1 ft low maintenance question

Thanks for all the helpful replies!

It appears there are different views as to whether 18w PL is an overkill for a one foot tank.

As i had just bought the 18w PL, I will have heart pain if I let it sit around not using. I will test it out as recommended by some of the bros. Maybe i should strike a balance by reducing the duration of lighting; perhaps 4-5hrs?? currently, the 18w PL is sharing the same timer with the light sets other tanks which are for 10 hours duration! If i encounter aglae, i will switch off one 9w PL as the set comes with 2 x 9w PL tubes with individual switch.

Some of the helpful bros raised some interesting issues:-

Hi IsqueeI, you mentioned that NA may have co2 at 1 bubble per 4 seconds but his tank's co2 content may be good. Care to elaborate more? I notice that the slow co2 tank is for slow growing moss. On the other hand, i saw Generation X cranking up its Co2 to hilarous speed for his moss tank. Everyone knows both NA and Gen x are superb moss farmers. But i just can't figure out why there is a difference in practice in respect of Co2 treatment. What i can see is that NA is using an Co2 external reactor for the slow Co2 tank i saw. Other than this, maybe their fertiliser regime, lightings and water maintenance are not the same. I know from my limited experience that co2 will become saturated faster in a tank with slow growing plants as the plants have not enough capacty to take up most of the co2. I stand to be corrected; take moss for example. By nature, they are slow growing. No amount of light, fertiliser and co2 will speed up their consumption of fert and co2. What is left is excess nutrient and we have a problem.

af2373, although you said you are no expert, but your tanks ( i lost count how many) are so beautiful! Care to share how many hours you let the lights shine for your low maintanence tanks.

Hi Jt1, thanks for telling me that, i did not know the 9w clip-on PL can change to 11w??! i thought wrongly that the size of the PL will get longer as the wattage increases or maybe they require different capacity balasts. My clip-on light is a 9w. Initially, i went to NA to check out whether i could get another clip on 11w or 13w. But i was recommended the 18w PL, which i think is more sturdy and durable. Most importantly, the spare parts can be changed if spoilt.

Clkong, initially i planted some taiwan moss in the tank. But just bought some nice looking erect moss and i think i will use erect moss instead. Thanks for your advice on the different characteristic of diff moss in respect of light tolerant (or maybe heat?). Saw a nice piece of moss in your 1ft gallery. Weeping moss? my weeping moss just couldn't make it in my high maintenance tanks.

Again, thanks for all the advices

Cheers

Hi all, just uploaded the photo of my 1ft and please give some pointers for improvement:-