# started first planted tank,



## micus (Jan 7, 2004)

i have a 135 gallon tank, i decided to get into live plants, and because my p's have been killin eashother alot latley i now have the room in my tank for a nice little garden, so heres wut i bought today,

1. zoo med tropic sun 5500k daylight, 36 inch 25 watts,

2.plant grow npk aquatic plant fertilizer,

3. 3 x 4" jungle val,

4 x 5-6 " amazon sword,

heres the problemo, when i bought my tank it came with some redicoulously old 36 inch light bars, and both of em had normal house lights, not ment for plants, so i sold one of the light bars to a friend a long time ago, and kept one for myself, since i didnt need much light cause p's are sketchy when theres to much, so for the past 6 months ive had just this normal philips kitchen light in the light bar, and when i put the plant bulb into the light bar the whole fixture started smoking, and then stopped working, so basically i have a good plant bulb but a dead fixture, and so now the plants will have no light, so im wondering, how long will the plants live without light, i put the fertilizer in the tank, but there is no grow bulb on it, and there wont be till i can buy a new fixture, also will a fixture that size suffice for my plants, or do i need a more powerfull bulb?

i would also apreciate any helpful tips and comments, i am a supper newbie to plants, but i totally like em alot, it looks SOOOO much better in that tank even without light,

thanks in advance,


----------



## Niche (Mar 9, 2004)

they won't last long.

go to your local hardware store and get a new fixture. It won't cost you very much.


----------



## f2esh (Aug 18, 2003)

you need around wpg.. man....so thats near 300 watts of lighting for you..you got a big tank also...might want to invest in a CO2 system..and also get fertilizer ...what kind of substrate are you using?


----------



## micus (Jan 7, 2004)

im usin sand,


----------



## Bawb2u (May 27, 2004)

I like planted tanks, but they aren't cheap to do right. What are the dimensions of the tank? Tall tanks need a lot more light than shallow tanks.


----------



## f2esh (Aug 18, 2003)

hmm u might want to invest in a better subrsrate with nutrients... like onyx sand or eco complete or even flourite..but yeah man u need ALOT more lighting


----------



## micus (Jan 7, 2004)

lol i dont even got lites rite now, haha, the original light fixture decided to die on me, so for the past two nights there has been NO lite for the plants,

im not sure about all this, cause ive seen tanks that dont apear to be bursting with lite but they still have huge and healthy plants, i am looking at taking a more basic start to plants, my parents wont let me build fixtures that can handle more than one bulb because they think that im going to burn down the house, so the only aquatic fixture i got the $ for is a 48 inch single bulb setup, i will run the tropic sun full spectrum 5500 k daylight for a while, and will look into finding a 48 inch bulb that makes tons of watts, if theres such thing,

as far as fertilizers go i will pick up so hagen plant supplement, and use it in conjunction with the plant grow npk fertilizer,

does this sound like im goin in the right direction or wut?

husky jim ? u got any tips? ideas for me?

anyone kno wut i can do? u must realise im on a 200 dollar a month budget here.


----------



## illnino (Mar 6, 2004)

i think it is called flourish excell, but it acts as liquid co2.

also, grab 3 or 4 2 bulb 48" light fixtures at lowes or home depot. cost about $17. also be prepared that these are ment to go in the ceceling, so you have to buy some plugs and wire. or rip the cords off of old things. either way will work.


----------



## micus (Jan 7, 2004)

so ok, i went to a hardware store and bought s light strip 48", i bought 1 hagen sun glo, and a zoo meds ultra sun 6500 k daylight, i re wired the light strip so i could plug it into a wall outlet and then mounted it into my newly finished oak hood, plus i did it all on a budget of 69 canadian or about 45 american, and about 35 euros i guess,

i also took some pics of the whole thing so enjoy


----------



## micus (Jan 7, 2004)




----------



## micus (Jan 7, 2004)




----------



## micus (Jan 7, 2004)




----------



## micus (Jan 7, 2004)

if anyone says i dont have enought lighting i dont kno were they are commin from, cause the tank is freekin lit up, lol the p's are skittsed big time, but w/e theyl get over it, i dont kno if u can see it, but all my plants started rotting when they were in the tank without light, like 4 days, anyways, will the plants recover?

also, can u guys name some products for me to use as plant supplements, i would prefer if they were just the kind u dump in the tank not like gravel stuff, but i am willing to do it if it means i get huge healthy plants,? so any quick suggestions for supplements?

rite now im usin grow npk from hagen , but i dont know if thats doin anythin, 
also, will the carbon in my filters pick out the fertilizers?

lots of questions, but i would apreciate it if u guys could do your best to answer most of em


----------



## micus (Jan 7, 2004)

ok, also, my swords have big brown nasty wholes in the round leaf part, should i cut the leaf off, or will it regrow? also some of the leaves on the swords are slightly yellowish, should i cut these off? by far the vals are doin the best,they look much stronger,

also on a completly unrelated subject, u see the light fixture in the pics, will all the condesation from the water like reck them, or even worse cause them to catch on fire? cause the guy at my lfs said the water wouldnt do anythin to them , like he said that if the condensation got bad the worst that would happen is that the fuse in the light would blow, lol, i really dont want to catch my house on fire,


----------



## 1piranhaman (Apr 21, 2004)

imo that is way to much light. my best planted tank had hornwort and duckweed covering the surface of the water and the plants grew freakishly with the dimed light. now im no plant expert and i love a natural planted tank, but i do know that that much light will stress your fish out. you know that they dont have eyelids that they can shut or squint if the light is to bright. they probly hate it. my advice is a cheap way to go and not a good idea for the long haul, but if you go to the hardware store and buy the metal dish shop lights with daylight light bulbs, your plants will survive on that. but the major-major downfall to these lights are that they help algea to strive. that is why i suggested to only use them temporarily. good luck.


----------



## P-Power (Jan 23, 2004)

I would think that a non-fish tank light is probably not designed to handle the moisture, so make sure that anything that can rust is sealed...

as for the light, two strips maybe a little too much. you could darken the water with black water extract, or just use 1 bulb. OR you could run both bulbs, and put a diffuser over the light. or wrap something over the bulbs (watch out you dont insulate the heat too much)

also.. as far as the fertillizers go... they usually (if pellets) go deep under the sand/gravel, and seep under the plants. you can also get liquid fertilizer, and that will eventually get taken out by the carbon.


----------



## micus (Jan 7, 2004)

P-Power said:


> I would think that a non-fish tank light is probably not designed to handle the moisture, so make sure that anything that can rust is sealed...
> 
> as for the light, two strips maybe a little too much. you could darken the water with black water extract, or just use 1 bulb. OR you could run both bulbs, and put a diffuser over the light. or wrap something over the bulbs (watch out you dont insulate the heat too much)
> 
> also.. as far as the fertillizers go... they usually (if pellets) go deep under the sand/gravel, and seep under the plants. you can also get liquid fertilizer, and that will eventually get taken out by the carbon.


 too much light? aparently i need another light strip the same size with another 2 bulbs to have adiquate lighting, ( which i doubt i will do)

as far as skiddishness goes they are totally used to the light and not anymore skttish then when i had dark lights,


----------



## Niche (Mar 9, 2004)

mine do fine with 4 48" tubes on their tank


----------



## micus (Jan 7, 2004)

niche, u think thast enough lighting tho?


----------



## smithgrind_who (Mar 26, 2004)

1piranhaman Posted: Aug 26 2004 said:


> imo that is way to much light.





P-Power Posted: Aug 26 2004 said:


> two strips maybe a little too much.


As for a planted aquarium, that's about 0.5 watts/gal. The light has to travel through the water column to even reach the plants. I have 0.7 wpg on my 55 US gallon tank and my natt's are doing fine. In fact for that size of aquarium, you could add another light strip to increase your wpg to 1.19. When your plants get bigger, they will provide hiding spots for your piranha. The leaves will give them shade.

What worries me about that light strip is the heat. Hey micus, have you noticed a change in temperature using that type of light strip? If there is a lot of moisture in the canopy, you could add a small fan to the side of it, pulling the heat and humidity out of the canopy.


----------



## micus (Jan 7, 2004)

the canopy is open in the back of the tank, so the condensation isnt horrible, no i have definetly not noticed a change in heat, they are not perticularily hot or anything,

smithgrind, wut do i do about pruning, there are like brown spots on leaves and stems, do i cut these off? or wut, will they get healthy again?


----------



## smithgrind_who (Mar 26, 2004)

micus, I think most plants will try to survive and grow. My Anubias Congensis has a broken stem but the leaf is still green. If the leafs does look dead and brown then prune the leaf close to the stem. I have read from others post they usually have good re-growth. The yellow color is a sign of iron and/or potassium deficiency. 


micus Posted: Aug 25 2004 said:


> will the carbon in my filters pick out the fertilizers?


Yes, the carbon absorbs the trace elements needed by plants. This is just a suggestion, but try using root tab and liquid fertilizer. Some plants feed through the roots and some through the leafs, using both covers all bases.


----------

