[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Daylight through window to supplement low light situation



Say, has anyone ever tried using daylight from a nearby window to
supplement a difficult low light situation. I have a 55 gallon corner
tank  that houses 6 small discus (2 - 4 inches), one Cory cat and one
female guppy (originally put in as food for the discus and somehow
survived!).  It was originally a 55 gallon tank but with a very large
piece of driftwood and about 85 pounds of gravel (bits o' walnut - no
laterite or
flourite-about 2 inches deep)  it probably comes to more like a 45 or 50
gallon.  I use a Rennaisance canister filter that filters 200 gallons
per hour.  The media consists of one large blue sponge, some Siporax,
and as much filter floss as I can stuff .  Lighting consists of 2 - 20
watt and 3 - 15 watt coralife spectramax bulbs, 6500K, which is all that
I can fit over the top of a corner tank.  The water is 50/50 RO/tap and
tests out at PH-7.0, GH-3, KH-2.  I do 20% water changes three times a
week.  The plants consist of  three small anubias nana, some Hygrophilia
(greenish yellow color), Java Fern, assorted cryptocornes that have
never done that well, some ludwigia, three Amazon swords and some rotala
(I think).  Most of the plants grow very slowly if at all and just as
they start to get some size they seem to turn into food for algae at
which time I prune, cut, slash and ultimately replace the entire plant.
I recently started  DIY CO2 injection and have the bubbles going right
into the intake of my canister filter and it seems to be working pretty
good.  At last check (last night) my pH was 6.0, KH-2, GH-3 (I promptly
did a quick 10% water change with straight tap and stirred the water up
a bit to dissipate some of the CO2).  I will be switching to straight
tap water (pH-between 7.5 and 8.0, KH-4, GH-5) during my water changes
(I age it in holding tanks) in an effort to bring my pH, KH, GH up.  I
have a north facing window directly opposite the tank and have kept the
blinds closed tight to avoid algae problems.   A couple of days ago I
opened the blinds to see what would happen and already the plants seem
to have "perked up" quite a bit.  Has anyone else ever tried this?  The
flourescent lighting I'm using is just plain inadequate and I've reached
the absolute maximum number of hoods that I can fit on top of my
aquarium so I thought I would give this a try.  If anyone else has tried
this I would love to hear about it.
Thanks.
Pat O'Sullivan.