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High or low lighting

andy

Member
Joined
14 Sep 2007
Messages
261
Location
Lewes, East Sussex
Hi,

I have a small 14" (L) x 10" (W) x 14" (H) tank ready to be set up as a small planted nano. I think it holds about 5-6 gallons.

It has built in lighting...one of those 11w double T5 type jobbies. But this would give me almost 2wpg which is average. Trouble is, the tank doesn't look particulary bright...i've got some pogostemon helferi, lugwigia, sagittaria subulata and heteranthera to go in and the tank will probably house a male fighter for the moment (small shoal of Amber tetras (maybe rasboras) will probably replace the fighter later on).

Any suggestions with planting ?...no CO2 or ferts will be added.

Andy

DSCF0002-52.jpg
 
A small tank with no CO2 or ferts is likely to be an unstable algae farm I'm afraid regardless of your lighting. I ran a 12" cube for a year with 11W over it and found it was fairly low light really with the way plants grew. I grew Narrow JF, E.tennellus and various stems. I used a nutritious substrate and very lean EI and added DIY CO2 and EasyCarbo to get it growing well without algae. I would definitely look at adding some CO2 and ferts personally.
 
I would also be concerned about the different filter/flow requirements between a fighter fish and a planted tank.

If you're not adding CO2 and ferts then it might not be such an issue having a low flow rate which will suit the fighter but many keepers of these fish actually modify their normal filters to reduce the flow to much lower rates.

Just a thought to throw into the mix.
 
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