From low to high tech, am I on right track?

[fz1ben]

Hello all
I've recently (2 weeks ago) added a 2kg fe co2 system onto my low tech tank,after many hours spent reading some great threads from this forum I think I'm half way there but I have a few questions.After messing with different ways to diffuse the co2 I settled on placing the ceramic diffuser under the intake of my filter.I have the co2 coming on 3 hours before lights on and my drop checker is a light green. I've read the importance of flow so I have two external filters both with spray bars and a nano korallia.
I'm unsure what to do with the lights though, the tank is a standard 125l I think it's 80x35x50 it has 2 24w t5s but I have a reflector blocking light from one tube from low tech days. I've left the lighting the same as I dont want to run into trouble while I'm learning with co2 but will one tube be enough?

I understand that the lighats drive the need for co2 but now I've added co2 but kept the lighting the same will I see faster/healthier growth? I'm dosing neutro+ at 10 ml a day and 5 ml of easycarbo to help with a small amount of bba.

Anyway I'm sure I've missed a few things but any advice and help would be fantastic.Here's a few pictures

 

[DivZero]

If you are looking to upgrade your lights, there are a couple of LED lights that fit into TL fittings with an adapter. Eheim powerled or Arcadia if I'm correct and maybe other brands aswel. But the most obvious solution is to get your other light invited to the party

If you keep the lights the same I doubt you can call it high tech, but with the ferts and CO2 your plants will probably grow faster/healthier with light being the limiting factor. If you are worried about the increasing light you could just see where this amount of light gets you and if this is the result you want

I am a bit worried tho about the amount of EasyCarbo you are dosing. You are currently dosing the double weekly dose (2 mL per 50L recommended for highly planted tanks) each day? I think that's too much as EC not only toxic to algae, but at higher concentrations to fish and pretty much everything alive. I would keep an close eye at your fish.

Beautiful tank btw!

 

[fz1ben]

Thank you for the kind comments I didn't really plan how it looked and most plants are the normal easy species but I might try something different once I've got it'll sorted.
I don't really want to change the lighting as it's all built into the hood,I did try open top with a spare tmc grobeam I have but I was losing lots of water due to evaporation. So you don't think using both bulbs would be too much?

The easycarbo dose max 2ml per 50l per day so I'm only a tad over and all fish and shrimp (2 amanos) are doing great

 

[DivZero]

The easycarbo dose max 2ml per 50l per day so I'm only a tad over and all fish and shrimp (2 amanos) are doing great

Ok, seems I have been underdosing for a while haha. Thanks for letting me look at the bottle again

I don't really want to change the lighting as it's all built into the hood

The LED lights I was talking about uses T8 adapters that means they will fit right into your hood.

So you don't think using both bulbs would be too much?

The following it is not really a guideline, because it's all about the PAR your plants are getting, and not WPG. But 3+ Watt per gallon are considered to be high light. You have ~33 gallon (=125L) of water with 48 watts of lighting. That would give you 48 / 33 = ~1.5 WPG. You have T5 lights and not the T8 this (old and outdated!) method was developed for, which should give you about 1.8 WPG. By this definition your tank would still be considered low light with both lights. Have a look at this thread http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/60p-the-shimmering-of-light.34167. What's important to know is that to much light is only to much if you don't have you flow, CO2 or ferts in order. If you do, your plants will grow like mad with a setup like The_iceman. Your light intensity will won't come anywhere near his intensity. I would just give it a go. If you run into problems it's easy enough in most cases to figure out what is wrong (not enough flow, not enough CO2, not enough nitrates or other ferts etc.) bases on what you algae you are getting or how your plants are reacting.

 

[fz1ben]

I've just read the thread in the link you posted and that's one stunning tank. I guess I won't know if it's too much light until I try it so I've removed the reflector and ill see how things go.The tank looks alot better now as the tubes are staggered slightly so there was a dark corner before.

One thing I'm not to sure on is when to switch the co2 off? At the moment I think it's an hour before the lights go off,does that sound ok?

 

[foxfish]

Low light, high C02, is a good safe way to go, the C02 will show a big difference in plant growth.
Switching the gas on two hours before lights on & one hour before lights off is a good start.

 

[fz1ben]

I've been playing around with my lights today and I've mounted a single tmc grobeam into the t5 mounts using the tmc end caps.It looks amazing I think but not too bright. Would a single grobeam give enough light to support my plants? Could I use a little less co2 now my lights aren't as bright?
Thanks for the help

 

[fz1ben]

That's with one grobeam 600