Lighting

To: Aquatic-plants at actwin_com
Subject: Lighting
From: Andrew Hamilton <andrewha at tafe_sa.edu.au>
Date: Wed, 3 Apr 1996 09:25:46 +0930
Re: comparisons of light requirements.
I believe that the amount of light required for any aquarium will depend
greatly on what is in the aquarium, ie colour of substrate, type and density
of plants etc. I say this based on my own observations. I have a tank which
measures 6Ftx18 inches(wide)x20(high). Before I got into plants I had one
strip light wich provided an ample amount of light, it equated to 64 watts.
I then added a full Dupla (well nearly, minus the bottle), CO2 setup and
added and additional light of 38 watts, totalling 102 watts, which equates
to 4 watts per litre. At first this was ample and my plants grew like crazy.
Now there is bearly an inch of gravel left and the tank looks dull. I have
major dark spots where I cant get things to grow, they just remain stagnent.
My CO2 usage is now minimal as the plants are very slow. (I am using
fertiliser and firmly belive that light is my limiting factor). The tank
generally looks dull. I borrowed another light for a while which picked
things up dramatically, also making the tank look bright again. This was
around the 2 watts per gallon. Only time would tell if this will be the
desired light level for my tank. I am in the process of doing away with the
strip lights and replacing them with electronic ballasts. I will be making
provision for approx 230 watts of light. Oh, My crypts have never done
better than with the low light setup, I have Wenditii 20+++ inches high.

Is there no one out there that knows the correct dosing of Methylene Blue?

Andrew