TeutonJon78

I'm running 6700k and 10000k (36w each of CFL). Plants doing well. But, your mileage may vary.

You still only have te 6 fish in there, right?

01krisp10

Yeah, 6. Think I'm going to pickup another light strip today. I only have 28w, wasn't thinking when I bought it.

TeutonJon78

well, don't do that based on my numbers. 72W is technically above the recommendation. Plus, the bulbs I have are over a year old (they had about 8+ months on them when I set this tank up this time). And the reflector design is a plain POS. The bulbs are too close together, too close to the front of the tank, and too close to the reflector. They were designed to fit in the hood dimensions and for viewing, not for plants (or plants at all...it's technically designed for SW).

I'd guess I probably have like 40-50W of useable light hitting the tank. Of course, that's just a guess. And I think you get a lot more sun than I do.

01krisp10

Well I bought one... It will work out ok, because I have wax paper double thick on the back of my tank now. Tons of sun, even raises the tank temp several degrees.

Update:

Disaster... This is the moment all the planted books talk about, when you think your going to lose it.

My Nitrite level just spiked. Hadn't measured it in a few days and bam its now at 5ppm. I was hoping this was a mistake, did another test same result.

After several huge water changes throughout the day and a filter squeeze (needed to do this into my quarantine tank anyway, so it worked out) Nitrite is now reading around 1-2ppm. Went to find something to use to detoxify the nitrite, saw Amquel+ or whatever it is and didn't think it was right for me as it warned about oxygen and other issues. Got home read the forum and everyone suggests it! LOL Added 1tsp of aquarium salt, way less than the dosage on package as per walstad and others recommendations, as it should detoxify the nitrite while I work this out.

Between this and the algae, I've got a battle on my hands. Well I just can't wait for things to finally calm down so my glowlights can make the move and I can start enjoying el natural maintenance.

01krisp10

Nitrite went up to 2+ppm, so I went and got AmQuel+, was skeptical, but alas several minutes after use nitrite down to .25ppm! WOW! Hope this is maintained for a while, will post results of tonights test.