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Light over 20L tank

Jaap

Jaap

Member
Joined
30 Sep 2011
Messages
1,068
Location
Nicosia
Hello

I have a 20L tank with just planted HCC and CO2 and EI. However the 11w light seems to be alot at this begining srage of the tank amd I will be changing it to a lower bulb since I can't move the light fixture further up. Curently 11w for 4 hours. ..what are your suggestions?

9w for 6 hours maybe?

Thanks
 
what type of bulb? why do you think its too much? how heavily planted are you? what is your co2 ppm? your question is too vague to answer with any certainty. I have 96w t5ho fixture on top of tank it works fine but it take a lot of co2 and ferts to balance out.
 
My tank is planted only with HCC and its only in the begining so its not covering the whole substrate. Co2 is also high as the drop checker is yellow but I havent measured ppm...most of the people say I have high light here and I also got some brown algae once so I guess 11w are alot...at least that is the response I get from fellow hobbyists in this forum...so I need to know how to work with light power and photoperiod...

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Hi, I'd suggest floaters like frogbit to reduce the light. Save buying a bulb. 🙂 I would say reducing a bulb by 2 watts then leaving it on for 2 more hrs isn't realy a solution. if it's too much why not reduce it by an hr? What is your concern is it algae?
 
Since starting the tank I had blue green algae and diatoms. Diatoms are due to high lights so people told me I have too much light. So here I am asking what should I go to if I currently have 11 w for 4 hours on?

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How do I ensure enough co2 around the substrate though...

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Jaap said:
Since starting the tank I had blue green algae and diatoms. Diatoms are due to high lights so people told me I have too much light. So here I am asking what should I go to if I currently have 11 w for 4 hours on?

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Click to expand...
Diatoms are not necessarily appearing because of high light. It's because there are trace ammonia levels in a new setup, your tank is not processing stuff fast enough to starve them although it doesn't mean you'll measure anything on home ammonia liquid test. Diatoms in a mature setup can appear for example if you put too many fish at once, or if generally your filters can't cope well with the bioload such as overfeeding, very common in overfed fry tanks.
Make sure you have enough flow and circulation too which diatoms don't tolerate well. If anything, diatoms prefer lower light to flourish and high light makes them disappear.

Blue green algae's most common known cause is low nitrates as it's a type of bacteria that can make their own nitrogen compounds when it's lacking in a tank. However, there could be other reasons I presume but increasing your nitrate dose may help.
 
It's almost certainly a flow issue. What filtration/flow are you using to distribute the CO2?
 
An internal filter 200 l/h with a spray bar

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