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Re: if I had a man's name would this post get answered??

Kate wrote:

>reposting again and wondering if a "boys" name would
>illicit an better response?
>is the aquarium plant hobby a "boys club"??
>I'm beginning to wonder...
>
>
>
>I would like some advice on planting a 29G long.
>I had some nice plant growth but things went south and
>I would like to start again.
>H2O parameters I am not sure of, I know I ahve to get
>better.
>
>ph 7, nitrates low .020 or .20?? not sure juts know
>they are low.
>
>substrate...laterine, mixed size gravel and small
>patch of sand.
>
>fish load...4 cory cats, 4 clown loaches, 4 rainbows,
>1 betta
>
>110W of compact flours.
>
>I would like to an nice looking and healthy tank!!
>maybe some tall plants in the back?
>tank is 12" deep X 36" long X 18" high.
>
>Any advise appreciated!!! email me off list if you
>would like.
>
>
>Kate

I didn't see the original post, but I think it's more the fact that you 
didn't elaborate on the "things went south" part. Maybe you could tell us 
exactly what happened to your original set-up so you can avoid this 
happening again. Sure, the people here can take the time to suggest how to 
make your next set-up nice, but there's sort of little point if you're 
running the risk of having the same problems arise.

My first guess is that the level of lighting was overkill and you had a 
major run-in with algae. Am I right? The analogy that Tom Barr has used 
about race cars may well apply here. I can't remember if it was Wright 
Huntley or Dave Gomberg that posted a few weeks back about PC lights, but 
with good reflectors, you can have efficiency improvement by as much as 
60%. That means your 110W PC *could* be equal to 176W NO lighting. This is 
something like 6 wpg for your 29-gallon tank. Maybe this is like breaking 
the sound barrier on a racetrack ;-). At the first turn, you'll be plowing 
into the spectators...

It would be helpful to know what did actually go wrong. Maybe it wasn't the 
lighting at all.

-Naomi