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Permalink Reply by Robert on October 12, 2011 at 12:45pm

What's the distance between you lights and the substrate ?????

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Permalink Reply by Hmoobthor on October 12, 2011 at 1:02pm

is it T5HO?

 

if not...and you have just regular T5...I would say low medium.

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Permalink Reply by Robert on October 12, 2011 at 2:57pm

Before you answer find out what bulb type like t5 t8 t12 t5ho and how many bulbs and the distance between the bulbs and the substrate note if you have to much light it almost always = ugly alge tank syndrome >:-D

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Permalink Reply by Dylan Roach on October 12, 2011 at 9:49pm

It is a T5HO, like I said before they are 1x 6000k (18W) and 1x 650nm Pink Roseate (18W) and it's in a 10g with the lowest point in my tank being... 12 inches from the light. would lowering the light off the legs help any? It's sitting above my tank so it's adding like an inch and a half of clearance. It's 36W of T5HO over a 10g with EcoComplete substrate (few root tabs in there). Does that answer what yall asked earlier?

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Permalink Reply by Robert on October 12, 2011 at 11:07pm

Yes that answers it .... With just one t5ho it's in the two high range at 12 inchs if you lifted it 4 to 6 more you would be in the high range , you could use it BUT in my opinion you going to have massive alge problems if you added co2 it would help the plants work harder to suck the extra nutrients so you starve the alge BUT you probably would have to pump so much c02 that would kill any fish I would recomend getting one t5 normal output  to be in the low to medium  range 

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Permalink Reply by Robert on October 12, 2011 at 11:11pm

The lower the lighting the easier it is with less problems , I almost did that same thing with the lighting and a few good people on here helped me out and pointed me in the right direction .... I'm learning with low light and I'm going to work my way up later then sooner I'm going to take my time 

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Permalink Reply by Dylan Roach on October 13, 2011 at 8:56am

That's what I did. Would taking one bulb out work? It's a dual fixture so, I'm not totally sure. The only kind of algae I'm seeing now is Black Beard Algae, so I'm thinking of dosing with some excel to kill it off but I don't want it to have any side effects on some plants. I have Wisteria, Java Fern, Java Moss, Jungle Val, Anubias Nana, Crypt Undulata, & Crypt Tropiica. All somewhat easy growers, my Oto does a great job of the "usual green" algae. 

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Permalink Reply by Robert on October 13, 2011 at 11:33am

If you had a 16 inch clearance it would but you in the high range but if you left it with a 12 inch clearance it would still be too high ...... What I did was scrub the plants gently with a toothbrush it's time consuming but works and start over and yes excel works that's what I use it helps the plants and it's not advertised too but it does kill alge 

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Permalink Reply by Dylan Roach on October 13, 2011 at 2:01pm

Alright. I'll make a custom 4 inch lift then so it'll go up another 4 inches. I think I have some allelopathy going on in my tank, my jungle val was growing like crazy and then I introduce Wisteria and Crypts to the tank and I have 1 leaf that grows back fast while the other ones stay stunted. Any reason why?

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Permalink Reply by Robert on October 13, 2011 at 3:51pm

I have no idea you should make a new post 

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Permalink Reply by Dylan Roach on October 13, 2011 at 8:25pm

I fixed my light. It's sitting 17 inches above the substrate. It looks dumb, but if I ever decide to go Saltwater, I can have whatever corals I want ;) lol. Thanks for all the help man!

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Permalink Reply by Robert on October 13, 2011 at 9:05pm

You got it your very welcome :)

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