10 g

1998 Views 11 Replies 3 Participants Last post by midnightrider, Oct 13, 2009

midnightrider

Discussion Starter · Sep 17, 2009

I started a 10g last Nov.-Dec. I have 6 celestial pearl danios, one male guppy, and sometimes up to 30 fancy guppy fry, or their female parent. It has rotala, 1 small java fern, 3 small dwarf lotus, some dieing apogenoten bulbs and italian val. The lotus and appogenoten are pulled of parent plants in my 29g tank. Substrate is eco-complete with some black coated gravel on top. I have 2 15 watt florescent bulbs one 18,000K the other 8,000K. Everything besides the rotala has its older growth melting. What can I do to ensure faster growth or less melting? I had a massive algae problem in the tank's infancy but after removing my mopani wood from foster and smith the algae subsided. Should I put the wood back in for the java to be on top of? I'm tired of having a fish tank with a few plants, instead of a lush forest.

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FrostyNYC

· #2 · Sep 17, 2009

Your 18,000 k bulb is too high on the light wavelength to really benefit your plants. So effectively, your tank is 15 watts on a 10 gallon, which is low light. Are all your plants melting, or just the aponogeton and vals?

Apono bulbs sometimes mysteriously die if they've been growing for a long time without a rest period where they can dry out. You might want to do some research on that.

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midnightrider

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 22, 2009

My other appogenoten shed all their leaves and go dormant for a month or two depending on the season. In my 10 they seem to never come back, and disapear into the eco-complete never to be seen again. The dwarf lotus is slightly melting along with the val and appo's. But the java is showing very slow growth and the rotala is growing fast enough for me to keep trimming and propogating it. Any thaughts on the mopani drift wood? I'm soaking it in a bucket of dechlorinated water but the wood stinks, which makes me think it's just going to keep causing algae of I put it in the tank again.

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midnightrider

Discussion Starter · #4 · Sep 25, 2009

Should I stop using my 18,000K bulb?

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oldpunk78

· #5 · Sep 26, 2009

midnightrider said:
Should I stop using my 18,000K bulb?

how old is the bulb? it should grow plants just fine. it might look too violet all by it self though.

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oldpunk78

· #6 · Sep 26, 2009

FrostyNYC said:
Your 18,000 k bulb is too high on the light wavelength to really benefit your plants. So effectively, your tank is 15 watts on a 10 gallon, which is low light.

frosty- here's hagen's rendering of the power glo light spectrum:

^ that looks a lot like the aquaflora bulb so many folks like so much. anyway, it grew plants just like a 6,500K bulb did for me. i used it in conjunction with a 6,700K bulb though.

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midnightrider

Discussion Starter · #7 · Sep 29, 2009

I've been using the 18,000 K bulb with another 8,000 K bulb. Both are only a few months old. The rotala is the only thing really growing. But the java fern has sprouted a new leaf. I should have pictures up tonight.

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