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i've just read franks fantastic article on planting your tank,
but i just wanted a little advise on lights.
I have a 2" cube and am currently running a 10,000 k bulb (thinking this was best when i read other info somewhere)i pulled it out and read it's only 18W! so really my anubius should be dead instead of flurishing because that gives me 0.3w per US gallon right?<br>So does this mean i should be running at least 3 of these lights or atleast get higher wattage globes?

Thanks

Yvette

If it works, why worry? Anubias doesn't need a lot of light and if you do get more light, it might attract algae of all sorts. If I were you I'd stick to what works for you.

i was wondering because i am intending to plant it out soon and don't want to get it wrong, also my anubius has got a furry kind of algae on the leaves kind of hairy???? my bristlenose isn't eating it either not sure as to why it's there or how to get rid of it but the plant is doing well non the less

Hi there dannisyvette,

I agree with untitled, keep on doing what you do if it works for you.

About your algae, can you pull it off with your hand easily? I would assume it is hair algae, which, if I remember correctly, is caused by excess iron in the water column (but I am not quite sure about it). Do you add any kind of fertilizer to your tank?

With regards to your idea to “plant it out”, I guess your future light requirements would depend on the plants you are intending to add to the tank. If your anubias are flourishing in this light so might a few of the other low light plants, like java fern. Is your tank anywhere near a window where it would receive natural light at least for part of the day? That would explain why you don’t need more wpg, although it is often mentioned not to be a good idea as it attracts algae growth.

If you intend to grow plants that need more light then I believe you would most likely have to up your wattage.

Hope this helps,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

The algae you described sounds like black brush algae (BBA). I had the same issue with my Anubias' leaves. I think mine was partially due to exposure to ceiling light. Someone here suggested turning the lights off for 4 days, but it didn't really work for me. I ended up removing the leaves that had the BBA and moving the Anubias and the driftwood it's attached to to another tank where it's not so exposed to direct light. It's under control now. Oh, I also heard that increasing CO2 level (or 3x Flourish Excel dosage) helps get rid of BBA but didn't try it myself. HTH!

Last edited by upikabu at 11-Sep-2005 07:59

-P

No i can't get this stuff off i tried rubbing and even scratching it with my nail but it's stuck and only my latest leaf doesn't have it so cutting my entire plant away isn't really appealling! there is no extra light and it's not near a window
As for plants i've been looking online and am thinking of staying with low light plants i search for plants with low lighting requirements and found these appealing:-

Cryptocoryne becketii
Cryptocoryne undulatus
Microsorium pteropus
Microsorium pteropus Windelov
Riccia
Vallisneria gigantea

found them on aquaria dot com dot au

Thanks Yvette


Last edited by dannisyvette at 11-Sep-2005 08:25

Last edited by dannisyvette at 11-Sep-2005 08:26

Vallisneria gigantea is a very large val species and will not do well in a short aquarium. It is much better suited to aquariums around 2' deep or more.

Sham,

I think that's what Yvette has, although she states

I have a 2" cube

Ingo

Last edited by LITTLE_FISH at 11-Sep-2005 16:41

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Little Fish
yes it's 2" cube
thanks for ur input do these plants sound good tto you?
and do you know what kind of algae this is and how do i treat it?

Thanks Yvette

I wasn't sure if the 2" was correct so I reversed the wpg figure. 18w giving .3wpg is around a 5g tank which would definitely not be 2' deep. It also wouldn't be 2" on all dimensions. Somewhere we have a few number mistakes.

Hi,
I gotta assume you mean two foot cube and not, as you
indicate, two inches! Two inches with 18 watts would be
a HUGE number of watts/gallon.

The 10,000K bulb is the beginning of the blue spectrum
and the blue light penetrates through the water deeper
than the red part of the spectrum. More of the light is
reaching the surface of the substrate with that bulb and
so the plants are growing just fine.

Frank

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

AHH sorry about the confusion
yes a 2 foot cube 60 cm high deep and long.
so frank ty so because its 10000k that makes it ok then?

does anyone have any advise on this algae?

thankyou everyone
Yvette

Sham,

You have to get some sleep, you are too tired for math.

2&#8217; = 24&#8221;

24 x 24 x 24 holds about 60G
18W / 60G is about .3WPG

Or, if you derive gallons from W and WPG:

18 W divided by 0.3 WPG = 60G

The numbers were right, just the symbol ( &#8216; vs &#8220; ) was off.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club