopwatch when I start counting the bubbles.
2) Stop stopwatch when I reach 30 bubbles.
3) Divide bubbles with the time taken.
4) Repeat whole procedure 3 times and get the average.
Though my CO2 may seems abit high, but I currently still have very minimum algae growth and my drop checker is at a more yellowish-green colour. That's why i decided to increase my CO2 for 2bps to 2.8bps, which I thought may be the cause other than my light.
One more last picture.
_MG_1897.jpg
My setup is about 2 weeks old till date. Did 2 water changes, first week 30%, second week 50%..
If you have no lifestock in the tank, it's quite ok to blast the Co2 so that it does not become a limiting factor. Not familiar with the fert, but if it's new soil, it should not matter. The plants melting could be converting from emerse to submerse. Longer term, some of your light demanding plants (like HC) might have issues as the light is not strong enough.
Ya, that's part of the reason why I'm pumping in more CO2 as it should not post to much problem.
My tank is a 42litres approx 12gallon, running on 2x16W 12000k T5 Lights. What light would you recommend for optimum growth in my tank?
By the way, the funny thing is my Staurogyne sp on the left of my tank is melting but those on the right (which comes from the same pot) are growing fine. The melting seems to be worse on the left side on my tank, which I really don't understand why.
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