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Dear Joe,
I'm glad that Paul and Diana have responded to your
questions in the past. As I told you in my last message, I do try to
respond to all requests from AGA members, though that's not really my
"job". But not even for an AGA member will I open an unidentified
attachment. And in the case of your e-mail to me, while the subject
line said "AGA member needs advice" there was no name on it, and no way to
know who it came from or what the purpose was. I have spoken to the rest
of the BOD about this matter, and all are in agreement that we would not expect
anyone to open an unidentified attachment. So in this case, you message
would not have been answered no matter who it was sent to.
In terms of your suggestion, we try regularly to
encourage members to access our web site, where they can not only sign up for
the AGA members' mailing lists, but also find links to the Aquatic Plants Digest
mailing list and other sources of good information. The AGA home page
address is listed in EVERY issue of the magazine. In case you did not see
it, the address is:
In our on-going effort to encourage participation,
we have, as you will see in our next issue, invited Paul Sears to be our "guest
expert" on the AGA members' list to answer questions about his up-coming
article. Also through that list, local members of the AGA were invited to
the open house held at my home last weekend. As the saying goes, you can
lead a horse to water...<g>
If you'd rather not go through the AGA web site to
find the APD, the direct e-mail address is:
On to your question. In my personal opinion,
5 wpg is WAY more than is needed on ANY planted tank. The general rule of
thumb of 2-3 wpg is still as good as any I've seen. Under certain
circumstances, that range can be spread to between 1-4 wpg. At the low
end, you need to choose low light species, and be satisfied with very slow
growth. At the high end of this range, you must be prepared to REALLY stay
on top of the demanding maintenance requirements of such a tank. I have
yet to meet a commercially available aquarium species that cannot be grown at 3
wpg or less. Both Diana and Paul would probably faint at the idea of 5
wpg.<g> I also see no advantage to using actinic bulbs, which are
meant for deep water reef applications on a planted tank. Aquatic plants
are invariably from rather shallow water by reef standards.
In terms of your proposed method of staggering the
timing of your lights, this is where you would be much better off asking the
question of a larger group of more "high tech" minded folks. Paul and
Diana wouldn't be able to help you here, and frankly, even though my tanks are
much more high tech than theirs, this is not something that I have had any
experience with. My preference is to set up tanks that are shaped to be a
little easier to light. 29's have always been a difficult size. When
I have had to work with a 29, instead of choosing the plant and trying to make
the system work for the plant, I've chosen species that do well in the
environment that I can reasonably provide for them. There are many, MANY lovely species that will do beautifully
in your 29G tank with a single 65W bulb.
Hope that helps,
Karen A. Randall
krandall@rdrcpa.biz
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