Brackish planting for already established tank

[my name is mike]

hi, i want to get my brackish tank plated and have read up on a bunch of sites (including this forum), but i still have a few questions i feel are unanswered or un-understood

The general consensus seems to be that its difficult - especially with an already established brackish tank (but i think im up for a challenge)

1. I have a 30 gal, so im thinking of a single 65W PC fixture--- i want to keep a fairly "warm" feel to my tank spectrum-wise - i believe this can be accomplished by staying in the 6500 -7500k range -- is this true ?

(side note)
I bought a 2X65 PC with a 6500-10000 dual bulb and a dual blue actinc bulb (sp?)- and i hated the cold blue glow --- also, it had a loud fan, i have seen some single bulb hoods without fans, are those safe?

2. it seems that slow acclimation is important for these plants -- but to get to 1.005 could take weeks --- is there no way to acclimate them in a day or 2 in a 5 gal bucket (id like to avoid setting up another tank - my girlfriend may kill me)

any help would be greatly appreciated, i want to try and get it right the first time...

Thanks,

Mike

[Phaedrus]

1. Yeah, that range usually has pretty "warm" looking bulbs. Hagen FloraGlo bulbs are in that spectrum range and are definitely warm looking. But it depends on the bulbs colour rendering index, etc. Most bulbs marketed as "plant" bulbs are very warmish though. Personally I prefer getting a CRI as close to 100 as possible, giving a very "clean" white light that lets the true colours come through with very little tinting from the lights. You can also try mixing bulb types to fill out the range and even out the colour tone.

Actinic bulbs are very blue, yes. Mostly intended for reef systems. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actinic

2. No. A slow acclimation is indeed important for success, so doing it in an afternoon is not really an option. This is the main reason it can be a pain planting an already brackish tank; much easier to start fresh and work up from there.

You may find it easier to go down to fresh over a couple weeks and start going back up slowly. If you dropped by 0.002 per week you could get to 1.001 in 2 weeks.

Pick some hardy, easy to grow plant types that prefer harder water.

What kind of substrate do you have?

[my name is mike]

Thanks for the help -- i love these forums!

As far as reducing SG goes, can i do that with my fig 8 and mollies in there without upsetting them or my bacteria ???? or would it be best to get like a 10 gal fresh water set up and slowly raise the SG in there ?

Substrate - i have about 2" of fairly fine black sand with about an inch of gravel on top -- check out pic

[Phaedrus]

The fish won't mind the change at all and could make a much larger change in SG in a matter of hours quite comfortably. The bacterial filter, however, is not quite as robust. Generally we recommend changing SG by no more than 0.002 per week to give the bacteria a chance to adapt/repopulate. The slower the better, but at your low SG you're much closer to fresh than marine, so the bacteria will likely handle the change much better, provided it's in good shape to begin with.

The best and safest bet is to take it slow and plan out what you want to achieve in a reasonable amount of time. Since you haven't bought the plants yet, get everything ready for them before you do.

[my name is mike]

great advice -- thanks -- im all about getting it right the first time ---

do you think my substrate will work ?

[Phaedrus]

It's not ideal, but it should do alright. Just another reason why it's easier to start from scratch. Fluorite or some laterite based gravel is best for plants because it provides root nutrients. This is also a reason why a planted brackish tank is difficult, since Aragonite sand is best for brackish tanks because it helps buffer the pH to a steady 8.

[Nick]

The tank my plants do best in is heavily planted with gravel and sand.

[my name is mike]

thanks everyone -- i started my slow SG reduction last night with a water change, so im on my way!

one more question--- do you think it is best to "over plant " the tank while the SG is low, just in case some plants just dont make it ??? -- this approach makes sense to me, cause i feel i have one shot to get it right,,, thinking that im not going to want to lower the SG again to add something

[Pufferoni]

It is also good to overplant when starting any planted tank. The increase in light will bring on the algae if your not careful. Put in some fast growing plants to suck up the nutrients and out compete the algae. When you are established and you see what works you can weed some out or move them around.

I started a thread a few weeks ago with a list of the plants I am starting with. I have started them in fresh and will be going brackish in about a month depending on growth.

What is your final wattage. Did you end up with 2 65watt bulbs or just one.

Keep us uptodate. There isn't a lot of info on planting brackish.

[my name is mike]

thanks for the advice --

i have not settled on lighting yet ---

im thinking of going with just one 65 W --- (which of course could be my plants downfall) --- and tell me if my reasoning is off --- the first light i tried was a current USA with 2 65 W and not only did it look too blue and cold, but it looked obnoxiously bright (good for plants i guess - bad for my aesthetics) -- also it had this fan that buzzed way too loud for my taste --

they sell these 65 W hoods (coralife Freshwater Aqualight Compact Fluorescent Fixtures) - that have no fan that i am looking at, but i guess the fan exists for a reason (bulb life, tank temp swings, fires!, etc.)

i know the goal should be to provide the best for the plants and such , but i have to be able to live with this thing in my living room too --

[Pufferoni]

I think that 1 65 is perfectly resonable that's over 2wpg

If you were to doulbe that you would have to use co2 and fertz, your plants would be growing like crazy if not you might end up with serious algae issues

[Phaedrus]

Agreed. Don't go crazy on lighting unless you're prepared to deal with fertilizer dosing and CO2 injection. And in a brackish environment, the algae is even more likely to be able to out-compete the plants.

Hagen has some new T5 fixtures out that look pretty nice. No fans, nice looking fixtures, comes with reflectors and an external ballast. Check out this PDF: http://members.shaw.ca/jasonznack/tpf/G ... 5B1%5D.pdf

[Peregrine]

With PC or T5 lights you are getting a lot more bang for your buck as well...with good reflectors 1x65W on a 30 gal should be more than enough. (closer to 3w/gal equivalent of NO lighting)

Compared to Normal Output (NO) lights (ie T12 Fluorescent)..T5 and PC output is much more intense.

[my name is mike]

thanks everyone -- there is so much contradictory info out there -- before you even get to the manufactures' claims or the guys at the lfs trying to just make a sale ---

Phaedrus === those t5's look nice -- so, if i went with 2-24" bulbs that would give me almost 50w -- which seems close to enough, since the t5 is more intense right? ---

before i started my reseach, i had a guy sell me a one 15W 18" flour bulb with "the correct spectrum" -- and a compact sword -- i asked if i needed to acclimate the plant and he said no -- i guess there just arent a lot of people out there with brackish experience

[Phaedrus]

The watts per gallon rule really only applies to normal output linear fluorescent lighting. PC lighting is much more intense light for the same wattage. So for example, high lighting with NO lighting would be ~3-4wpg or so, whereas PC T5 lighting would provide the same intensity of light with only ~2-3wpg or so. So take that into consideration, as you don't want TOO much light.

There are other advantages like being able to fit more bulbs into smaller space or the same space, less light blockage form the bulb itself, cooler temps, better reflectors (the reflectors can reflect more light past the smaller bulbs), etc.