# What's next (or should be) better lighting or CO2?



## cliff (Aug 30, 2010)

I've done some research and would like to move towards a med/high-ish light with CO2 to improve/aide plant growth, and could use some advice/confirmation of my thoughts/research.

*Currently:*
90 gallon 4' * 24"h * 18"d
fishneedit.com t5ho 4ft 2lamp with 2700k bulbs using 4" legs above the tank
eheim 2026
~3" of eco complete substrate
12 rummy nose, 5 sterbai cory, 4 diamond tetra, 2 older rosy barbs, 8 pristella tetra, 1 3.5" red tail shark

Currently some crypts are surviving (not growing much, but not melting either) stem plans and java moss are holding their own, vals are growing - but some BBA is forming on the older parts (which I pinch off from time to time). The amazon swords melted and subsisted for a while, and then melted again to the point where there wasn't much live plant left so I removed them.

I'd like to upgrade the lighting, initial research is pointing me to ah supply's retrofit t5ho kits, I'd build a canopy to house them. Either (2) of the 1*54w kits, or 1*54w and 2*54w kits. For some reason I've got the idea that being able to stagger the start/end times of the bulbs separately would be beneficial/pleasing to the eyes compared to all or nothing on/off like I currently have with the fishneedit fixture. A side benefit would be adding a full hood to keep the light directed to the tank, and not lighting up the room.

As for the CO2, opinion on some of the other forums seem to point to the rex grigg regulator/needle valve setup, any objections or other setups that I should be looking at?

I'm assuming with my current ok-ish lighting that I should start with adding CO2, fine tuning it with my current lighting, before acquiring new lighting so that I'm not adjusting too many things at once so it's easier to determine what it responsible for the changes.

Does my reasoning make sense to those that have traveled the road before me? Anything (obvious or not) that I'm overlooking?

THanks,


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## Rmwbrown (Jan 22, 2009)

I would tend to agree with you on both counts. Without the Co2, if you set up the light your going to get a new bunch of problems. Get the co2, run it low and you will probably see the BBA slow down or go away all together untill you upgrade the lighting. 

If you can set up two banks of light, that would be ideal. You can run a midday bast for 6 or hours once the C02 has ramped up for 2 hours. 

I have never used the Griggs regulator, but I here the same thing. I'm using a GLA reg. right now and I'm pretty happy with it. Either way, I think your going about it the right way. Buy something good now, if you part ways with it, it will hold it's value anyways.


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## charlie1 (Dec 1, 2011)

I also tend to agree that acquiring the CO2 now would be priority 1, in that regard i have in the past used the Rex Grigg rig & had no issues , i would also suggest the Sumo regulators, great single stage regulator ( Micro Matic) & great needle valves (Ideal).
I would also suggest building your canopy & using the present fixture & adding one more bank (1x54) of T5 HO light to see how the plants respond, some Hydroponic shops carry sunblaster T5 HO strips that basically comes plug & play with strip, cord & Bulb for approx 35-40 $ , not the greatest but gets the job done & better if you can add a decent reflector to it , they sell the reflector too, i have used them up until recently on a 75 Gallon in a canopy with good success, i did change out the bulbs after a 6 mths or so to Gieseman.
Just my take


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## cliff (Aug 30, 2010)

charlie, it's great you posted, nearly forgot about this thread. I picked up Chris' awesome CO2 setup from the boards here ~two weeks ago. Was checking the pH probe over a couple of days to see how much it drifted - it's relatively stable but moved a couple of tenths. A new probe will be on order in the next couple of days as the current one is past it's best before date (milwaukee says they last about 6mo), although I'm using it for now.

Got it setup an running on the tank this evening, feel free to critique or point out anything that isn't quite right.

It's essentially the rex grigg setup, with his reactor (smart design the more reading I do), bubble counter and a milwaukee pH controller.

Tank pH (before CO2) 8.2, other param's consistent with past readings.


So until I get a new probe in the mail, I have the pH controller plugged into the same timer as the lights, so I'll only be adding CO2 while the lights are on. Eventually I plan to run it on a separate timer that will start the gas about 1 hour prior to the lights turning on, and stopping 1 hour before lights out (there should still be a bunch of CO2 in the reactor to dissolve for the final hour). The pH controller is set to ~7.6 so it will turn off the CO2 if the pH drops below this amount (I eventually plan to increase the allowable drop).

The low side is at 11psi, and it's pushing 18 bubbles per minute. So 0.3 bubbles/second. I'll check how far the pH drops tomorrow when I get home from work and see if the bubbles per min should be increased (or if my - ideally - low-ish guestimate is even close to the final number).


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## cliff (Aug 30, 2010)

Well, I wasn't seeing much pH drop, and I didn't see the alarm shut off the CO2. I've adjusted things a bit. 

Looks like the pH is settling at 7.9 in the morning after the lights/CO2 have been off overnight.

I've set the alarm at ~7.3, and adjusted the bubble needle valve, giving me approx 63/min, so approx 1bubble/second.


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## charlie1 (Dec 1, 2011)

cliff said:


> Well, I wasn't seeing much pH drop, and I didn't see the alarm shut off the CO2. I've adjusted things a bit.
> 
> Looks like the pH is settling at 7.9 in the morning after the lights/CO2 have been off overnight.
> 
> I've set the alarm at ~7.3, and adjusted the bubble needle valve, giving me approx 63/min, so approx 1bubble/second.


If i`m understanding you correctly & given the fact i`m not familiar with your system including water parameters etc.I suspect you would need to up your CO2 bubble count to about 3 -4 BPS when the PH drops to your set level ( 7.3) it will/should shut off the solenoid.
Caution- do this when you are around to closely monitor the system.
Regards


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