What not to do when starting a high light tank?

2044 Views 16 Replies 14 Participants Last post by NJAquaBarren, Nov 10, 2010

Kunsthure

Discussion Starter · Nov 9, 2010

I'll be getting my Solar 2x54w (maybe 3x54w) lights and pressurized CO2 setup for my 75g for Xmas if Santa has me on the nice list this year. I've been doing a lot of reading here in preparation for moving into a high light, high tech tank. I'm confident in my abilities to do low light and medium light with DIY CO2, so I feel ready to take the next step. I've found the "do's" so what I'm looking for now are the "don'ts" of starting this tank. What mistakes did you make? What do you wish you could've done differently? What do you know now that you wished you'd known then?

-Lisa

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cah925

· #2 · Nov 9, 2010

I'll start with this-
Find a way to hang the lights or have some way of adjusting the height of the light over the tank. I have found that the 1" or 2" that you get with legs is not always the best distance for a high light system.
I'm sure I'll think of more later.

bill321

· #3 · Nov 9, 2010

I am still a n00bie.....but I 2nd that motion.

The ability to hang the lights so you can raise and lower them is some of the best advice I have gotten.

Just my 2cents,

Bill321

malaybiswas

· #4 · Nov 9, 2010

May sound obvious but unlike low tech setups high tech setups are more prone to algae with slight imbalance. Don't procrastinate over wc and filter cleanup.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

random_alias

· #5 · Nov 9, 2010

Make sure you run your CO2 on a separate timer and have it start a few hours before your lights cut on. You want your CO2 to be at 30 ppm when the lights cut on, not three hours after. You can also set your CO2 to cut off a couple hours before your lights cut off if the CO2 levels stay constant until lights off. It takes a few days of observation to get the timings right.

If you hang the light, start it off a little high to approximate your old light levels and then gradually drop it down. You don't have to have a huge light increase all at once. This way, you are giving your plants a little time to adjust and you can easily tell when you are getting the light too close because of algae issues. If you start the light off too close, you will probably raise it quite a bit all at once to try to stop an algae outbreak, then you still have to gradually drop it back down. Might as well start out that way and avoid the algae altogether.

Don't add extra iron unless your plants are showing a deficiency. With high light tanks, it seemed like every time I supplemented iron I got an algae outbreak.

It wouldn't hurt to toss in some floating plants during the initial adjustment period and then gradually remove them. They will suck up nutrients and give your tank a better chance of adjusting to high light without having algae issues. Consider the floating plants to be a temporary buffer. You don't have to do this, but it helps.

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chad320

· #6 · Nov 9, 2010

I will kindly disagree with turning your co2 on before the lights. I stopped doing it via a recommendation on the Barr report saying that its unnecessary, and havent noticed a difference in 6 months. I also disagree with Fe causing algae outbreaks. I run high Fe without any algae visible to the naked eye.

Centromochlus

· #7 · Nov 10, 2010

I had no problems with turning on the co2 right when the lights come on... but IME, extra iron did cause huge algae outbreaks.

chad320

· #8 · Nov 10, 2010

Let me reword that please. Flash dosing lots of extra Fe will put your tank out of balance, and cause algae outbreaks. Building up to high Fe input can be accomplished without any algae problems at all

Hoppy

· #9 · Nov 10, 2010

chad320 said:
I will kindly disagree with turning your co2 on before the lights. I stopped doing it via a recommendation on the Barr report saying that its unnecessary, and havent noticed a difference in 6 months. I also disagree with Fe causing algae outbreaks. I run high Fe without any algae visible to the naked eye.

A drop checker typically takes a couple of hours to change to its final color. I think that fools lots of people into believing that it is taking that long for the CO2 to build up in the tank. If you have a good method for adding CO2 to the tank, one that is appropriate for your tank size, it shouldn't take much more than a half hour to build up the supply of CO2 in the water to where you want it. Starting the CO2 too soon can be a problem for the fish, since the plants won't be using it until the lights come on, but your bubble rate will be set for when the plants are using a lot of CO2.

I think the #1 thing not to do when going high light is to go too high in light. If you can get to 90-100 micromols of PAR at the substrate level, there is no reason to go any higher. Attempting to light a planted tank with the same intensity people use for reef tanks is a big mistake.

asiansensation2000

· #10 · Nov 10, 2010

I'd make sure you are dosing dry ferts correctly and possibly more on the heavy side. My first tank, I would follow the EI method to a tee and found that my plants were showing nitrate deficiencies. How can that be? I added No3 accordingly. I was surprised to find out how much plants suck down no3 and phosphates, and fe. So I'd dose the recommended EI ferts and add extra according to visual deficiencies I see in the plants. Now I have it dialed in and plants look great. Comparing my dosing now to EI recommendations, I'm literally adding 2x no3 and iron and anything else that looks deficient. Plants are robust, rich green, tiger lotus are so red due to extra iron.

I've been doing lots of reading and was always afraid of too much ferts = algae. It's the opposite! (Note: Heavily overdosing is not good either. Increase incrementally)

Also co2. Crank that puppy up to 30 ppm and make sure your tank is WELL CIRCULATED. Algae hides in stagnant areas.

Make sure your lighting is proper and good duration interval. Remember, if you're going really high tech with lots of plants, increase ferts! and you gotta make sure your co2 is at the right level.

Don't overdo it on the fish population. Too much fish bioload = more organic waste = possible spike of ammonia = algae.

I'm done....."word" to your mother or I like mommy instead

Good luck.

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mistergreen

· #11 · Nov 10, 2010

I find turning on the CO2 an hour early helpful and shuts off a few hours before the lights turns off great as well so not to stress or kill the fishes.

Welcome to high-tech. Now you get to experience all the aspects from low - to - high. Don't expect it to be as easy as your low techs. It's a lot more work and much higher risk of algae.

I'd hang the lights too so you can grow some plants out of the water.

HypnoticAquatic

· #12 · Nov 10, 2010

one thing i havent seen anyone say is if your light is very bright and u go to a full schedule you can sunburn them so start off with less time then slowly bump it up so they can get used to it hangin it will basically do the same thing as its slowly adjusting to the intensity. most lights wont but it still helps with the transition. 15-30min is max for water to get saturated with co².

plantbrain

· #13 · Nov 10, 2010

Best thing not to when setting up and high light tank?

Do not add high light

roud:

Simple solution there.

It's been a few years since I got rid of my last high light tank.
Took awhile to convince myself I did not need it.
I still sell lots of plants, have nice scapes, but I garden lots more and deal with ferts/dosing/CO2 less.

My electric bill is also 3x less.

Regards,
Tom Barr

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plantbrain

· #14 · Nov 10, 2010

2

Kunsthure said:
I'll be getting my Solar 2x54w (maybe 3x54w) lights and pressurized CO2 setup for my 75g for Xmas if Santa has me on the nice list this year. I've been doing a lot of reading here in preparation for moving into a high light, high tech tank. I'm confident in my abilities to do low light and medium light with DIY CO2, so I feel ready to take the next step. I've found the "do's" so what I'm looking for now are the "don'ts" of starting this tank. What mistakes did you make? What do you wish you could've done differently? What do you know now that you wished you'd known then?

-Lisa

Here's a 70 Gal with 2 x 54W:

Trimmed:

Untrimmed and neglected for awhile:

Seems to work plenty good there.

Stick with 2 bulbs(I'd get the Tek 4x 54, but then only use the 2 outer most bulbs). This way the spread of light is wide front the back of the tank. With a single narrow strip like 2x54W light, you cannot really get good coverage and even light spread.

I guess you could DIY a retro fit inside a hood etc and place them 12-14" apart also for much cheaper.

Might go for that option as well.

Then, go good high grade on the CO2 and current/filtration.
These will play a large role in the future.

Regards,
Tom Barr

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captain_bu

· #15 · Nov 10, 2010

plantbrain said:
Stick with 2 bulbs(I'd get the Tek 4x 54, but then only use the 2 outer most bulbs). This way the spread of light is wide front the back of the tank. With a single narrow strip like 2x54W light, you cannot really get good coverage and even light spread.

I guess you could DIY a retro fit inside a hood etc and place them 12-14" apart also for much cheaper.
Regards,
Tom Barr

She is ordering a fixture from Catalina. For little to no extra cost they will build her a 2 bulb fixture using the widest housing they carry so that the bulbs can be spaced as far apart as possible. No, need to buy a 4 bulb fixture just to use the two outer bulbs.

Agree that 2 x 54 watt bulbs is more than enough.

plantbrain

· #16 · Nov 10, 2010

captain_bu said:
She is ordering a fixture from Catalina. For little to no extra cost they will build her a 2 bulb fixture using the widest housing they carry so that the bulbs can be spaced as far apart as possible. No, need to buy a 4 bulb fixture just to use the two outer bulbs.

Agree that 2 x 54 watt bulbs is more than enough.

Thanks, that's a good option I forget about often, even though thtye are right here where I live. But I do not like the look of their hoods:angryfire
Tek looks nicer.

Ho hum........but I might have to have them make me a new 72" t5 for my 180, since Tek is none too good about the 72" length.
But a good option since they will build to suit!

Regards,
Tom Barr

NJAquaBarren

· #17 · Nov 10, 2010 (Edited)

I like the 4-bulb fixture. I only have 2 bulbs on at a time and split the day between the 2 banks of 2 bulbs. That way I never have more than 2 bulbs on at a time, I still get the benefit of spread and have the ability to have different bulbs in each bank.

In the am I run daylight bulbs and in the pm aquaflora for a subdued, color rich look.

Plants seem a little fuller than they did with the stock Hagen 2-bulb fixture in which the 2 bulbs were close together.

Overall though, very little difference. For all the sweating little details it seems mostly academic. I like the look of different bulbs, but that's for me not the plants.

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