Planted 5 gallon Noob-Tank

Intelligently Stupid · 01-28-2013, 01:27 AM

5 Gallon tank that's been running for about 6 months, decided to plant.
- Added a "Aqueon® Mini Compact 50/50 Fluorescent Lamp"
- Bought Seachem Flourish
- Yes I am using gravel, sorry.

Have currently the following in the tank:

2x Fancy Guppies
2x Ghost Shrimp
5x Hygrophilia Polysperma 'Sunset' (One is floating at the top for now)
Too Manyx Italian Valisnaria Spiralis

Day 2:
(1-26-13)
Added about .25/.50ml of Seachem Flourish
Added two Fancy Guppies

Day 3:
(1-27-13)
Pictures

Could use arranging suggestions, or anything you think is necessary to tell me.

Redtail84 · 01-28-2013, 01:44 AM

Welcome to the forum! Plants can be so much fun. I like your set up. I do have one suggestion. You might want to look into replacing that 50/50 bulb. The actinic (blue) in it won't do anything for your plants, and I've heard it can lead to algae problems. If the compact fluorescent is the screw in type, you can pick up the spiral ones at any hardware store or w-mart. You want a bulb with a color temperature around 5,000 or 6,500K (Kelvin). It will usually say daylight on the packaging. That spectrum is what is beneficial for plant growth.

Intelligently Stupid · 01-28-2013, 02:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redtail84

Welcome to the forum! Plants can be so much fun. I like your set up. I do have one suggestion. You might want to look into replacing that 50/50 bulb. The actinic (blue) in it won't do anything for your plants, and I've heard it can lead to algae problems. If the compact fluorescent is the screw in type, you can pick up the spiral ones at any hardware store or w-mart. You want a bulb with a color temperature around 5,000 or 6,500K (Kelvin). It will usually say daylight on the packaging. That spectrum is what is beneficial for plant growth.

The bulb I have says it is 50% 10,000K Daylight and 50% True Actinic Bluelight.
Is this not good enough? Sorry, still a noob at this.

Intelligently Stupid · 01-31-2013, 03:39 AM

Day 5:
(1-29-13)

Water change and re-arranged plants.
Obvious growth in the sunset plants.
Excuse the mess, picture was taken after water change.

01-28-2013, 01:27 AM	#1
Intelligently Stupid Newbie (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Arizona Posts: 4	Planted 5 gallon Noob-Tank 5 Gallon tank that's been running for about 6 months, decided to plant. - Added a "Aqueon® Mini Compact 50/50 Fluorescent Lamp" - Bought Seachem Flourish - Yes I am using gravel, sorry. Have currently the following in the tank: 2x Fancy Guppies 2x Ghost Shrimp 5x Hygrophilia Polysperma 'Sunset' (One is floating at the top for now) Too Manyx Italian Valisnaria Spiralis Day 2: (1-26-13) Added about .25/.50ml of Seachem Flourish Added two Fancy Guppies Day 3: (1-27-13) Pictures Could use arranging suggestions, or anything you think is necessary to tell me. Last edited by Intelligently Stupid; 01-28-2013 at 09:38 PM.. Reason: dates

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01-28-2013, 01:44 AM	#2
Redtail84 Algae Grower (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 49	Welcome to the forum! Plants can be so much fun. I like your set up. I do have one suggestion. You might want to look into replacing that 50/50 bulb. The actinic (blue) in it won't do anything for your plants, and I've heard it can lead to algae problems. If the compact fluorescent is the screw in type, you can pick up the spiral ones at any hardware store or w-mart. You want a bulb with a color temperature around 5,000 or 6,500K (Kelvin). It will usually say daylight on the packaging. That spectrum is what is beneficial for plant growth.

01-31-2013, 03:39 AM	#4
Intelligently Stupid Newbie (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Arizona Posts: 4	Day 5: (1-29-13) Water change and re-arranged plants. Obvious growth in the sunset plants. Excuse the mess, picture was taken after water change.