Too much light?

[Markahsf]

I currently have have a dual lamp T5HO 20" fixture on one of my 10 gallons and each bulb is rated at 18 watts.

I know the whole WPG doesn't matter too much but I was wondering if a CO2 system was needed for a tank with this much light.

My substrate is gravel and sand and the plants I have are as follows.

Anacharis
Java Moss
Java Fern
Anubias nana
Amazon sword
Dwarf Sag

All of my plants are thriving but the reason I switched lights was because the hood that was on it broke and I had this fixture on my 15 gallon that was currently being rescaped.

I use liquid ferts as well as root tabs. This tank was mainly intended to be a low tech tank.

[CatB]

yes, you need CO2. pressurized. that, or you need to raise the light a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT off the tank. like... over a foot.

[Markahsf]

Originally Posted by CatB

yes, you need CO2. pressurized. that, or you need to raise the light a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT off the tank. like... over a foot.

Would something like excel suffice for a tank of my size?

[Aquaticfan]

While Excel can help its still not Co2. Besides raising the light you can also try using some nylon black screen mesh thats used in Screen doors. You can layer it across the tank or across the light as it will help cut down the light some.. The other options are raising the light. When you say your using liquid ferts what are you using? are you dosing Micro and macro? How often? With higher light more nutrients will be taken in as well. If you want it to be low light then I would recommend maybe doing a CFL set up that would work in an incandescent hood.

[xmas_one]

Raise the light and/or floaters.

[Markahsf]

Originally Posted by Aquaticfan

While Excel can help its still not Co2. Besides raising the light you can also try using some nylon black screen mesh thats used in Screen doors. You can layer it across the tank or across the light as it will help cut down the light some.. The other options are raising the light. When you say your using liquid ferts what are you using? are you dosing Micro and macro? How often? With higher light more nutrients will be taken in as well. If you want it to be low light then I would recommend maybe doing a CFL set up that would work in an incandescent hood.

I've been using flourish and excel. The hood that broke had two 13 watt CFls and while I liked the low light set up, I like my high tech tanks a whole lot more so I was thinking of just keeping this fixture on this tank. Raising the entire fixture is out of the question.

How about replacing on of the bulbs (or both) with a weaker light? I haven't found any yet but I'm sure I can find some. I just hate how hard it is to find 20" T5HO bulb online.

[Markahsf]

Originally Posted by xmas_one

Raise the light and/or floaters.

Floaters could work. I could try floating my anacharis.