My New Tank, Questions?

[Bristlenose]

Hi ive just set up my tank from scratch after 3 years i decided to gut it and start a fresh.
I have currently got the surviving inhabitants from my old tank, 3 corys (one of which is 3 years old plus). A lone tetra (the only surviver after 3 years) and my latest purchase a rock shrimp (his great fun).

I decided to have real plants, which i never did before, ive planted the tank, the plants didnt come with tags but are tropical. Its been nearly a week and all is fine but i am concerned that my lighting requirements wont be enough.
So,...
Is one bulb enough?
How long should it be on for? Ive heard 12 hours?
Should it be a special type of bulb? If so what sort?
How will i know if the lights not enough? What are the signs? Brown leafs? Wilting?

Also, I am thinking of adding a tropical frog (my girlfriend likes them), Would it be ok, with shrimp or would it eat the shrimp? I am also thinking of adding, some honey gouramis, some more tetras!

Cheers all!

 

[jennybugs]

How big is your tank?
What wattage of bulb is it?

If your light isn't enough your plants will brown off/melt/disintegrate basically die. I do 12 hours on all my tanks bar my 15L baby biorb which seems to do fine with just 8 hours a day.

 

[Bristlenose]

How big is your tank?
What wattage of bulb is it?

If your light isn't enough your plants will brown off/melt/disintegrate basically die. I do 12 hours on all my tanks bar my 15L baby biorb which seems to do fine with just 8 hours a day.

Its only a small tank 76 litres.
Havent a clue on the wattage of the bulb. What would you recommend, are 2 bulbs always necessary?

 

[CrashingWaves]

I recently started looking into this a bit further since I didn't have much luck with plants in the past. It would seem that most people absolutely blast their fish tanks with light. Most petstores don't even sell bulbs much higher than 15 Watt. You might want to do some research on lowlight aquarium plant keeping though, would save you a lot of money.

God Bless,
Joshua

 

[Bristlenose]

I recently started looking into this a bit further since I didn't have much luck with plants in the past. It would seem that most people absolutely blast their fish tanks with light. Most petstores don't even sell bulbs much higher than 15 Watt. You might want to do some research on lowlight aquarium plant keeping though, would save you a lot of money.

God Bless,
Joshua

I asked at the local pets store, pets at hame. They werent that helpful, i wanted anubis and java fern as id heard they were easy to keep, they didnt seem to know what they were.

Does anyone know of some other easy plants to keep?

 

[SuperColey1]

Ideally you want to look for low light plants and aim for between 1 and 2 WPG (Watts per US Gallon) unless you want to go hi-tec with CO2 injection and dosing ferts.

Most shops in the UK sell much higher than 15W but seeing as you have a 20US Gallon Tank I guess its 24" long. Therefore you will probably only have 1 x 15W (18 inch) lamp giving you .75WPG

This should be OK seeing as your tank is not too deep.

You will need a reflector though or you will lose any light that eminates from the sides or top of the lamp with only the downward facing light being 'delivered' to the tank. These reflectors are about a fiver from P@H and they just clip onto your existing lamp. The white plastic that a lot of hoods come with are no good so you will need one of these polished aluminium ones.

If you choose to go for 2 bulbs then you will want to read some threads on here about clipping 2 bulbs together and also buy another starter unit to power it.

Never buy any plants from any pet shop that just says they are Aquatic. They may be tropical but a lot of plants sold are actually marsh plants and therefore rot over time once submerged. Pet Shops (even reputable ones) are not necessarily knowledgable about aquatic plants and often sell plants that are not suitable for under water existence.

Open a new thread in the planted section down the page from the tropical chit chat and post a pic of your tank with it's plants in it and we will tell you if there are any non aquatics in there as they will just rot and release ammonia (and we all know what happens then)

So all in all I would suggest:

Stay with the one lamp but get a good bulb like Arcadia Freshwater or similar (Don't get Original Tropical as on its own will send your tank very pink)

Buy a reflector to clip above it.

But some Tropica Plant Nutrition+ (plant fertiliser) from here:
http/www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.php?...roducts_id=1037
The dosage states 5ml per 50L but I would ignore that and just dose 5ml total per week as your lights will be quite low.

Research your plants on plantgeek.net before buying. I would suggest Java Ferns, Crypts, Anubias, Mosses, Egeria Densa and Cabomba as some good starters.

Don't move the plants around too much or you will end up getting algae. Decide where you want them and stick to that layout for a while until you are happy the tank is balanced.

See you in the planted section soon and Good Luck

Andy

 

[Bristlenose]

Ideally you want to look for low light plants and aim for between 1 and 2 WPG (Watts per US Gallon) unless you want to go hi-tec with CO2 injection and dosing ferts.

Most shops in the UK sell much higher than 15W but seeing as you have a 20US Gallon Tank I guess its 24" long. Therefore you will probably only have 1 x 15W (18 inch) lamp giving you .75WPG

This should be OK seeing as your tank is not too deep.

You will need a reflector though or you will lose any light that eminates from the sides or top of the lamp with only the downward facing light being 'delivered' to the tank. These reflectors are about a fiver from P@H and they just clip onto your existing lamp. The white plastic that a lot of hoods come with are no good so you will need one of these polished aluminium ones.

If you choose to go for 2 bulbs then you will want to read some threads on here about clipping 2 bulbs together and also buy another starter unit to power it.

Never buy any plants from any pet shop that just says they are Aquatic. They may be tropical but a lot of plants sold are actually marsh plants and therefore rot over time once submerged. Pet Shops (even reputable ones) are not necessarily knowledgable about aquatic plants and often sell plants that are not suitable for under water existence.

Open a new thread in the planted section down the page from the tropical chit chat and post a pic of your tank with it's plants in it and we will tell you if there are any non aquatics in there as they will just rot and release ammonia (and we all know what happens then)

So all in all I would suggest:

Stay with the one lamp but get a good bulb like Arcadia Freshwater or similar (Don't get Original Tropical as on its own will send your tank very pink)

Buy a reflector to clip above it.

But some Tropica Plant Nutrition+ (plant fertiliser) from here:
[URL="http/www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.php?...roducts_id=1037"]http/www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.php?...roducts_id=1037[/URL]
The dosage states 5ml per 50L but I would ignore that and just dose 5ml total per week as your lights will be quite low.

Research your plants on plantgeek.net before buying. I would suggest Java Ferns, Crypts, Anubias, Mosses, Egeria Densa and Cabomba as some good starters.

Don't move the plants around too much or you will end up getting algae. Decide where you want them and stick to that layout for a while until you are happy the tank is balanced.

See you in the planted section soon and Good Luck

Andy

Thank you so much, I am going to look into the bulb and reflector today, I am also posting pics of my tank and plants in the appropriate section after typing this, any help identifying them would be much appreciated!