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QUESTION 1: i just built a hood to put maximum of 10 compact bulbs in there if i wanted. but right now i have 4 of them, two 19w 6500K(sunlight), one 23w unknown temp(kinda yellowish), one 13w 3000k (daylight) plus a 20w tube thats somewhere above 6500k. is this a good setup for a 29g [94w total/29 = 3.24wpg]? and i put the bulbs vertically instead of horizontally, like hanging it instead of laying it down, would that decrease the amount of light entering my tank? and i am thinking about replace one of the weaker bulbs with an incandescent bulb thats dyed blue, will that be better for plants?

QUESTION 2: do i need CO2? if i am on budget, and can only afford DIY CO2, and one day i get tired of changing the mix, will that dramatically raise my pH and harm my fish? i know the plant will prob die a little bit.

sorry if i am posting these kind of questions like 40 times, but i keep upgrading my lights, i went from 20 watts to 50 watts and now 94 watts. i really want my tank to look like one of those dutch tanks so i just bought a bundle of red temples.

5 juvi angels
1 med pleco
8-12 ghost shrimps

1 amazon sword
5 hardy apon (wal-mart)
1 crypt wend
1 java fern
6-8 stems of red temple
and i think theres this old crypt thats now sprouting from WAY underneath the gravel

Hi,
First, do not use an incandescent bulb. They generate
far too much heat.

The "blue" that you hear about is a spike in the
spectrum and is not necessarily the blue that you
would get by using a tinted incandescent bulb. Plants
want light in the red and blue spectrum. DAYLIGHT,
SUNLIGHT, or plant bulbs have spikes in one or both
of those frequencies.

Change out the "yellowish" bulb for another in the
6700K range.

If the bulbs are "hanging down" instead of horizontal,
then the "footprint" of the bulb is a small circle
and you are not getting the max light onto the bottom
of the tank that is possible by mounting them in the
horizontal position.

At 3+ watts/gallon, you are "driving" the plants into
a faster growth rate, and because of that they will
need additional nutrients. CO2 is THE best way to
provide the Carbon plants need to grow, and by
raising the wattage/gallon that high you will need
to add CO2 for the plants to flourish.

Frank


[span class="edited"][Edited by FRANK 2004-07-12 18:19][/span]

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