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Dmaaaaax · 01-06-2010, 09:54 AM

How is the tank going? I just read through most of the posts and I am not sure what all you settled on (gravel, lights, plants) but wanted to chime in with a few things that may help.

Lighting: You are using T5 in a 20g. These are high output, hig penetration lights 1 28w bulb will be enough for awhile. Perhaps when your tank is really growing can you add a second bulb. The 6700k bulb is slightly yellowish in tint and is the wavelength most plants like. A 10,000k bulb is usually full spectrum pure white and will work just fine for plants.

Gravel: Probably too late, but if you are going with high lights and CO2 I would recommend some clay-like substrates such as flourite, eco-complete...etc. Rinse these out well so you don't have too much mineral leeching into the water. Peat will drop the pH of the water and is unnessary for most fish, especially if you are adding CO2 that will drop the pH even more.

Your cloudiness: Unless it is green, is probably a bacteria bloom, not algae bloom, but it could also be nutrients/clay particles if you used one of the above substrate.

DiY CO2: Keep an eye out on your pH for a couple of days. See what it is prior to adding it to the tank and see what it drops down to in your tank. You can adjust the bubble rate a bit by sinking the bubbler lower into your tank (more water pressure). You can also fine tune it by adding or subtracting more bottles, bottle size, more/less sugar...etc. If you do not have a high enough kH and GH you may see bigger fluctuations in the pH. RO/DI water is too pure, I would mix it 50/50 with your tap or you will have to add GH booster, pH buffers, on top of your plant nutrients.

At night you may want to turn on an airstone if you do not have a lot of surface tension. Plants flip flop at night and give off CO2 while taking in oxygen. You want to make sure your tank has enough oxygen via aeration and gassing off CO2 via some surface tension.

Lastly, I noticed you are trying to have a planted tank with goldfish? These fish may start eating some of your plants and that pleco may get to big and start uprooting some of your plants as well.

01-06-2010, 09:54 AM	#64 (permalink)
Dmaaaaax Dmaaaaax's Photo Gallery Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 756 Location: North Carolina Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 21 Times Said "Thanks" 35 Times Was Thanked 181 Times in 153 Posts	Re: Starting a planted tank How is the tank going? I just read through most of the posts and I am not sure what all you settled on (gravel, lights, plants) but wanted to chime in with a few things that may help. Lighting: You are using T5 in a 20g. These are high output, hig penetration lights 1 28w bulb will be enough for awhile. Perhaps when your tank is really growing can you add a second bulb. The 6700k bulb is slightly yellowish in tint and is the wavelength most plants like. A 10,000k bulb is usually full spectrum pure white and will work just fine for plants. Gravel: Probably too late, but if you are going with high lights and CO2 I would recommend some clay-like substrates such as flourite, eco-complete...etc. Rinse these out well so you don't have too much mineral leeching into the water. Peat will drop the pH of the water and is unnessary for most fish, especially if you are adding CO2 that will drop the pH even more. Your cloudiness: Unless it is green, is probably a bacteria bloom, not algae bloom, but it could also be nutrients/clay particles if you used one of the above substrate. DiY CO2: Keep an eye out on your pH for a couple of days. See what it is prior to adding it to the tank and see what it drops down to in your tank. You can adjust the bubble rate a bit by sinking the bubbler lower into your tank (more water pressure). You can also fine tune it by adding or subtracting more bottles, bottle size, more/less sugar...etc. If you do not have a high enough kH and GH you may see bigger fluctuations in the pH. RO/DI water is too pure, I would mix it 50/50 with your tap or you will have to add GH booster, pH buffers, on top of your plant nutrients. At night you may want to turn on an airstone if you do not have a lot of surface tension. Plants flip flop at night and give off CO2 while taking in oxygen. You want to make sure your tank has enough oxygen via aeration and gassing off CO2 via some surface tension. Lastly, I noticed you are trying to have a planted tank with goldfish? These fish may start eating some of your plants and that pleco may get to big and start uprooting some of your plants as well. __________________ --->Pictures of my 75g Amazon tank<---- Last edited by Dmaaaaax : 01-06-2010 at 10:06 AM.