Lighting And C02 Advice Please.

[matthewgardner]

Hi Folks,

Thanks for all the great ideas i have had from you guys the 60 ltr below is largly down to reading this forum. I can not tell you how great full we are in our house. The Kids love it.

Could i please ask for some advice:

1. I am thinking of replacing the hood on this tank to an open top version with two light strips instead of the one that it currently has, but have no clue where to start looking. The reason for this is that i would like to encourage my plants to grow out of the tank and i also think my plants would benefit from more light.

2. I am currently dose C02 via a cheap tetra plant diffuser system twice a day and adding API leaf zone once a week as per the instructions on the bottle, would my plants benefit from the addition of a liquid C02 product as well?

Many thanks:

Matty.

 

[aaronnorth]

Well raising the intensity of the lighting will mean more nutrients & CO2 will be required, as you will turn this into a 'high tech' setup

If you are going to raise the lighting then i would encourage you use a pressurized system.

The plants just grow faster with more lighting/ CO2/ nutrients, not necassarily healthier. I wouldnt change things if possible (just buy an overtank light unit with the same/ similar wattage)because your plants are looking perfect

 

[matthewgardner]

Well raising the intensity of the lighting will mean more nutrients & CO2 will be required, as you will turn this into a 'high tech' setup

If you are going to raise the lighting then i would encourage you use a pressurized system.

The plants just grow faster with more lighting/ CO2/ nutrients, not necassarily healthier. I wouldnt change things if possible (just buy an overtank light unit with the same/ similar wattage)because your plants are looking perfect

 

[matthewgardner]

Many thanks aaronnorth,

Will look into the over tank lighting now, would liquid carbon effect my attemts to grow java moss as i thought it was a form of algie, as i am not a big fan of my tetra c02 kit.

ta again.

 

[aaronnorth]

java moss is a plant.

Moss balls/ marimo balls are algae though (cladophora)

The liquid caron should be fine with moss, plants that dont do so well are egeria, bladderworts, liveworts, vallisneria. But people have had success dosing at the reccomended rates.