75 gallon lighting and planting questions

[MurderedOut]

okay im planning on planting my 75gallon, currently it has 2 48" all glass 32watt bulbs in it. i know thats not near enough.

what kind of bulbs should i get? the 6700s? T5s? im planning on growing some amazon swords, java fern and some type of grass. however i would rather not spend the money on a new lighting system if possible. No c02 injection.

also, the tank has an rena xp3, and a ac110 on it. As well as a korilia 4 powerhead. the water really moves, i have some fake weighted silk plant in there currently and they blow over. even with the powerhead off, its still quite a bit. will the real plants do this???

it has a airpump on it now but i will remove that to help lessen the surface agitation. i also could switch to the spraybar for the xp3 instead of the powerjet if need be.

i have 3 4 inch senegal bichirs(2 albino), 1 4in ghost knife, 1 6in common pleco. And im planning on adding a small school of giant danios, and some other 4-6 inch cichlids (JDs, Convicts). will these fish be okay with the plant

cant wait to get some plants growing

 

[MurderedOut]

i might do discus instead of the danios and other cichlids.

what plants would be best for discus?

 

[mgamer20o0]

i am not 100% sure but i wouldnt do discus with those fish. as for the lighting there is two main options. t5 or cf lighting. more and more people are switching to t5.

 

[jcardona1]

T5 or power compacts is too much lighting if youre not gonna do co2

 

[mgamer20o0]

T5 or power compacts is too much lighting if youre not gonna do co2

not true. they could easily do a 55x2 cf or a 54x2 t5 and still be low light.

 

[jcardona1]

not true. they could easily do a 55x2 cf or a 54x2 t5 and still be low light.

low light in terms of wattage yes, but in terms of light intensity, im not sure. id be careful running higher output lights without the addition of co2. it could be hard to strike a balance with those lights and no co2

 

[mgamer20o0]

not really. yes its putting out more light per watt and more efficient. it still would be low light..... no way you could say even if the put a single t5 54w bulb over the tank that they would need co2. yes co2 will help out low light tanks. the more light you get over a tank the greater need for co2.

even with the so called greater light intensity lights its still lower light.

 

[MurderedOut]

so what 48" bulbs should i get?? to have a good mixture of plants without doing c02?

im wanting to do a somewhat heavy planted tank. is this possible without c02.

there is so much available, i just wanna be certain on what im buying.

 

[MurderedOut]

the reason im so confused is because i dont understand if i should go by WPG or Lumens.

ive read that 20k lumens is good for a 55g and a 75g. however. there are bulbs that are only 40w that put out 18000k!!! but then there are 40w bulbs that produce only 6700k..(just an example)

so many contradicting opinions. is it even possible to keep my All Glass regular ole' light bar and put bright enough bulbs in it?

or does anybody have any info on a budget c02 system. or info how to regulate one without an automatic controller?

i was looking at the fully automatic c02 system on drfostersandsmith for 400, looks nice but 400! wow!

i want to grow some low/medium light plants. hopefully without spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars, is this possible?

 

[t0p_sh0tta]

ive read that 20k lumens is good for a 55g and a 75g. however. there are bulbs that are only 40w that put out 18000k!!! but then there are 40w bulbs that produce only 6700k..(just an example)

What you're referring to is the color temp of the bulb (in kelvin) which is sorta independent of the lumens. A 6700k bulb is closer to white than a 10000k bulb (more blue). As you get farther away from pure white (~4500k IIRC) you usually get a decrease in lumens (light intensity).


You can keep your current lighting if you want to stick with the easier to grow species such are java fern. You could also look into anubias, cryptocorynes, various mosses and such.

You won't get a decent carpeting plant without upgrading your lighting though.

You can also find decent CO2 setups for ~$200 if you piece it together yourself or find one used. Check out the f/s sections here, aquariacentral.com, plantedtank.net and aquaticplantcentral.com.

All you need to have a decent set up is a tank (recommend 10lb or larger if you have the room), regulator (w/ needle valve and bubble counter), and a drop checker to see how much CO2 is actually in the water.

There are many (myself included) who piece together their own CO2 regulator using Victor branded components off of eBay. You can find a couple of very informative threads on plantedtank.net.


FWIW, the term low light is relative. I run 2 non CO2 injected tanks running 1.4wpg (T5NO) and 1.95wpg (T5HO) and both have had algae outbreaks. I've since started dosing dry ferts and using floating plants to cut down on these occurences.