28G PLANTED Nano Cube

I'm not an expert, I think it is a lot of watts, but I don't see the harm in it. I've seen some plants that say they require 5wpg(being an inaccurate way of measuring lumens), but I have never kept any of those plants.

 

you will be fine with the stock lighting. i would add a piece of driftwood and some endlers if you can find them. are you happy with the plants placements?

 

Stock lighting is 105W combo, I don't think plants get anything from actinics so they are under pretty much 50 watts of 10,00K right now. (not enough) Plus it just looks too blue. I want a freakin underwater JUNGLE! I am waiting for my large piece of driftwood from Drs. F&S. I have the plants in a horseshoe fashion right now because I plan on the driftwood sitting in the middle sloping up towards the back and maybe covered in java moss. I have the foreground planted in the front right corner growing more dense towards the back left. This is due to the fact that my tank is beside the couch and I want it viewable from the front and right sides, It will never be viewed from the left side as it is about a foot away from the wall in the corner of my living room. I also want to fill in all the gaps with micro sword grass but my LFS was out. This is my first planted tank so PLEASE feel free to make any suggestions on placement.

By the way, what are "endlers"? Are you referring to endlers livebearers? I'm combining my 2 smaller freshwater tanks so I already have the livestock from those and will probably just build on to the school of neons. Don't care much for livebearers. :-/

 

when i said the stock lighting would be fine i meant the pc lighting. ya you will have to get fw bulbs for it. but you wont need mh for it. i believe with fresh any plants with colors in them (mostly red if i remember right) are harder to keep then green ones. what ever plants you can attach to the wood the better. here is a pic of an endler, or maybe you could get some blue german rams.

 

If you just want I nice tank, do it the way you want it, if you want to try going at it like a pro try this - Aquascaping 101

 

Thats the thing, JBJ lighting (or no-one for that matter) makes a freshwater bulb for this tank. All 4 bulbs are built into one socket so I can't just replace the blue ones. Sort of pisses me off. MH is about my only option. I've looked at T5's but can't find an 18" 4x18W fixture. Current has an 18" T5 2x18W but I'd have to run two of those fixtures and I haven't even been able to find 15" 6,700K 18W T5 bulbs for those either unless I just take out the 2 actinics and run 4 10,000K T5's which still isn't the right Kelvin temp.

 

Haha, nope, not trying to go pro, I'll save my money for my reef. This tank is just so I can get rid of my two 10 gallons and only have 1 freshwater tank and 1 saltwater tank (3 tanks is too much right now). But my wife keeps bugging me about having a planted tank so I'm trying to do my best on the light situation.

 

I'm leaning more towards the 150W still. If it's too much I can raise it off the water a bit, and if spill over is too bright for me sitting next to it on the couch, I'm sure I can mod something to block the sides of the lamp.
I just know (with my luck on equipment) I'll get the 70W and regret not buying the 150W. lol

So the K-2 viper by JBJ lighting (same makers of the nano cube) comes with a 14,000K double ended bulb, and thats too high, so should I replace it with a 10,00K or 6,700K bulb? I though MH's are full spectrum so is the Kelvin temp just the color appearance or am I mistaking?

 

10,000k is pure white daylight and I'm sure the plants would be fine with it, but 67,000k is supposed to be better for plants, even thought it's not as aesthetically pleasing. I think the 150w is good, and it's better to have to much light then not enough. Also, if you're not 100% happy with the planted tank, you can always turn it into a nano reef.....

 

NO! lol. I just took down my nano reef and upgraded it to a 65G. Haha
Thanks for the info BTW. I still have research ahead of me.