Will this grow plants?

[Greenspot]

Will this light grown plants on a 4 ft 18" deep tank?
Thinking of easy stuff first, Anubis, swords, Java fern, val and hygrophilla.

 

[Greenspot]

This wouldn't work would it?

 

[Greenspot]

Anyone? I know the first says it will grow plants but would it in practice?

 

[Wailua Boy]

Either light will grow the plants you mentioned nicely. The last light would be better for non flowering plants. I usually try to place my planted tanks by windows and they can pick up a fair amount of natural light that way.

 

[Greenspot]

Thanks heaps, the tank this light was disposed to be for was sold to someone else, so I'm back to square one.

 

[Fat Homer]

Not so sure that the 2nd setup would be as suitable for a plnted tank as much as it would be for growing algae???

Same deal with placing a tank by a window getting natural light, since again, it might mean you cannot control the amount of light the tank is getting and cause algae outbreak...

And since the OP hasnt mentioned what type of planted tank hes going for, its hard to say if either of the options is really viable...

 

[Wailua Boy]

Not so sure that the 2nd setup would be as suitable for a plnted tank as much as it would be for growing algae???

Same deal with placing a tank by a window getting natural light, since again, it might mean you cannot control the amount of light the tank is getting and cause algae outbreak...

And since the OP hasnt mentioned what type of planted tank hes going for, its hard to say if either of the options is really viable...

The OP actually mentioned "Anubis, swords, Java fern, val and hygrophilla"_. I've grown the latter mentioned in natural light tanks, given the OP is in Australia perhaps they can take advantage of natural light. Fat Homer

 

[Fat Homer]

^ i thought i saw him list the plants somewhere but missed it when looking a 2nd time...

But yeah, i guess depending where in Oz he lives it might work, but the sun down under tends ro be quite intense, and in the summer gets north of 40'C heat in some metropolitan areas, so not sure next to a window is the best idea but guess the OP can weigh in on that option...

 

[Greenspot]

G'day, yup Australia, but female. The tank will be on a wall away from the window and won't get any direct light. The 4ft tank I was researching these lights for is out of the picture. It was sold to someone else.
So the tank I am now looking at getting is 6ft. It will be 18" front to back and 22 from top to bottom. How do I figure out what type of light I will need?

 

[Fat Homer]

You could go the cheaper route and goto a hardware store such as maybe bunnings and buy a regular T5 housing unit that will run the length of the tank and use that... Although you may need to find a way to suspend it a few inches above the tank...

The other route would be to look for another brand of lighting at your local LFS, this will likely cost a little bit more but will have legs or other options for you to place above the tank... But take note, going this route will require you to buy specializes bulbs from your LFS, since regular T5 bulbs from hardware stores are a different length...