adding an additional light to a rekord60

hey,

ive been having a few problems with my plants, where they keep dying, turning yellow... ive been using tropica master grow to help the plants. but they're still dying, i have the light on for almost 12 hours a day, and its a new bulb in the tank. can, and should, i add a second bulb into the tank. if i should, does anyone know how to?!!

thanks a million,

Sparky

Hi sparky

What type of plants are you having the problems with and what type of bulb do you use over the tank?

what kinda bulb??? i had the same problem with a Rekord 120 and i changed the bulb for a Aquaglo and that solve the problem... i'm trying some Interpet Triplus on my Trigon 190 at the moment and looks good so far!...

If you still want to add a second bulb to the rekord 60 follow the link.

www.uk-aquarist.com/index.php?showtopic=13981
Your gonna have to register to see the picture of the modified lid!


Regards
Pablo

hey, thanks for all the assistance, i decided to put an additional ligh into the tank, its working pretty well, the plants are starting to do quite well! ive got a powerglo and aquaglow ligh in the tank.

the only problem now is that ive got a lot of algea!!! ah well, aways something!!!


thanks,

Sparky

I bet its green hair algae, right?

You need to add CO2 if you are running 30 watts over a Reckord 60.

I bet its green hair algae, right?

You need to add CO2 if you are running 30 watts over a Reckord 60.

yup, thats the algae alright!! that and a bit of brown too!!! how can i add CO2 to the tank tho?!

I bet its green hair algae, right?

You need to add CO2 if you are running 30 watts over a Reckord 60.

yup, thats the algae alright!! that and a bit of brown too!!! how can i add CO2 to the tank tho?!

The simplest way to add CO2 is to use a DIY method, you use a mixture of sugar, yeast, water and some bicarbonate of soda, This mix will generate CO2, which you can diffuse into the tank, if you google DIY CO2 you will get many hits that will explain the method further. CO2 is carbon dioxide, its the carbon element of this we are interested in, all plants need carbon in order to grow.

The more light you put over a tank the more you are pushing the growth rates of the plants and therefore they will require more nutrients, about 40% of a plant is made up of carbon, so it is a very important requirement for all plants, if you dont supply it in sufficient quantities the plant suffers a deficiency and the result of this is algae, CO2 deficiencies generally lead to some form of hair algae simply because the CO2 has become the limiting factor, and it allows the algae to gain a foothold.

If you continue to use both lights over the tank without the addition of CO2 you will continue to have problems with algae, you may be better of going back to one light for the moment until you solve this problem.

You could also consider the use of Flourish Excel, this is a liquid organic source of carbon which would work well on your tank with the level of lighting that you have, unfortunatly you will have to buy it online as i have not seen it for sale in any lfs over here. The disadvantage of this is that it costs money, the advantage of excel though is that you wouldn't have to bother with the DIY method of CO2 generation you would just add the excel like you would any other liquid fertiliser.

HTH

Just my two cents worth, I used to have problems with lighting and dying plants as well. I changed the bulb from a 30w aqua glow to a 60w aqua glow and added more water to the tank so that it was nearly overflowing. The result was that the distance light had to travel before it entered the water was reduced and consequently the quality and intensity of the light was improved. I have also recently begun using plant nutrients but I have found that it caused algae problems but I use it about twice a month in small doses.

ok, thanks for all the great advice, will have a look about, and see what option im going to take, will let you all know what i decide to do!

thanks again,

sparky