# Need Help about Lighting



## Ally (Mar 23, 2008)

Hi all let me introduce myself first.

I'm from Vancouver I've had my 29gal tank for about a year and a half now. I wanna be more seriuos on planting so i figure my first step would be investing on a good lighting fixture and bulbs. Currently i have a 20W aqua glow which i think is not enuff for heavy planting. I'm looking to purchase a Coralife 30" Aqualight 6700k with 2x65W Bulb for $199.99cdn. But b4 i spen that much on lighting system i need a second opinion from more experience peeps in here. Also if you guys know a good and reliable on-line store for lighting let me know.

My goal is to have a good day light for my plants and lunar so i can still enjoy my aquarium during the nite.

thank you guys/gals in advance.

Cheers


----------



## pat3612 (Jan 29, 2008)

Hi and welcome I dont know much about lights myself but Iam sure someone will come along to help though you might want to post in the plant section. Pat


----------



## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

To be honest, starting to "seriously" plant a tank won't work in steps like that.

Here is what is going to happen.

1. Increase lighting
2. Increase in algae
3. Increase in maintenance

If you want your plants to "take off" you need to provide them with more than light. You need Potassium, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Carbon and Micro-Nutrients/trace elements (such as Iron, Calcium or Magnesium).

By providing enough light to encourage their growth without providing the aforementioned will allow for different types of algae to take advantage of the light, while the plants are left demanding these other elements of growth.

I hope this makes sense =)

I would say it is actually easier to keep your lighting how it is, and start providing things like co2 or trace elements to try and promote plant growth. There are also many low-light plants, like Anubias or Java Fern/Moss that you can try without having to up your wattage.


----------



## Shattered (Feb 13, 2008)

A little tip for sourcing bulbs; Local electrical supply stores. I find the ones that supply electricians and the like, they usually deal with contractors who buy in bulk so there prices are much lower than BA's or LFS's.


----------



## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

Ally said:


> Hi all let me introduce myself first.
> 
> I'm from Vancouver I've had my 29gal tank for about a year and a half now. I wanna be more seriuos on planting so i figure my first step would be investing on a good lighting fixture and bulbs. Currently i have a 20W aqua glow which i think is not enuff for heavy planting. I'm looking to purchase a Coralife 30" Aqualight 6700k with 2x65W Bulb for $199.99cdn. But b4 i spen that much on lighting system i need a second opinion from more experience peeps in here. Also if you guys know a good and reliable on-line store for lighting let me know.
> 
> ...


Welcome to GTAA


----------



## Ally (Mar 23, 2008)

Wow this forum is better than the other ones. I already got responses.

Okay, so I'll start with the CO2. I need someone to teach me on the co2 application, like hardware, how often, etc. I don't mind investing in a good hardware cause I want to do it right the first time.


----------



## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

If you are serious about setting up a high light (and equally high maintenance) aquarium, then you will need high lights, (most likely) pressurized CO2 (it is less of a hassle compared to DIY CO2), and a heavy fertilization regime.

Starting with CO2, you can either go DIY CO2 (i.e. with yeast, sugar) or with pressurized CO2. With DIY CO2, you can expect to be replacing your mixtures every 2 weeks or so, so it does become a hassle and will become expensive in the long run. 

Alternative to this is pressurized CO2. For this, you will be looking at a sizable initial investment of about $200-300 dollars, depending on the quality of equipment that you purchase (of course, you get what you pay for...). You will, of course, need a CO2 tank. In addition to this, you will require a dual-gauge regulator and also a needle valve. The regulator has two manometers; one will tell you the pressure inside the tank, and the other will tell you the output pressure. The needle valve is used to reduce the pressure on the output side to an even lower pressure (i.e. so that you can obtain a few bubbles per second).

You may also want to invest in a solenoid (allows you to turn the CO2 on/off electronically, i.e. with a timer), a bubble counter (allows you to see how fast you are bubbling the CO2 into your tank), as well as a diffuser/inline reactor (as their name imply, they allow the CO2 to better dissolve into the water so that less is wasted).

Hope this helps, and isn't too much information.


----------

