I have a dual strip light fixture on my 26 gallon aquarium, giving me 130 watts, which is about 7.5 watts per gallon. The fixture I have is a Satellite Compact Fluorescent Fixture Dual 24″ Dual Daylight 6,700°K/10,000°K and Dual Actinic 420nm/460nm.

This fixture has four electrical plugs. One for each dual bulb, one for the LED moonlight, and one for the cooling fan. I have my lights on a timer that also turns on the cooling fan (which is built in to the fixture). The lights are on for 8 hours a day. When the lights turn off, the LED moonlight turns on.

I need to replace both bulbs soon, but I’m wondering if I should replace the dual actinic with a second dual daylight. If I go with a second dual daylight, I can see if there’s any growth difference.  There’s a lot of talk on the forums I visit about the usefulness of actinic bulbs on a freshwater planted tank.  I’d say it’s about a 50/50 whether or not they are useful.  I think I’ll do my own tests.

My lights turn on one hour after my CO2 turns on, and turn off one hour after my CO2 turns off.

I use a total of three timer power strips for all of my equipment. I’m planning on building a “power center,” which will be made out of plywood with electric outlets built on. I’m going to have a couple outlets for non timer equipment, such as my cannister filter, power head (which I don’t have yet), and heater. I’ll also have and outlets for the timer strips. I’ll consolidate both light strips, cooling fan, and moon light onto one power strip. This will allow better use of the cabinet space under the aquarium.

That’s about it for my lighting setup. What kind of lighting do you use on your aquarium?

Equipment I Already Have:

1. Single GLO Life-Glo T5 HO 24W 6700K
2. 20 Gallon Tall Aquarium
3. Eheim ECCO 2232
4. Catalina Titanium Heater 100W
5. Two Red/Brown Sand Banks

Stuff I Still Need:

1. Organic Topsoil (un-fertilized)
2. CaribSea Tahitian Moon Substrate

Planned Fauna:

1. Neon Tetra x10
2. Red Cherry Shrimp x5
3. Amano Shrimp x5
4. Otocinclus x5
5. Zebra Nerite Snail x5

Planned Flora:

1. E. tenellus, Marselia minuta, or dwarf sag
2. Hygros, Bacopa, Rotala indica, Ludwigia repens, Hydrocoytle leucocephala for stem plants
3. Mosses, ferns, anubias, and crypts

Any ideas/suggestions?

Update: Seems that this is normal for this type of anubias.  I might also have a low phosphate level.  I’ve decided to up my KH2PO4 from 1/16 tsp to 1/8 tsp.  I’ll see if that helps.  I need to get a phosphate level test kit.

Here’s a couple photos I took right after. There’s still a lot of crap in the water column. I’ll take more photos once it all settles and/or gets filtered out.

For fauna, I plan on having a chinese algae eater, mystery snails, and red cherry shrimp.

So to begin with, I’m going to set the tank up emersed. Grow out the plants emersed, then after 3 or 4 weeks, fill the tank up. I’m thinking about changing the substrate out on my 26 gallon bow front tank, so if I decide to do that, I’m going to put the fish and snails from that tank into this tank temporarily while I change out the 26.

More to come. =)

I created a couple pages for the journals of my aquariums. So far, I only have one tank running right now. It’s my 26 gallon bow front planted tank. It has a bunch of plants, 8 Cardinal Tetras, 3 Chinese Algae Eaters, and some blue mystery snails. The other tank I have isn’t set up yet. It’s my 20 gallon tall tank. It’s going to be a natural planted tank with red cherry shrimp, a chinese algae eater, and a couple mystery snails. Check out the Journals.