On Sat, 25 Jan 2003 16:51:54 -0800, Richard Krush
wrote:

above plants, only Anubias is in nice condition and one of the plants has a
new leaf every few weeks. The rest I manage to keep more or less alive,

Anubias are slow growing plants, and do ok in low-light situations.

Tank: 20 gallon (24" x 12" x 16")
Substrate: 15 lbs of Flourite mixed with 20 lbs of fine gravel (about 2.5
in deep)
Lighting: A fixture holding two 48" 32WT8 fluorescent bulbs with color
temperature of 5000 dK and CRI of 86. However, there is no
reflector and the lamp is suspended a foot above the aquarium.
Duration: The light is on for about 12 hours every day.

I think the two tubes are probably about the same as 2 40w T12 tubes,
so that would be 80 watts. But, only 1/2 of it is over the tank, so
you are down to 40 watts. And suspended a foot over the tank results
in more light loss, so maybe 30 watts. And if there is really no
reflector at all, then you are loosing 1/2 the light again.

So, I'd bet you've got a lighting issue.

[*] The measurement is based on KH and pH. I have a DIY yeast-based CO2
generator, but it seems that the reactor isn't doing a very good job,
since in another aquarium (30 gallon) the CO2 level measured in the
same way reads about 9 mg/l, even though no CO2 is injected.

A non-injected tank will not have 9ppm CO2. Something in the
measurement is wrong, either the pH, or the KH, or something other
than CO2 and carbonates is influencing the pH/KH.

In a non-injected tank with normal water movement, you will almost
always measure around 3ppm.



Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua