Aquarium Lighting//Wattage//Bulbs

[samaadams]

I am taking care of my boyfriends tank while he is deployed. His mother was taking care of it previously and put the wrong bulbs in the light fixture. She currently has 14 watt bulbs in there. I am trying to figure this out for him, he came home for a couple weeks, fixed his tank as best he could and then left again. He asked me to try to get new bulbs. I'm very confused
I am doing the best I can, checking the ammonia levels, using the test strips, water changes, etc... but this is a lot more complicated than I had imagined. any information you might have would be great.


I checked the light and the model to figure out what model and brand of light (TrueLumen Flora Freshwater T5HO)

http://www.current-usa.com/lighting/nova-extreme-2x

I think I found the right bulbs but each bulb is 24 watts, and the manual/internet says that it is a 48 watt High Output T5 Lighting System. So since there are two lights will that add up to 48 watts? or am I looking at the wrong bulbs?

The 30" fixture lights were the ones I was going to purchase but I'm confused about the wattage...

http://www.petmountain.com/product/a...pink-bulb.html

[Lady Hobbs]

That same light is here and tells you what bulbs are in it.

http://www.petmountain.com/product/a...reshwater.html

You need 2-24 watt T5HO. I would get two white lights and both of them 6700K. It comes with one 67,000k and one 10,000K but that quite a bit of light and I know I tend to get a bit of algae with mine.

[Nephalem]

And don't stress. Your doing fine and this is exactly why everyone is here. IMO people who are willing to lend a hand and help their friends and family with tanks in emergencys like this usually have no idea how much they are getting themselves into, and the least we can do is repay their generosity by helping them do it right. Don't hesitate to come here and ask for help with even the seemingly simple stuff. Everyone will help make sure your boyfriends fish are doing as well as possible till he gets home.

[wijnands]

If that tank is unplanted then the lights don't matter much. If it is planted... anything around 5500-6500k will be fine for fresh water. 10000k lights and an inexperienced fishkeepers sounds like an algae explosion waiting to happen

[MCHRKiller]

Actually a 10000K bulb has no more potential to grow algae than a 6500K bulb. If nutrients are in abundance and lighting is excessive algae will grow regardless to the spectrum. Now actinic lighting can in some cases promote algae growth because FW plants can not readily utilize the spectrum, algae can.

[samaadams]

the tank is planted with the following plants: Anacharis, money wort, dwarf baby tears, and christmas moss. It is about a 30 gallon tank so maybe the lights aren't too far off(from what I have read so far?).

He just planted the money wort right before he left. I wake up this morning to go and turn on the lights to the tank and the money wort is floating at the top... It must not have been planted deeply enough. When it came up it brought a bunch of soil.

*He has it layered, soil and then clay (organic kitty litter), then the plants.

So now it looks like a sandwich clay/soil/clay. The water is all cloudy and I need to replant the plants. I don't know why they came up and why it was so violent as to spread soil everywhere. Maybe I should take a picture for you guys... :(

[samaadams]

*it actually is bigger than 30 gallons, but he explained that it has 30 gallons of water. the dirt/clay fill it up a little more. *not sure if that is important.

[Nephalem]

As long as it has a decent filter that's running the cloudy water will clear up. sometimes new plants just don't want to stay where you put them. Just make sure you wash your hands and arms in clean water before you try and re-plant, especially if you smoke or something as the chems in the cigarettes are highly poisonous. And if you use soap rinse very, very thoroughly. I just use warm water without soap. Too afraid i wont get it all off and will make someone sick.

[wijnands]

OK..

1. Some fish will uproot plants, especially if they're freshly planted. So, wash your hands with soap, rinse well. Replant. Now go out, collect a few pebbles, wash and boil or nuke for a minute or two. Keep these aside. Next time you get floating plants use these as weights to keep them down. Place on the spot where the stem enters the ground and leave for 2 weeks.

2. Cloudyness is usually a result from the earth or gravel being disturbed, that clears up in a day or two.

3. Lights. T5 is relatively easy in as much that if you get the right length it will work. Personally I'd stick in a http://www.petmountain.com/show_product/11442-522697 colourmax and a 6700k http://www.petmountain.com/show_product/11442-522696
That way you get a mix that will make the fish look good and promote decent plant growth. At those prices your BF can always replace them when he gets back. T5 is common as muck these days, any halfway decent petshop will carry these.

Once again, you're doing fine, don't panic. A pic or two would be nice of course, we always like to look at someone else's setup.