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A couple of quick questions just to check -

Would two, 54W, 6500k tubes be ideal for a 44g tank?

Would the substrate be best with either Vermiculi, Fluorite, or a mix of both in the substrate recipe? Or do they both cover the same jobs?

Hi,
The lighting sounds fine and works out to be nearly
2 1/2 watts/gallon.

As far as the substrate is concerned, forget about
the vermiculite, and use either straight flourite
(best, but expensive) or regular aquarium gravel.
I've heard of folks using a 50/50 mix with flourite,
onyx, or Eco Complete. Any of the three are best 100%.

The vermiculite as I know it, comes with small foam pearls
that will continuousily float to the surface and become a
real pain to eliminate.

Check out these sites first:
http://home.infinet.net/teban/jamie.htm
http://www.plantedtank.net/substratecalculator.html
http://home.infinet.net/teban/substrat.htm

Genearlly speaking what most of us run these days
are considered to be "high tech" tanks. That is we
all use heavy filtration, push our plants with high
wattages, many inject CO2, heavily fertilize,
and over stock.

If you use aquarium gravel of any size, it is pure
silica the same as glass. There are NO minerals in
it available for the plants.

Flourite, however and other similiar products are
ancient tropical clays rich in iron and other minerals,
and release them over time to the plants.

If you use regular aquarium gravels then it is up to
the bacterial colonies that live in the upper
1/2 to 1 inch of the gravel, and break down
fish waste, excess food, and dying plant material, to
provide the nutrients necessary for the plants to live.
The plants will thrive, for a time, but eventually
at some point you will need to suplement the available
nutrients with liquid and plant tablets/sticks for
fertilizer.

It is not always so with other substrates, as they release
the minerals to the plants over time. Some fert may be
necessary, as some plants use more of one element such as
Iron (Fe) than others. In that case, rather than using a
"multi vitamin" you would dose with just what was necessary.

Frank


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