# Back after several years - need suggestions



## deezdrama (Jul 9, 2005)

Ok Im back after a few years- Right now i have my 150g tank and my 30g tank at my rental house, I plan on bringing my 30g home within the next week. The 30g will contain my adult altuvie Piranha. I want to set the tank up to be heavily planted. I have a bunch of compact fluorescent ballasts and VHO ballasts from my 150g (when i bought it- it came with saltwater lighting) Anyway I think I will probablly need at least 2 watts per gallon of lighting for my 30 gallon to grow some low to medium light level plants.
I was at wal-mart and for ten bucks they had 24" portable plant growing lights that come with the small fixture/bulb/and built in ballast. I bought 2 of these as they claim to output 75w each. Is this possible for a simple 24" bulb??? I doubt they are Ho or VHO's. There not really heavy so the ballasts must be for basic fluorescents.

How many watts does a regular 24" flourescent bulb output? I thought it was only about 30w. Is it possible each one of these really outputs 75w????

Its made by lights of america- model 7020 E GL. and replacment bulb # rb17t8gl

Like i said- ive pretty much been away from the hobby for a while so any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated!


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## deezdrama (Jul 9, 2005)

It boldly states on the box 75w of light output- But everywhere I check online states that this bulb is 17w which sounds more accurate for a 24" bulb. Now i knew that you couldnt get 75w from a 2 foot fluorescent but I thought maybee it was a VHO ballast or something- false advertisment if you ask me. Anyway I guess Ill just pick a couple more up giving me 4 lights at 17w each giving me 68w in a 30g tank so ill be over 2w per gallon. Now I cant find the kelvin rating for these bulbs and there not listed as full spectrum but as growing bulbs....

Do you think they will work well for a 30 gallon with mid to low light requiring plants? Would i need co2???
Would like to keep it simple and low maintenance- any special substrate i will need?

thanks guys


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## Piranha Guru (Nov 24, 2005)

17w sounds more like it...I only have one tank 24" normal fluorescent bulbs and they are 18w. Anyhow, 4 of those should be fine for low to medium plants...2-3 actually would be fine for low and some medium plants and you could use Fluorish Excel instead of CO2 (you can find it in 2l or 4l fairly cheap). I'd look online for some Coralife freshwater T-5 NO 30" fixtures...would cost as much as you are planning on spending now and would be great for low light plants.

I would recommend Eco-Complete for substrate for a 30g tank as it won't break the bank in a tank that size. You could even mix it with some fine gravel. You could also go with fluorite or a fluorite/fine gravel mix.

My concern is that you are putting an adult altuvei in a 30g tank...those guys should have a 40g breeder minimum, but I wouldn't put an adult in anything smaller than a 65g (75g ideally).


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## deezdrama (Jul 9, 2005)

Thanks for the info- the flourish excel and eco-complete can be found for pretty cheap online- but i need this stuff fast- I wonder if my LFS will carry them? or if the prices will be hijacked way up- Im gonna build an enclosure for my lights tonight and hopefully have all this done within the next couple days- Ill post pics when im done- Thanks again


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## deezdrama (Jul 9, 2005)

Alright- I bought 20lbs. flourite and laid it down first then topped it with 20 lbs. black sand and 10 lbs. black small pea gravel- hopefully the sand will be ok- now i also bought the fluorish excel , the woman said i should also get a bottle of plant nourishment/fertilizer or whatever its called- will it be neccessary to also suplement the plants with the extra nutrients?

Tomorrow when I get off I will get a third flourescent and build a enclosure for the 3 bulbs- I thought of making a reflector with thick aluminum foil- would this work? After i get that done I will head to petsmart and get some plants- then go to my rental house and get my altuvei and large driftwood piece and bring them home- Ill post pics when im done- thanks for the help!


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## Piranha Guru (Nov 24, 2005)

I would get Flourish Comprehensive for sure and if you want really good growth, you'll need to get some Fluorish Nitrogen, Potassium, and Phosphorus...probably Fluorish Iron too. Search this forum for alternatives for those, but I've found them to not be too terribly expensive if you buy them online when on sale (and I have 11 planted tanks of various sizes). Seachem has a dosing schedule online that was posted somewhere here recently, but I would only dose about half as often at first or half the amount recommended.


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## deezdrama (Jul 9, 2005)

Dont they make anything that contains Nitrogen, Potassium,Phosphorus and Iron all in one bottle? Or am i going to have to test for all levels of each and add when needed? I was hoping for a low maintenance low-tech setup for now


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## Piranha Guru (Nov 24, 2005)

I don't test...I just dose at least once a week according to the bottles. You can mix your own solutions if you buy bulk, dry ingredients, but some things can interfere with others. You may or may not need iron, but N,P, and K will help you get much better growth and help combat algae problems. You can get away with just excel and fluorish comprehensive if you use less demanding plants such as java fern and java moss.


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

you get a feel for it. plus seachem has real good dousing guidelines right on the bottle. If you drop the coin to get 2lt's of all you need up front it will cost you a lot less. or you can get dry alternatives to them at rexgrigg.com. there is no alternative to excel however except for real CO2. (best route)


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## deezdrama (Jul 9, 2005)

Well I ended up taking the wally-world lights back and bought a 55w compact fl. fixture 50% off at petco- but the only one they had came with a 8,000k bulb- will this work or is it not the right spectrum?


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## Piranha Guru (Nov 24, 2005)

Odd spectrum number, but it should be okay. I like 6700k myself for plants.


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## deezdrama (Jul 9, 2005)

is 6700k more of a warm color? The 8000k seems a tiny bit blueish but im starring at an empty tank with black sand so I dont know- I will be able to tell better when i get it stocked with plants tomorrow


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## Piranha Guru (Nov 24, 2005)

deezdrama said:


> is 6700k more of a warm color? The 8000k seems a tiny bit blueish but im starring at an empty tank with black sand so I dont know- I will be able to tell better when i get it stocked with plants tomorrow


It's more yellowish/white I think while the 8000k will be a cleaner white.


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## deezdrama (Jul 9, 2005)

Cool- when it comes time to replace my bulb ill get the 6700k, when would a compact fl. bulb need replaced? every year?

Im getting plants tomorrow- how long do i wait before I need to dose with excel and micro nutrients???

How long will the flourite layer be good for? Will it give the plants nutrients indefinatelly???

Ill be running 1.8 w/g - whats the absolute cheapest way of adding co2 and whats the longest i can go between adding co2 again, thanks for all your help BioTeAcH !!


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## Piranha Guru (Nov 24, 2005)

I replace my CF bulbs every 12 months or so. I would dose with Excel every day, and micros twice a week. Fluorite should be good for quite a while...I've never replaced any of my substrate because of nutrient issues. The cheapest CO2 is DIY yeast mixture, but I like Excel better since it inhibits some types of algae and you don't have to worry about bubbles per minute, etc...


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