ShropshireLad
New Member
Hi All
I am currently in the process of trying to rescue a neglected planted tank, which was set up around a year ago. I was a complete noob at the time and it failed despite being heavily planted - almost certainly due to lack of maintenance and fertilisation (and possibly incorrect lighting). The tank became extremely overgrown with BBA and BGA and I kind of gave up on it. Now I'm trying to rescue it and I'm unsure whether I'm actually delivering correct lighting to the tank or not.
Tank: 250L. Ea Freshwater 900. 900mm L, 500mm W, 700mm H. (Why did I buy a tank so tall?!)
Substrate: Tropica soil powder.
Filtration/Flow: Oase Biomaster 600. 1250lph. Spray bar used at one end running across the length of the tank just under water surface. Decent amount of surface agitation. Inlet at the same end as the spray bar. Flow at one end of the tank is good but not great underneath the spray bar. I think i need to add a powerhead to make it more difficult for the BGA to mob up on the substrate.
Light: Fluval Plant 3.0 46w. Running at 50% with blue turned down very low. 6 hour photo period with 30min ramp up/down. The room is bright as it has a lot of windows and is painted white but the tank doesn't revieve direct sunlight.
Plants: Currently low mass. Only survivors were 1 large amazon sword which is doing fine, and about 12-15 struggling crypts and anubias covered in BBA/BGA. And a couple of siamensis 53b which were doing terribly and also covered in algae but the tips were OK so I have replanted those and pulled out the rest. Just added 5 more large amazon swords and some floating water sprite.
Ferts: Ea Aquascaper complete. Now dosing 15ml twice a week which seems fairly inline with their instructions for low tech and low plant mass.
Co2: None. Slightly overdosing Excel during water changes to help combat BBA.
Water: Now comitting to 50% W/C per week. Tap water is 20d hardness clarke with 25ppm Nitrate and PH of 7.5. I have done midweek water changes too during the last 2 weeks as i step up my efforts vs the BGA which keeps coming back.
Stocking: 6 angels, 6 sterbai cory, 11 rummynose tetra, 2 nerite snails.
Temp: 24 degress. Used to run at 25-26 but trying to slow everything down a bit.
Anyway, thats the background info. My main question is about the lighting. I currently have the light sat on the rim of the tank with the lid removed (for the purpose of the newly added floating water sprite - its only a few CM from the water otherwise) The distance from light to substrate is now 65cm. Running at 50%, am I delivering enough light to the crypts at the substrate? Would this be considered accaeptable for low light? I have a feeling its not quite enough due to the height of the tank, but need to be careful about notching it up with the BGA/BBA being so rampant.
I am currently in the process of trying to rescue a neglected planted tank, which was set up around a year ago. I was a complete noob at the time and it failed despite being heavily planted - almost certainly due to lack of maintenance and fertilisation (and possibly incorrect lighting). The tank became extremely overgrown with BBA and BGA and I kind of gave up on it. Now I'm trying to rescue it and I'm unsure whether I'm actually delivering correct lighting to the tank or not.
Tank: 250L. Ea Freshwater 900. 900mm L, 500mm W, 700mm H. (Why did I buy a tank so tall?!)
Substrate: Tropica soil powder.
Filtration/Flow: Oase Biomaster 600. 1250lph. Spray bar used at one end running across the length of the tank just under water surface. Decent amount of surface agitation. Inlet at the same end as the spray bar. Flow at one end of the tank is good but not great underneath the spray bar. I think i need to add a powerhead to make it more difficult for the BGA to mob up on the substrate.
Light: Fluval Plant 3.0 46w. Running at 50% with blue turned down very low. 6 hour photo period with 30min ramp up/down. The room is bright as it has a lot of windows and is painted white but the tank doesn't revieve direct sunlight.
Plants: Currently low mass. Only survivors were 1 large amazon sword which is doing fine, and about 12-15 struggling crypts and anubias covered in BBA/BGA. And a couple of siamensis 53b which were doing terribly and also covered in algae but the tips were OK so I have replanted those and pulled out the rest. Just added 5 more large amazon swords and some floating water sprite.
Ferts: Ea Aquascaper complete. Now dosing 15ml twice a week which seems fairly inline with their instructions for low tech and low plant mass.
Co2: None. Slightly overdosing Excel during water changes to help combat BBA.
Water: Now comitting to 50% W/C per week. Tap water is 20d hardness clarke with 25ppm Nitrate and PH of 7.5. I have done midweek water changes too during the last 2 weeks as i step up my efforts vs the BGA which keeps coming back.
Stocking: 6 angels, 6 sterbai cory, 11 rummynose tetra, 2 nerite snails.
Temp: 24 degress. Used to run at 25-26 but trying to slow everything down a bit.
Anyway, thats the background info. My main question is about the lighting. I currently have the light sat on the rim of the tank with the lid removed (for the purpose of the newly added floating water sprite - its only a few CM from the water otherwise) The distance from light to substrate is now 65cm. Running at 50%, am I delivering enough light to the crypts at the substrate? Would this be considered accaeptable for low light? I have a feeling its not quite enough due to the height of the tank, but need to be careful about notching it up with the BGA/BBA being so rampant.
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