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I recently got a 32 gallon tank which is pretty heavily planted... it only has one slot for florecent light though... and the light i have in the slot seems alot dimmer than the tank i had with 2 slots in it... so... here i am wondering.. how do i know how much light my tank needs... and how much that bulb is giving off... then.. if i do need more wattage how do i go through getting that.... i have a mix f plants an im pretty sure their light requirements vary..

any assistance? all plants seem healthy and dont relly give me alot of problems... grow slowly thoguh.. also... the tank has a bunch of fish in it so im not sure if they will give the plants enough co2...is it worth it getting one of those co2 pumps?? i wnt to make sure the plants are getting enough of what they need...

As well i have fertilizer but heard that the carbon in the filter will take it right out? is that true?

Thanks everyone
Sean

Hi,
I'm wondering what kind of plants they are, and how
"recently" recent, actually is. If you just did get the
tank, and set it up with plants, with that light, chances
are they, the plants, are using their stored nutrients,
and will soon yellow and die. If it is a one bulb hood,
and if it is a single fluorescent tube, then chances are
it is a 40 watt bulb which will give you barely over one
watt per gallon of light. Way below what the plants should
have. You need to replace the strip light with something
else. The best would be a hood using compact fluorescent
bulbs. That will give you a wide choice of watts/gallon
and "K" range.

Without knowing what you have in that tank by way of fish,
It would be impossible to say what kind of impact they are
making on the plants. Some fertilization will probably
be necessary, and I'd use a product such as the Flourish
line to provide the plants with what they need.

Until you increase your lighting to over 2 watts per gallon
and are preferably up around 3, I would not bother with
CO2, yet.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Hi there,
My sister has a 33 gallon tank, and her light is only
an 18 watt flourescent bulb.
My guess is yours is the same. The bulb will have
the wattage printed directly on it, take it out to check.

For the plants, it really depends, if you have 18 watt bulb, then you have 0.5 watts per gallon, only enough light for the lowest light plants.

If you want more light, you are best to go with a compact flourescent fixture, a 96 watt compact flourescent would give you 3 watts per gallon, enough to grow most plants with very well. That size light will run you between 60-100 dollars and you will need to also buy a glass top for the tank.

Carbon will filter out fertilizer if its new, if its older than 1 week old, its not working anymore anyway, so no worries.
You probably would do better to not use carbon in a planted tank anyway, and reserve it just for removing meds or odors from the tank.

C02 is only really useful in a tank with high light, in excess of 3 watts per gallon. If the light isnt high enough, then the plants cannot use the extra c02 anyway, so it would be useless.


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