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Iskánder Vigoa

Seedling
Joined
27 Nov 2018
Messages
16
Location
Cuba
Hi all, this is my first post on the forum, I'm looking for help with my planted tank, I live in Cuba and I don't know the name of most of the plants, but all seem to be doing ok, the thing is I recently bought a little ludwigia plant and want to know what parameters do I need for it to grow strong and get as red or purplish as possible
I bought another plant too but that one do not know the name, not even the seller knew it haha
my tank is 40cm height by 40cm deep by 77cm long(32 gallons ~120 liters), I have an almost red, iron rich "substrate" ok, it's only dirt, but hey!, iron rich dirt, and on close to 2 years it have done the job pretty good, plus pale sand all over it

my question is which light intensity in lumens do I need for those plants to grow, not to die, very important this one, and to turn red?
also, which color temperature should I use?

CO2 dosing is completely out of the equation, in fact almost anything but the bare basic is out of the equation here in Cuba

please excuse my english, we speak Spanish over here :)
 

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First plant is Ludwigia repens. A very easy plant to grow, does not need added CO2 and will grow acceptable in quite low light. Better light and added CO2 will make the plant more red.
Second plant is Echinodorus.. ....... most likely Echinodorus barthii or Echinodorus rubin. This is also quite easy plants to grow, but they will usually not turn this dark red without good light and added CO2.
 
First plant is Ludwigia repens. A very easy plant to grow, does not need added CO2 and will grow acceptable in quite low light. Better light and added CO2 will make the plant more red.
Second plant is Echinodorus.. ....... most likely Echinodorus barthii or Echinodorus rubin. This is also quite easy plants to grow, but they will usually not turn this dark red without good light and added CO2.

hey man thank you very much for your answer, what about if I update my lighting? I mean, for that tank 50 w led lights could help with the red? any comment on what wavelengths would be more optimal?
 
First plant is Ludwigia repens. A very easy plant to grow, does not need added CO2 and will grow acceptable in quite low light. Better light and added CO2 will make the plant more red.
Second plant is Echinodorus.. ....... most likely Echinodorus barthii or Echinodorus rubin. This is also quite easy plants to grow, but they will usually not turn this dark red without good light and added CO2.

hey man thank you very much for your answer, what about if I update my lighting? I mean, for that tank 50 w led lights could help with the red? any comment on what wavelengths would be more optimal?
 
what wavelengths would be more optimal
in general most here believe wavelengths don't matter, a photon is a photon and the plant will use all
50 w led lights
sadly we can''t see how much light these will produce, very dependend on make of the LED, just as lumens are "a useless number" to ascertain usable light data.
Just be carefull without CO2 to much light will breed algae, better to have healthy plants than red ones covered in algae;)
 
Current tank details would be helpful,

Size
Substrate
Fertilizers
Light and when/how long lights are on
Water change and maintenance routine

Photos of aquarium


Your English is very good :)
My Spanish is nonexistent :oops:
 
in general most here believe wavelengths don't matter, a photon is a photon and the plant will use all

sadly we can''t see how much light these will produce, very dependend on make of the LED, just as lumens are "a useless number" to ascertain usable light data.
Just be carefull without CO2 to much light will breed algae, better to have healthy plants than red ones covered in algae;)

I got a little bristlenose pleco that help me in the algae department... the little guy is incansable, no matter if there's a cucumber in there or if I put lettuce or whatever, he works the tank and plants surfaces like if he's life depended on it
could you tell me more about the usable light data? I'm not pro in aquarium stuff but I'm a vfx professional, (rendering and lighting specialist)
pepo:
119755-f0bd3f15371f66db0c84bb254603657f.jpg

Current tank details would be helpful,

Size
Substrate
Fertilizers
Light and when/how long lights are on
Water change and maintenance routine

Photos of aquarium


Your English is very good :)
My Spanish is nonexistent :oops:
haha ok, I think I wrote the size... it's a 77cm long x 40 x 40cm so 30 gallons or so, substrate... ok let me say it again, I Live-in-Cuba!!! this-is-sparta!! hahaha here we just don't have that kind of stuff, we are even missing some really basic things, it's just dirt, the one to plant food, vegetables, etc. it's almost red, have loads of iron and ferts, and on top of it there's a layer of sand, sea sand...

I turn on the lights in the morning and off in the night, when starts to get dark outside

I do water changes from time to time... initially once a day, then twice a week and since a loong time ago, once in a while when I remember I have to, or when the tank start to show garbages etc, last one was this saturday, then I just suction the surface and change a 20 liters bucket or so but I guess that having lots of plants help me out with the filtration
the filter says it's 800 L/h brand aquajet don't remember the model, it was very expensive in the street market here, but I remember that when I revised it it was only 25 usd on amazon so... idk actually how good could it be

119756-4a396f6079ece0fd41d5bfb827750678.jpg

all the photos are taken with a Galaxy S5... so low tech indeed :lol:
 

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hey man thank you very much for your answer, what about if I update my lighting? I mean, for that tank 50 w led lights could help with the red? any comment on what wavelengths would be more optimal?
You can usually find a value for Lumen on your light-source. For your type of aquarium something between 20 - 40 will work well.
Light in an aquarium serve two purposes: energy for the plants to grow and reflections for the eye of human to look at aquarium. Both plants and human eye has evolved in natural daylight, so the wavelenhgts of this will suit both needs. Natural daylight has about 6500Kelvin. This value will work well.
For most natural look of colours you should go for a CRI (colour rendering index) of at least 90 in your light source.
This is the short version - you can ofcourse read up on this, to get more specific info........
Hope this is of help, since you say you have worked professionally with light before.
 
You can usually find a value for Lumen on your light-source. For your type of aquarium something between 20 - 40 will work well.
Light in an aquarium serve two purposes: energy for the plants to grow and reflections for the eye of human to look at aquarium. Both plants and human eye has evolved in natural daylight, so the wavelenhgts of this will suit both needs. Natural daylight has about 6500Kelvin. This value will work well.
For most natural look of colours you should go for a CRI (colour rendering index) of at least 90 in your light source.
This is the short version - you can ofcourse read up on this, to get more specific info........
Hope this is of help, since you say you have worked professionally with light before.
ok, thank you very much, so if I'm getting it, putting 50 watts or so I should be ok, right? giving the manufacturer had a good cri and watts to lumen conversion rate
 
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