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Re: light bulb and tannins



Hi Scott,

Here's my two cents worth:

"I have 2 questions.  One is about those twisty fluorescent bulbs that
are said to have the brightness of a 75 watt buld but only use 20
watts.  My question is when you are calculation the watts per gallon,
which number do you use?  Are those bad bulbs to use?"

I got one of those fluorescent bulbs over a two gallon betta tank. Only been 
a couple weeks and all the plants are low light ones. They are growing great 
though. You count it as a twenty watt bulb same as any other twenty watt 
fluorescent bulb. I was wondering if I would like the color, I do , the 
betta looks very nice in the light. It is better than the incandescent just 
because it puts out less heat. Go ahead and  try it.

"Second question: I have some very yellow tanks from the tannins in the
drigtwood I have in my tanks (I have plecos).  I am assuming these
tannins block the light since they make the tanks look a lot darker.
Does anyone have any ideas about getting rid of the tannins or being
able to have plants survive and get enough light in such a tank?"

The tannins will leech out for a while then the water will be clear. The 
wood I bought three years ago no longer turns the water yellow! If you keep 
up on water changes the water won't look so yellow. Some people use carbon 
in the filter but that is a no-no for planted tanks. Really it should take 
six months to a year for all of it to be gone. The plants did fine in the 
murky water and I alternated between liking it and not liking it depending 
on whether I was feeling like a housekeeper or a zoo keeper. Real driftwood 
that has soaked for months or years won't leach, mine was mostly mopani wood 
from the deserts of Africa.

Kathy

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