im new to live plants and this is my 55 gallon Top Fin 48Lx 18H x 13D. I'm currently using led lights that came with it , but didn't seem enough for my plants and had a dark area in the center. So I added a Marineland 21" hidden led bar to the center of my tank for additional light but not sure if it's enough or not.... honestly....I don't know if someone can help...please.
P.S. The plants I have are Java Fern , Java Moss , Amazon Sword, broad leaf ludwigia ,corkscrews( not sure of exact name) , Anubias and Monte Carlo for carpet.

Thx in advance.

 

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im new to live plants and this is my 55 gallon Top Fin 48Lx 18H x 13D. I'm currently using led lights that came with it , but didn't seem enough for my plants and had a dark area in the center. So I added a Marineland 21" hidden led bar to the center of my tank for additional light but not sure if it's enough or not.... honestly....I don't know if someone can help...please

Hello and welcome!

We measure light in PAR for planted tanks. All readings are done at the height of the substrate. The exact definitions for low, medium, and high light are actually a bit nebulous, but generally speaking low is going to be between 15 and 25 par, medium is between 25 and 50 par and high light is 50+ If you have 150+ par at substrate, that is generally the realm of experts and people growing algae.

So how do you tell how much par you have?

Well the best way is a par meter. But they cost a few hundred dollars.

The next best way is to calibrate the photone app for smart phones and use that. The third best way is to download the lux meter app for smart phones (or use an actual lux meter) and take the reading the same height from the light as your substrate, and divide it by 80 to get a rough estimate.

For a low tech tank (any tank that doesn't have injected co2) you will want to keep the amount of light between say 20 and 40 par at most. And generally if you want a nice smooth ride, you will want to keep it between 15 and 25 par especially when just starting off.

Other things to consider, fertilizer and water changes. Keeping that much plant mass in your tank will improve water quality and allow your fish good hiding places/sight blocks etc. But it does require some different maintenance. You will need to be fertilizing the plants with a complete fertilizer that provides everything the plants need. My favorites are Nilocg ThriveC (the c is for low tech tanks) and Aquarium Co-Op Easy Green. Both will do a good job.

Regarding maintenance, you will need to start doing 50+% water changes each week. Why? Well the fertilizer we use is part of a system called "Estimative Index" (EI) and it works by flooding the tank with all nutrients a plant needs and then relies on that big water change to reset values each week. Works extremely well, but you need to do the big water change to keep algae under control.

Hopefully this helps, good luck!

 

I started the tank with an active-flora base and used aqua natural black diamond. I also have a clown rubber lip , bristlenose pleco 2 otocinclus that are doing great with the algae control. But I've always been told that a 50% water change is super stressful on fish (should have put live fish in tank) so to avoid that much at once...I currently change 15 gallons every week. I thought I got plants that didn't require a whole lot of fertilizer (I know some is needed for any plant) just don't know which ones or if there's an AIO on the market that would be suitable...about the only problem I'm having is with the Monte Carlo establishing itself.

 

So 3 things,

1) Your tank has lots of poop in it from however long its been in use. That's going to provide nutrients for the short term, but it will run out. Active-Flora does not contain fertilizer, its just gravel with some bacteria mixed in the bag near as I can tell from reading about it. Admittedly, I have never used it. Aqua Natural is of course just gravel. So both are inert. Nothing wrong with that and even if they were an aquasoil type substrate, you would still need fertilizer added because even aquasoil will deplete over time. Adding a complete fertilizer is your way forward. If you don't add it, what will happen is in a few months you will notice your plants not growing anymore and getting more and more algae on their leaves. This will be because they will have used up the available nutrients.

2) There is a school of thought that water changes are bad. Frankly, I have nothing good to say about this school of thought. It's just flat misinformation. Mostly circulated because it's easier to do no water changes or minimal water changes. Not only do most of our fish come from streams and rivers that are constantly turning over their water 24/7, but by any measure you wish to name, doing big water changes consistently will lead to better water for fish. Their behavior shows it with many species choosing to begin breeding after water changes etc. Using a bucket and a siphon on even medium sized tanks though is PAINFUL. If that's your method of water change currently, then I highly suggest looking into a water change system like a python which hooks up to your sink and makes doing water changes significantly easier.

3) Monte carlo is generally speaking, a high tech plant. Meaning it really needs high light and co2 injection to flourish. It is sometimes possible to get it to live in a low tech tank, but it won't spread like in high tech tanks. In other words, its very unlikely you will be able to keep it looking nice in the medium to long term.

 

😂😂😂😂...I do use buckets because my house water goes through a softner system and I can get natural water from my outside hose hook up but the drop in temperature would definitely cause problems with my fish. I fill buckets and let them sit overnight so they can reach room temperature before I add it and only have maybe a 2 degree drop in tank if I didn't do this the temp would drop at least 15 degrees my well is about 500 feet deep and very cold when it comes out and from my life experience (general contractor) copper pipe leaks toxins when using hot water granted it's not boiling but still those toxins are released and I recently lost half my fish to a massive nitrite spike part of the reason I switched to live plants.
Thanks for the info on Monte Carlo I didn't know those things.

 

😂😂😂😂...I do use buckets because my house water goes through a softner system and I can get natural water from my outside hose hook up but the drop in temperature would definitely cause problems with my fish. I fill buckets and let them sit overnight so they can reach room temperature before I add it and only have maybe a 2 degree drop in tank if I didn't do this the temp would drop at least 15 degrees my well is about 500 feet deep and very cold when it comes out and from my life experience (general contractor) copper pipe leaks toxins when using hot water granted it's not boiling but still those toxins are released and I recently lost half my fish to a massive nitrite spike part of the reason I switched to live plants.
Thanks for the info on Monte Carlo I didn't know those things.

You might want to look into using pumps for doing water changes then. You can get a new brute trashcan (weird, but this is actually the most typical and cheapest water storage vessel), and fill it from your spigot. Store the whole thing indoors etc. Then when it's water change day you can use a pump in your tank to suck out the water with the hose leading... wherever, outside to water your lawn, the sink, etc. Then when its down low enough, take the pump out and put it in the trash can full of water and pump that back into your tank.

Good luck!

 

I doubt it would be too much light.

My " best guess" is the Marineland light is about 6 watts . I found one saying lumens is 550.

The top fin 4 led tubes output is ?????
One vid I saw had white and red diodes in the top fin. When off red LEDs will look red.

 

I'm not sure of the output of the Top Fin lights but their just the standard 18" (maybe) and just solid white light....the Marineland has blue lights I use at night during the day I have to use both the blue and white lights together don't have a choice with how it's made. I'm probably gonna have to remove a few plants until I get more experience and more of an understanding of what I need. This is all completely new to me and the only info I've gotten is from the net and not really clear on things. I do have dark areas in the top corners and i can really tell the difference at night. It looks like a wedge is sitting in my tank with no light at all in the corners. I can sorta tell the difference in my Java Moss that's about the same height but the area closer to the side seems not to be doing as good as the center area of the tank. I might just get another Marineland and try it for a few weeks and see if there's a difference on the sides. I also got to figure out which fertilizer to use as well. Just alot of things I didn't know where to look and bad info from LFS.