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introduction and CF question
I just subscribed to aquatic-plants after trying for several days.
Guess the server was down. During the early to mid-90's, I grew aquatic
plants and participated in rec.aquaria before the reorganization, but a
move to a new state and a growing interest in epiphytes drew me away
from aquatic gardening. I'm now planning to start again.
A couple of weeks ago, I lost a 15-year old Syndontis angelicus: his
tank dropped to 39 degrees F when we lost electricity for 6 days after
an ice storm. So, now I have a depressingly empty 20 gallon high that I
would like to convert to a plant tank. I've been reading the archives
and the Krib to catch up with changes in technology, and I have decided
to go with compact fluorescents from AH Supply.
My question: Will a single 55 watt CFbulb be sufficient (possibly with
the addition of a standard 20 watt tube cannibalized from an old strip
light), or would two 36 watt CF bulbs be better? I do want sufficient
light to grow my old favorite Rotala macrandra. The tank will have
some fluorite substrate, CO2 injection, and minimal filtration (probably
just a powerhead).
Incidentally, a big clump of java moss survived 39 degrees and 6 days of
darkness just fine, but the black brush algae looks very unhappy. I
don't recommend this as an algae-control strategy.
Nick
---------------
Nicholas Plummer
nplummer at duke_edu
http://www.duke.edu/~nplummer/main.html