[Sennagalous]

im sure this situation happens all the time but i feel my situation is unique and i want to ensure that im doing everything correctly... sorry in advance as i know this will be a novel.

i inquired a 6th tank a few months back and its a tall 20 gallon, a very cool wood pannel tank made by an old local company. it was free so i couldnt resist. it was only the tank though and no hood filter etc. so i grabbed a glass canopy two of my 18inch t8 domes and an old singlebright led. none of which i use anymore since i upgraded the old tank to t5.

i placed one light infront of the bottom of the tank on both sides (front and back), and the singlebright on top. i cycled the tank for a few weeks and then added some dwarfhairgrass, crypts, weeping moss, flame moss, christmas moss, wisteria, duckweed, some ferns, and a huge moss ball ive had for 3 yrs out of my overplanted 250 (seriously all those plants came from one tank and you cant even tell they're missing... the carpet is so thick my 12" peacock eel cant even dig it up) i plan to buy some 4 leaf clover, mermaid weed, bannana, lilly pad, star grass, and tiger lotus soon and im sure ill put some in this tank.

i have 5 pieces of driftwood (one in each corner the back ones look like walls and the front two point caticornered with weeping moss hanging off them and the middle one looks like an alien giving a piece sign) i then added two ottos (all i could find) and a long finned bristlenose. i have lateryte as my first layer then ecocomplete and black sand on top (with a few pieces of orange and blue gravel for the lunar setting on the led) i have a hagen/diy co2 i can hook up if needed but i was gonna wait until i upgraded my light.

i put 8 flourish tabs in the substrate. now after adding my fish very sslowly from my other tanks i have 4 neon rainbowfish, 3glotetras(looks awesome with lunar setting), 1banjocat, 1twigcat, 1kuhli loach, 2 mystery snails, and 2 blue rams.

everyone has been very very happy for the past 2 months. my neon rainbows have spawned twice my banjo is out more than he ever was in the amazon tank, the kuhlis out a lot and the rams schoal with the rainbows/tetras. i have experienced no deaths or disease, however i wonder about the longevity of my light setup and how it could impact fishes health. i didnt plan to keep the lights this way but when i added the hairgrass i knew i needed more light. (considered making it a zombie tank with little to no plants... 5 planted tanks is a little much for me as it is...), now i prefer the look of the lights piercing through the bottom and have actually cut a background to fit the back fixture.

i think the light intensity may be too much.. but the whattage may be too low. are their any critisms of my setup thus far? i will post pics if needed but i must warn you that they will be blurry and probably small as they will be comming from a phone (my only camera) all plants are showing new growth, the fern seems to be going through a reproductive stage as it will show new growth and have its biggest leaves start to die rather quickley. the carpet is filling in well in the front even though small parts are being replanted almost daily thanks to my mystery snails.

i really need a keep off the grass sign...

*just edited this, if anything sounds wrong it probably is.

 

[Sennagalous]

i meant to put this in general.. can i do that now?

 

[samamorgan]

This is the lighting forum, why change where it's at.

I didn't read your post because it's horribly formatted. Please get rid of the massive block of text for a paragraph format so i can actually read the thing. Sorry to be such a nazi, but i saw that massive wall of text and though "TL;DR"

 

[Sennagalous]

sorry about that, never done the forum thing before and i rarely get to talk about my tanks.

 

[roadmaster]

This is the lighting forum, why change where it's at.

I didn't read your post because it's horribly formatted. Please get rid of the massive block of text for a paragraph format so i can actually read the thing. Sorry to be such a nazi, but i saw that massive wall of text and though "TL;DR"

"I saw massive wall of text and Though? TL,DR." ??
Me think's " Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.":icon_lol:
What is TL,DR, ?
"I saw massive wall of text and, "THOUGHT?"

 

[roadmaster]

im sure this situation happens all the time but i feel my situation is unique and i want to ensure that im doing everything correctly... sorry in advance as i know this will be a novel.

i inquired a 6th tank a few months back and its a tall 20 gallon, a very cool wood pannel tank made by an old local company. it was free so i couldnt resist. it was only the tank though and no hood filter etc. so i grabbed a glass canopy two of my 18inch t8 domes and an old singlebright led. none of which i use anymore since i upgraded the old tank to t5.

i placed one light infront of the bottom of the tank on both sides (front and back), and the singlebright on top. i cycled the tank for a few weeks and then added some dwarfhairgrass, crypts, weeping moss, flame moss, christmas moss, wisteria, duckweed, some ferns, and a huge moss ball ive had for 3 yrs out of my overplanted 250 (seriously all those plants came from one tank and you cant even tell they're missing... the carpet is so thick my 12" peacock eel cant even dig it up) i plan to buy some 4 leaf clover, mermaid weed, bannana, lilly pad, star grass, and tiger lotus soon and im sure ill put some in this tank.

i have 5 pieces of driftwood (one in each corner the back ones look like walls and the front two point caticornered with weeping moss hanging off them and the middle one looks like an alien giving a piece sign) i then added two ottos (all i could find) and a long finned bristlenose. i have lateryte as my first layer then ecocomplete and black sand on top (with a few pieces of orange and blue gravel for the lunar setting on the led) i have a hagen/diy co2 i can hook up if needed but i was gonna wait until i upgraded my light.

i put 8 flourish tabs in the substrate. now after adding my fish very sslowly from my other tanks i have 4 neon rainbowfish, 3glotetras(looks awesome with lunar setting), 1banjocat, 1twigcat, 1kuhli loach, 2 mystery snails, and 2 blue rams.

everyone has been very very happy for the past 2 months. my neon rainbows have spawned twice my banjo is out more than he ever was in the amazon tank, the kuhlis out a lot and the rams schoal with the rainbows/tetras. i have experienced no deaths or disease, however i wonder about the longevity of my light setup and how it could impact fishes health. i didnt plan to keep the lights this way but when i added the hairgrass i knew i needed more light. (considered making it a zombie tank with little to no plants... 5 planted tanks is a little much for me as it is...), now i prefer the look of the lights piercing through the bottom and have actually cut a background to fit the back fixture.

i think the light intensity may be too much.. but the whattage may be too low. are their any critisms of my setup thus far? i will post pics if needed but i must warn you that they will be blurry and probably small as they will be comming from a phone (my only camera) all plants are showing new growth, the fern seems to be going through a reproductive stage as it will show new growth and have its biggest leaves start to die rather quickley. the carpet is filling in well in the front even though small parts are being replanted almost daily thanks to my mystery snails.

i really need a keep off the grass sign...

*just edited this, if anything sounds wrong it probably is.

Well if lighting is working,,I might not change anything.
Do believe sand cap will eventually find it's way to the bottom being smaller diameter than Eco- complete along with antics of banjo cat(digging).
Crypt's and wisteria if planted (not floating), are only plant's you presently have that really need root tabs, but eight,,,sounds a bit much= possible cloudy water.?

 

[Sennagalous]

thanks for responding. yea the ecocomplete gets more exposed everyday, and the tabs were origanaly for dwarfswords and the hairgrass. when i first started growing hairgrass i had so much trouble getting runners, so i removed all fish and did everything i could. (chasing that carpet look)

i added tabs ferts co2 and increased the lighting. 6weeks later i had the start of a very thick carpet. so now anytime i put a plant that im sceptical of in the tank i add tabs.

my lfs told me to use as many tabs as possible at first. i suggested a 4pack of cheap tabs, he told me to double it and get the flourish. the tank was cloudy the first 2 days of having the tabs and if im replanting hairgrass ill bump a spot that causes a cloud occasionally.

thanks again if there are no objections to using the light this way i will keep on with it ;-) i was expecting to hear that i was dooming my plants in the long run.

btw my rams spawned this morning! thought i had 2 males... research time!