# Problems with Planted Aquarium



## dalyhawk (Apr 30, 2007)

I'm kinda new to this type of thing.. In college, 21 years old, very interested in the hobby... but I upgraded from a 20 gallon to a 55 gallon tank about a month ago, and i thought it would be cool if i had some live plants in it. I set up one of those DIY Co2 systems with the water bottles, yeast, water and sugar. But my plants keep shedding their leaves and my tank is becoming more bare by the week. I bought the tank for 100 bucks off of some lady in kansas city that had a catfish and a silver dollar in it. (haha... funny thing is... She asked me to keep the fish as pets and my buddy also has big piranhas... So we put the 2 fish in there and they were both virtually gone in 2 days, whoops!) Since i'm kinda new to this i didn't really know... but the bulb was still emitting light into the aquarium so i thought it was fine. I went to the local pet store here in lawrence and talked with a guy who seemed pretty legit on his facts about plants and fish and he said that i probably needed a new light since the old one was probably not emitting enough UV light or whatever for the plants. So i guess my ultimate question is... If i've got Co2 circulating and 5 piranhas putting out Co2, a new light, what else should i be concerned about or what should i be monotoring daily/weekly for them to thrive? Should i buy a testing kit?

Also... should i buy a new light fixture? The guy was talking about some light fixture that was good for plants, but it was 150 bucks... and most of you know how poor a college kid is... He also said something about how they light their plants, something like an X5 light or something? Something 5 i believe... give me some feedback

I bought all my plants from the pet store, so i have no clue what type of plants they are. I've got 2 plants that look like grass, one with bigger leaves that resembles a bush of leaves, 2 that look like a mini evergreen (similar type of leaves... needles), a lilli pad plant and one plant that emits little things at the top of the water (but not now b/c of the problem)


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## skubasteve! (Feb 14, 2007)

What size light do you currently have? Wattage? If you know the Kelvin rating, that would be good as well. Plants grow best in the 5000-10000K range. The DIY Co2 that you are using, probably isnt enough for a 55g, a 10g yes, a 20 probably, anything over 20g, probably not. You could prob hook up 3-4 of those bad boys, but I would almost be pointless. Depending on your light, you may not even need Co2, you could just dose Flourish Excel (liquid doses of Co2). If you could, post pictures of your plants, a LOT of times LFS sell plants that are non-aquatic, so that could be your problem.


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## dalyhawk (Apr 30, 2007)

The bulb is called a Flora Sun - Max plant growth. Its 32 watts... And it says 8500K high intensity lamp with peak emissions in the blue and red regions to maximize the photobiological processes in plants. On the little scale on the side, it says it peaks at about 650nm at .4 (not sure what .4 is... but people might know...) 650 is on the X-axis, and .4 is on the Y-axis.

So if you think that this DIY Co2 isn't strong enough or powerful enough.... how much does a Co2 system cost? I saw some little Co2 thing in the pet store for $40 plus the little inserts. I connected a 2-liter bottle filled with 1/4 TSP of yeast, 1/4 cup of tepid water, 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups of water connected by clear hose to a 20 OZ bottle, which connects to a air stone inside of a tube that connects to a pump/thing that makes a current in the water... I found it on this forum

Where do i get flourish excel? How much? How effective is it?

http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html#3

That's where i got it from... It's on a thread on page 3. My buddy was the one who asked for advice, and that's what he got from some user...

I'll work on a picture soon... My batteries are out for my digital


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## Lowporkwa (Mar 24, 2007)

be careful, flourish excel has a tendency to 'melt' some plants due to their sensitivity to it. You really gotta let us know what kind of plants you have before you start using flourish excel! Try going to a local petsmart and just buy Seachem Flourish comprehensive, its a liquid, you just dump in a capful every week. That works wonders for me as well. Also how old is the lightbulb you have in there? Most fluorescent lights should be replaced every 6 months. 32 Watts is less than 1 WPG for your 55 gallon tank, which could be fine for extremely low light plants, but like i said, none of us have any idea what you have, so its hard to help you out. My guess is the plants are not getting enough light, 32 W is not very much!


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

ok. first issue is you are not putting enough light over the tank. 55 gallon should be getting at least 55w of light over it. Compact florescent or T5's. the bulbs at the petstore are overpriced and underpowered. replacing your bulb will do next to nothing for you. 
the next issue is you need to feed the plants. Plants require micro and macro ferts. Read the stickys atop this forum it will go into much depth as for what you should be looking at with a planted tank.

If you cannot afford a better lighting system then you are simply going to be restricted as to what plants you are able to grow. in this case you should go to www.plantgeek.com and flip thru the plant finder and look at the low light plants. And just get those kinds.


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## dalyhawk (Apr 30, 2007)

K well, it looks like my next paycheck is going towards a better lighting system... The pet store had those T5 lighting systems, where do i get those? How much would it be for a 55 gallon tank? How effective are they? Isn't the "rule" for lighting 2-3 watts per gallon or something? Sorry for all the questions, i just don't know very much about it... But, I'll go by petsmart today and get that Seachem Flourish comprehensive stuff to see what that does...


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

T5's are good. there isn't a set "Rule" per say. It all depends on where you want to be and how much you are willing to spend on this aspect of the hobby. initially it can be slightly expensive. Thats why you would want to decide now what level of lighting you want to go with. low med high or hella high. each level requires more light obviously as well as once you get to the Med level you really should be running pressurized CO2. And be on a fairly strict fertilizing schedule.

for example In my 75 gal I am only using a single compact fluorescent 55W bulb. I have it directly over the plants that require more light and the rest are fine in the low light because they are lower light needed plants. I simply feed them ferts. the only CO2 I have goin in that tank is Seachem Excel. This works only because I can concentrate the light where it's needed. You can't really do that with the long flourescents because they span the lenght of the tank and spread the light thinner so to speak.

in my 20 however I have 130W over it. and I have pressurized CO2 and I have to be sure to hit the tank with ferts every couple days. Growth in that tank is crazy. but If I slip it can get out of hand.

So before you go and get a light look thru the plants and decide what direction you wanna go and then build accordingly.


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## dalyhawk (Apr 30, 2007)

I guess i came into this hobby and got a little ancy about live plants and didn't plan accordingly. I really need to find out what type of plants mine are and adjust accordingly to what they need. I might do that today here to get a pinpoint on what the specifications are on them, and look them up on the web. As far as Co2 goes, i have that DIY system but i'm not sure how effective it is for a 55 gallon tank. I found a 40 dollar Co2 system at the local pet store and i wasn't for sure if it was legit or not. Is that going to be alright for a 55? If not, guide me to where i need to buy one, cuz this hobby is getting addictive.


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## skubasteve! (Feb 14, 2007)

A 40 dollar Co2 thing is most likely, a DIY method that some company took and manufactured and made look fancy. You can get almost everything you need at DRFOSTERSMITH.


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