Lights and CO2

718 Views 4 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Exie, Sep 27, 2012

Exie

Discussion Starter · Sep 27, 2012

Hi guys,

So I'm a poor college student, and because of that, I buy my aquarium piece by piece. Recently I ran into a Coralife light fixture for $20. It holds two 96 watt double-tube fluorescent, and even had a deep blue, working, tube installed!

They thought it was 1/2 dead, so it was in their pile of used junk. Replaced a fuse and some wires on a fan (it was overheating) and it was good to go! I threw that bad boy up on my tank and watched the plants GROW, inches a day!

For the first 2 days. Then they stopped. And started getting spotty dark green, and finally brown creeping along the edges of leaves. I figured this was CO2 depletion, so I turned the lights off to stop photosynthesis.

I have a few questions about my new miniature sun. Right now, I have a blue light and a 10k white in it. Does the color matter for plants? Would it hurt to run the blue light at night?

Finally, what kind of CO2 do I need for a 40b aquarium with a high output light, and how can I get that as cheaply as possible?

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Hoppy

· #2 · Sep 27, 2012

I suggest doing some reading in the FAQ section of the lighting forum and the fertilizing forum. Some more basic information will help you a lot.

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herns

· #3 · Sep 27, 2012

Exie said:
I have a few questions about my new miniature sun. Right now, I have a blue light

I presume this is actinic bulb.You dont need this bulb on your plants.

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PlantedRich

· #4 · Sep 27, 2012

Congrats on the find as well as having the good sense to repair it. But then I may want to bum the deal a bit!
It may take a lot of reading and study to get it all to make sense. We hear a lot about light to grow plants but what we find is that it takes Balance. Three legs on this stool to get it to work. Light which you may have too much. Ferts which can be added with a little study. Then there is a need for CO2. That can be a big question. Many options, some cheap but many very expensive. Too much or too little of any may lead to trouble with algae taking over.

Much reading required!

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Exie

Discussion Starter · #5 · Sep 27, 2012

Lots of reading

I was pretty well versed in a low-light setup (because its easier), but didnt read much into the high light systems.

For now, my ferts are going to come from the fact that I have a dirt tank, and root tabs. That in mind, will I still need to dose?

It is an actinic bulb. Sell it? What does it do to a freshwater system?

CO2, I'm looking for the cheapest system there is; and doesn't require heavy tools to make (I love DIY, but poor college student in an apartment

)

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