Amount of CO2 and light required for 45cm cube tank?

[armani]

Hi guys, I'm so sorry I have to start a new thread because I have been searching for some information but can't really find anything useful for me. I just started a 45cm cube tank.

May I check, what would be the ideal amount of wattage of light I should be using?
May I also know how many bubbles per second should I dose the CO2?
Lastly, what is the ideal temperature of the water?

Thank you so much. Currently, I can see some long strands of hair-like algae, so I am sure there is definitely too much of something and too little of another. Got to find the balance as soon as I can.

Regards,
Armani

[vinz]

What plants are you planning to grow? Or rather what kind of tank are you aiming for? High-light, fast growing but high maintenance tank? Or low/moderate light slow grow but easy tank?

High-light tank needs about 3 WPG for your size tank. Your tank is about 24 US Gallons, so you will need about 75 watts of fluorescent tubes or compact fluorescent. You can give or take about 5 watts.

Measuring CO2 by bubble count is inaccurate as it does not take into account the rate of CO2 lost which varies from tank to tank. Better to us a indicator set or measure the pH and KH and calculate from there.

Sometimes the tank takes a while to stabilise. What are your tank details?

[armani]

Thank you very much for your reply. I would like a slow growing, low maintenance tank. I do not want to be pruning the plants all the time. My plants are not expensive. They are those cheap ones which you can buy at less than $1 per pot.

My lights right now are 48W. I know this seems little, but it really is very bright. The lights are basically 2 pieces of 24W PL tubes.

As for CO2, it is current at about 1 bubble for every 4 seconds. So sorry, but I do not have a test kit. If I did have one, what should the reading be like? Thank you once again.

[vinz]

Actually, I think at that bubble rate and lighting, it should be ok. What are you using as fertiliser? Do the plants look healthy? What plants do you have?

My current tank is low light, no CO2 but using Carbon supplement (Seachem Excel). Other details you can read here.

[armani]

Actually, I think at that bubble rate and lighting, it should be ok. What are you using as fertiliser? Do the plants look healthy? What plants do you have?

My current tank is low light, no CO2 but using Carbon supplement (Seachem Excel). Other details you can read here.

I am using Seachem Flourish. The plants definitely look healthy. I do not really know all the names of the plants, so sorry about it. Some I can name will be Cabomba, Hydrilla, E.Tennelus.

Here is a photo of my tank, maybe you can identify some?

[greenie]

As much as the community here is glad to render help, no excuse for newbie to take shortcuts and ask basics on keeping planted tank when there is vast info here and in the web.

Low maintenance shouldn't also mean less knowledge required. I, like the rest, cannot simply repeat over and over again to every newbie the basics.

It should be after intent then gain knowledge until understand concepts, then acquire more knowledge before buying a single equipment. Then acquire more knowledge before buying livestock. Then when you have enough knowledge and confidence before actually buying equiptment and livestocks and setting up.

Anyway here are very informative read for you and other newbies.

1. Preparing and Maintaining Planted Tank
2. Everything about aquarium Lighting
3. Fert Dosing using EI Method
4. About Chloramines and ways to remove it
5. Fert Dosing Calculator
6. C02 Dosing chart

And it's in no particular order.....sorry for the lecture but my intent is to prevent you from failing and waste money. I could summarize for you BUT that's not the way. There's more to read but these will be the beginning for you.

In the first place you must choose the right plants for low maintenance but you simply buy a red plant which is a high maintenance plant which is not what you want.

So hope you read up more and hopely you get the drift. You need to know the plants requirements before buying and not the other way round. You'll go in circles and won't achieve what you want in the end.

[greenie]

And yet, still I'm looking for new info and learning to improve my hobby.

[tanclancy]

As much as the community here is glad to render help, no excuse for newbie to take shortcuts and ask basics on keeping planted tank when there is vast info here and in the web.

Low maintenance shouldn't also mean less knowledge required. I, like the rest, cannot simply repeat over and over again to every newbie the basics.

It should be after intent then gain knowledge until understand concepts, then acquire more knowledge before buying a single equipment. Then acquire more knowledge before buying livestock. Then when you have enough knowledge and confidence before actually buying equiptment and livestocks and setting up.

Anyway here are very informative read for you and other newbies.

1. Preparing and Maintaining Planted Tank
2. Everything about aquarium Lighting
3. Fert Dosing using EI Method
4. About Chloramines and ways to remove it
5. Fert Dosing Calculator
6. C02 Dosing chart

And it's in no particular order.....sorry for the lecture but my intent is to prevent you from failing and waste money. I could summarize for you BUT that's not the way. There's more to read but these will be the beginning for you.

In the first place you must choose the right plants for low maintenance but you simply buy a red plant which is a high maintenance plant which is not what you want.

So hope you read up more and hopely you get the drift. You need to know the plants requirements before buying and not the other way round. You'll go in circles and won't achieve what you want in the end.

Hey great links man! learnt alot from here!
Thanks for sharing!