Lighting a Planted Tank
- Thread starter WyldFya
- Start date
How long have you had the plants? swords usually lose their old leaves when first placed into a tank, so what you're seeing could be normalBhack91;4538465;4538465 said:
@TS
please save my planted tank.
im using MH 70 watts x 2 on a 18in deep tank. my red plants (high light plants) are dying. hc grows vertical. the only thing thriving is the blyxia and the crypts. everything else grows so vertical like they are reaching for the lights. what do you think is wrong? my MH hangs like 10in from the surface. please help. thanks!
please save my planted tank.
im using MH 70 watts x 2 on a 18in deep tank. my red plants (high light plants) are dying. hc grows vertical. the only thing thriving is the blyxia and the crypts. everything else grows so vertical like they are reaching for the lights. what do you think is wrong? my MH hangs like 10in from the surface. please help. thanks!
Hey folks,
Just wanted to share the details of some recent PAR testing I did. I borrowed a PAR meter from my local club - some of you guys may know Hoppy (Vaughn) and Tom Barr from other forums. Hoppy has done a great deal of work in terms of light testing in the past couple months. I wanted to compare this to the light fixtures I had to see how reliable the information is, because we all know every fixture and light bulb is different.
Here's some important things you should know about my testing:
Just wanted to share the details of some recent PAR testing I did. I borrowed a PAR meter from my local club - some of you guys may know Hoppy (Vaughn) and Tom Barr from other forums. Hoppy has done a great deal of work in terms of light testing in the past couple months. I wanted to compare this to the light fixtures I had to see how reliable the information is, because we all know every fixture and light bulb is different.
Here's some important things you should know about my testing:
1. The Lowes and Current/Nova fixtures were tested on a standard 20g tank, with water. The sensor was placed in the middle of the tank, right under the fixture.
2. The Lowes & Current/Nova lights are 48" long, and the tank is only 24" long. To avoid having any stray light afftect the reading, I wrapped the overlapping section of the fixture with a towel. Removing the towels caused an increase of 4-5 micromols.
3. The Lowes fixture is black metal, even where the bulbs are. This is obviously isn't a good color for reflection, so I also wrapped the inside with aluminum foil and took more readings.
4. The Current/Nova fixture uses two bulbs, very close together. This has a very cheap thin aluminum reflector that goes over both bulbs.
5. The bulbs in the Lowes & Current/Nova fixture are fairly old, all over a year. Please keep this in mind as new bulbs may give a higher reading. The only bulbs that were brand new were the Giesemann bulbs in my Catalina fixture (3 days old at the time of testing).
6. I only took one reading with the Catalina fixture since it's mounted to a hanging bracket and the tank is heavily planted. I may try some more readings, but for the time being, it's just at 28". Also note that this is a 4-bulb fixture. I only tested 2 bulbs, in the outer most banks.
7. For the Current/Nova fixture, I had 3 types of bulbs. I took individual readings from each bulb and compared the results as seen below. Again, keep in mind that bulb age may be a factor. I did not go out and buy new bulbs to test this fixture.
Any questions please feel free to ask! I have a few more desktop lamps/fixtures that I will be testing in the days to come 2. The Lowes & Current/Nova lights are 48" long, and the tank is only 24" long. To avoid having any stray light afftect the reading, I wrapped the overlapping section of the fixture with a towel. Removing the towels caused an increase of 4-5 micromols.
3. The Lowes fixture is black metal, even where the bulbs are. This is obviously isn't a good color for reflection, so I also wrapped the inside with aluminum foil and took more readings.
4. The Current/Nova fixture uses two bulbs, very close together. This has a very cheap thin aluminum reflector that goes over both bulbs.
5. The bulbs in the Lowes & Current/Nova fixture are fairly old, all over a year. Please keep this in mind as new bulbs may give a higher reading. The only bulbs that were brand new were the Giesemann bulbs in my Catalina fixture (3 days old at the time of testing).
6. I only took one reading with the Catalina fixture since it's mounted to a hanging bracket and the tank is heavily planted. I may try some more readings, but for the time being, it's just at 28". Also note that this is a 4-bulb fixture. I only tested 2 bulbs, in the outer most banks.
7. For the Current/Nova fixture, I had 3 types of bulbs. I took individual readings from each bulb and compared the results as seen below. Again, keep in mind that bulb age may be a factor. I did not go out and buy new bulbs to test this fixture.
I have a couple of questions. First, is this the lighting sticky that I keep seeing references too? Second, if I'm understanding the thread correctly, my Nova extreme pro 72" 12 36" t5ho bulbs sitting on a 210 gallon tank that is 30" tall is going to be sitting at 360 on the scale that Wyldfya posted. Is that correct?
My second question is, sometime in the future I may convert this tank from freshwater to saltwater. Would previously said fixture be sufficient for a tank with corals, fish, and anemones?
Thanks,
Helgi
My second question is, sometime in the future I may convert this tank from freshwater to saltwater. Would previously said fixture be sufficient for a tank with corals, fish, and anemones?
Thanks,
Helgi
I glad i found and read it. I was calculated/based on WPG for 180G tank 24" high running 3 T5 HO (2x 10000K and 1x 6700K). No wonder algae goes crazy, base on this info, i should take out 1 light and lift it up about 4" above top tank?
So let me see if I'm understanding correctly...
I'm starting to plant my 55g, right now its got a completely inert substrate (3m colorquartz) and a single t8 bulb. I'm not dosing c02 (and don't plan on it) but I had started to dose Seachem Flourish, but I stopped that after I had an influx of hair/gray algae.
My plants are water sprite (floating) java moss (on wood) wysteria & anacharis (planted). So they should all do just fine in a low-light low-tech setup.
So, if I want this to be successful, I should go get a single t5ho (or a triple or quad t8) fixture? From there I would be able to still not put an emphasis on c02, and I could pick back up with dosing the flourish? If I run into problems with that, I could raise the light over the tank, reducing the Par at the bottom until things are in balance?
Am I missing anything? If I DON'T upgrade my lights (by the chart I'm wayyyy below the low level) will I have no success in growing these plants? Should I hold off on the flourish until I get a better light? Or is it beneficial to continue dosing it?
I'm starting to plant my 55g, right now its got a completely inert substrate (3m colorquartz) and a single t8 bulb. I'm not dosing c02 (and don't plan on it) but I had started to dose Seachem Flourish, but I stopped that after I had an influx of hair/gray algae.
My plants are water sprite (floating) java moss (on wood) wysteria & anacharis (planted). So they should all do just fine in a low-light low-tech setup.
So, if I want this to be successful, I should go get a single t5ho (or a triple or quad t8) fixture? From there I would be able to still not put an emphasis on c02, and I could pick back up with dosing the flourish? If I run into problems with that, I could raise the light over the tank, reducing the Par at the bottom until things are in balance?
Am I missing anything? If I DON'T upgrade my lights (by the chart I'm wayyyy below the low level) will I have no success in growing these plants? Should I hold off on the flourish until I get a better light? Or is it beneficial to continue dosing it?
