Compact Fluorescent Lighting

[Cichlid Junkie]

I have a 10 gallon tank that I want to put CF lighting on. I am tossing up between the 2 X 13 watt kit (2.6 w/g) and the 1 x 36 watt kit (3.6 w/g) and dont know which one to get. I have florite covered with pool filter sand for a total of a 3 inch depth, straite RO water, driftwood, and some java ferns and moss as plants. I might get some more plants late on. If I go for the 36 watt lighting setup, how much algee will I have to combat if the lights are on for 12 hrs/day? I have a bristle nose pleco and will get some red cherry shrimp for cleanup. Any suggestions?

 

[aspen]

i would go for an incandescent hood, and buy screw in lamps. this way you can vary the amount and the quality of the light by simply buying different bulbs. this is a very inexpensive alternative compared to a cf kit, and works quite well for me in my small ram tanks. watch lamp life. some lamps sacrifice lamp life for the ability to light under cold conditions.

the more light you put on a tank, the more the plants and also the algae will grow. imo, if you go to lighting that high in your tanks, a co2 set-up is a must, or you will have a lot of work on your hands. the combination of a dwarf bn pleco and cherry shrimp is ok, providing the pleco doesn't chow down on your swords like mine do, and the cichlids have a place to breed that the pleco can't get into. open spawners like rams will consistantly lose their eggs, but i'm pretty sure that cave spawners will be ok. i personally don't keep plecos in tanks i want to save babies but you may be ok if you plan it properly. i keep my bn plecos in tanks with no sword plants (anubias and java ferns are ok, as are stem plants), it is a real pita watching a sword get eaten in 2 days.

as for the shrimp, i've seen lots of s/a tanks with shrimp in them and the cichlids leave them alone. but many experience a steady death rate from their dwarfs. ymmv.

imo an sae grows way too big for a 10 gal. a single american flag fish would be really good, but i would definately get a female, and certanly not a pair. some seem to be ok by others' exp, but i've had these buggers rip apart juvenile rams when the aff's go into breeding mode. they are very ravenous hair algae munchers, but they will decimate fine leafed plants like rotalla walachii f/i. they just love to eat plants like that, and they have left me with spindly stalks of an otherwise beautiful plant.

it all comes down to planning, based on exp for what you like to look at and your own goals for the tank. planted tanks can be awesome, or a real pita. starting with a 10 gal is a great place to start, if things aren't working it takes 2 hours to do a teardown, and the amount of substrates and plants are minimal as compared to doing a 180 gal right off the bat.

rick

 

[Cichlid Junkie]

I got lucky with my dwarf bn pleco. He has been in a tank with swords, eggs and fry without harming anything. He is great. I have 5 fry/juvenals in the tank now that are about 2.5 months old, so adding the shrimp at thris time will be a good thing. It would be harder for fish to eat the shrimp if they are the same size!

I have had luck with growing anubias, swords, moss and fern at 2 w/g and no fertilizer, but I would like to have a little more growth without CO2 if possible. I guess I coud do a DIY CO2 seetup if need be.

 

[aspen]

if you are adding fert, i would suspect that the growth you are experiencing with those plants is limited by the available co2. adding more light would probably just stimulate more algae, not necessarily get your plants growing faster. what you might want to try is, adding the diy co2 for a while. diy is easy. get the plants growing into top form with the co2 and better lights, then when the tank looks it's best switch back to do a little less maintenance. summer is coming, it'll be time to go out and throw a ball around soon.
rick

 

[farm41]

It's going to be real tough to get much growth with just RO water, start adding some tap water or some type RO right to get the goodies back in to the water that your plants need for growth. Ferts are not enough on their own.

I would be real careful with light on the 10g, maybe keep it below 2.5wpg. Things can get messy fast at 3.6wpg in a 10g. The smaller the tank the more unstable it is. It is a real balancing act, keeping the algea in check with a new tank. Co2 is very wise investment, I have had success with diy, but tanked co2 is much easier to handle.

 

[Cichlid Junkie]

Farm41,
How much tap water should I add when doing a water change? Here are the specifics.

Tank Tap

PH 6.0 8.2
Ammonia 0 ppm 0 ppm
Nitrates 0 ppm 0 ppm
GH 4 12
KH 3 4

What are your thoughts?

 

[farm41]

Tank Tap


GH 4 12
KH 3 4

You have Gh 4 and Kh of 3 in your tank using straight RO. Either your membranes must be bad on the RO unit, or you have something in the tank adding some hardness to it.

Do you have any shells in the tank?

 

[depthc]

What plants do you plan to grow in this tank? If you want to grow anything you throw in the tank go with the 36w kit. I have the 2x13w kit on a 10g, aquaclear mini filter, flourite substrate, and DIY c02 injected into the filter intake tube. In this tank i can grow a decent amount of plants but ive found it quiet difficult to grow harder species of plants such as glosso, hairgrass, and others. You can check out a few images of the tank here http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/showthread.php?t=25074&page=1&pp=15

If i had the chance to go back now i would have sided with the 36w kit. I would love to grow me some riccia or glosso, or any plant i wanted but its a bit difficult with the 2x13w kit.

So its up to you and what your needs are, btw make sure you go with the bright kit which includes their reflector. Their reflectors are top quality and they cant be beaten. They are also so necassary since a good reflector makes all the difference. I dont see why some people order the kit without the reflector. yeah you save a few bucks but really you just spent that money on a good light and your not optomizing the usefulness of the unit without a good quality reflector.

Andrew

 

[tjnelson44]

I have a 10 gal with the 36 watt kit. It provides enough light to make my glosso grow horizontal instead of vertical. I must agree with Andrew concering the reflector. It makes all the difference in the world. Before the AHS 36 watt kit, I had different 36 watt fixture with a mediocore reflector. My glosso would not grow flat, it would form 3 inch tall stems instead of making a carpet.
Trevor

 

[Cichlid Junkie]

The water I get is from a local RO machine. I only have a clay post and a river rock to hold up some driftwood, so I don't think there adjusting the water. I have a bare bottom 7g using the same water and the perameters are the same in both tanks.

Right now I'm only growing java ferns and moss, but eventually I would like to have some medium hard plants to grow. Without having a green thumb or the time to obtain one, relativily easy to medium plants is all I plan to grow. That is why I'm leaning to the 2 X 13 watt kit.