corycalogero

Ok, ive been keeping fish for some time now, but this has been my first attempt ever at live plants... i will in the future look into getting "real equipment" (2x65watt hood, and CO2 system) but want to experiment with cheaper newbie friendly stuff first to get my feet wet.

*LIGHTING*
i did a DIY mod to my single "regular" tube hood.... ripped the ballast, reflector\connections out, and mounted 4 screw type cfl bulbs rated at 27 actual watts, daylight 5000k, along with aluminum tape reflecting.... its a 29gal long tank.... 30"wide 18"tall... im figuring this gives me 108 watts... but in reality due to the spiral "pigtail" construction of the bulbs and the degraded reflecting media, im most likely only getting 80-90 watts to the plants this is still 2.5-3 WPG...... now my 2 questions are....

1 - is my lighting rig going to be sufficient for a heavily planted (low-med\high light range) 29gal tank
2- how much does Kelvin rating actually impact plants, ive heard diff views on how it does and doesnt... with these screw in bulbs i can get at most 6500k rated bulbs (im using 5000k now)


*CO2*
Now to go along with my DIY lights i realize for good plant quality and anything over 1.5-2wpg you should use CO2, im about to build the simple yeast and sugar generator and disperse through a powerhead..... my 2 questions for this are...

1-would this work as well as similar "very basic" CO2 systems with solutions, that sell for $30-$40
2-would powerhead dispersion be the most efficient

sorry if this has been addressed already, but ive read soooo much, and sooo many diff and varied opinions, i actually wanted to talk to some people about my set-up specifically.... thanks for your time guys!

mathas

Probably. If you try it, aren't happy, and determine that light is your limiting factor (which it probably won't be), you could try replacing the aluminum tape with a flat ultra-white spray paint. There are quotes in the following thread that discuss flat white paint vs. aluminum/mylar:

Has anyone tried...
DIY lighting???

I'm not entirely convinced that a bulb's Kelvin rating has any measurable or meaningful impact on plants, but if there is one, it would likely be minimal. I've seen a lot of posts (here and elsewhere) where people claim color temperature is hugely important, but I've never seen anyone offer any sort of evidence to support the claim.


As long as you have a way to monitor and control the CO2 concentration, DIY is fine on a tank that size. I'm not sure what comes in those "very basic" kits you're talking about, so I couldn't even guess if a DIY set up would work better or worse.

Powerhead diffusion can be quite efficient, but can also produce a lot of microbubbles that can give the water a cloudy appearance.

Here are two fairly cheap (<$15) DIY-oriented CO2 diffusion methods:

http://www.rexgrigg.com/diy-reactor.htm
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...2-reactor.html (read the entire thread, there are further improvements suggested around page 13 or so)

I plan to try the second of those options when I redo my tank in a couple of months. I'm not quite sure it will work for a 90g tank, but I'm going to give it a shot... for less than $10, why not?

hop2jr

I have a planted 29gal here is a pic I have 2 20watt T8 florecent bulbs one 6500k and one 5500k and my plant grow like weeds. I found that staying under 2watt/gal keeps aglea from grow fast. I also have a 75 gal with 2 40watt T8's with a diy co2 setup and use a glass difusser. I had it hooked up to a powerhead but didn't like seeing micro bubbles all the time so switched to the glass diffuser to cut them down. so to answer ?
1.Yes you have enuff watts and stay 5500k to 6500k
2.I've found that k does matter algea will go nutts if you use lower k bulbs so I stay 6500 k or higher.
co2
1. making your own yeast mix is better you never know how old the premiwed stuff is and one pack of dry yeast is cheaper.
2.If you don't mind the micro bubbles the powerhead will work just make sure you a gas separater/bubble counter inline after the generater just in case the mixer overflows it stops it from making it to the tank.

Attached Images

	New pics 007.JPG (286.8 KB, 76 views)
	DIY CO2 set-up.jpg (69.3 KB, 75 views)

corycalogero

thanks alot for all the info!!! i had skimmed over as much of the lighting threads as i could but just wanted to talk to someone..... ill stick with my setup, maybe try the paint.... but i want to see how much of a difference the CO2 will make...... and btw.... i tried the second reactor link you gave me..... the mini filter..... i drilled a hole instead of jamming it in the regulator cause i didnt want blockage..... mounted it sideways, close to the gravel and it works perfectly!!!! the sponge holds the Co2 bubbles untill they disolve, very faint micro bubbles if any released.... awesome!!... thanks alot for the info, i appreciate it!!! im going to post how mine turned out with pics and the link you gave me if you dont mind...

corycalogero

my plants are doing very well now...... didnt change my lights.... cleaned the glass top....... but the CO2 is doing awesome!! went from using the power head to the mini filter idea and its great...... i also added a bubble counter\seperator like yours after reading more into syphon problems anf fungus.... thanks!