Hi. I'm looking for help with lighting my 55 gallon 4 foot tank. Right now I have a regular florescent light on there with an Aqueon Floramax bulb. I have some plant substrate instead of regular gravel. I have some Anubias which is doing pretty good and Java Fern is doing alright but Amazon Sword was doing well when I first got it but has basically stopped growing. The Amazon Sword probably slowed down because it was getting a fair amount of natural light but is not anymore due to winter. Anyway, I feel like my light is doing basically nothing and I am looking to get a new one or supplement what I already have. I'm not looking to get fancy or spend a ton of money. Just something that will help the growth of basic low to moderate light aquarium plants. Should I add another florescent tube light or get something new altogether? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Light Suggestions
- Thread starter bhfautsch
- Start date
Amazon swords are also heavy root feeders, so it could also just be a fact of adding some root tabs at the base of the plant to give it what it needs...
As far as lighting goes, the cheapest method would probably buy a T5 flouresent housing and tube from a hardware store and installing it above your tank, just aim for lighting thats 6700K
As far as lighting goes, the cheapest method would probably buy a T5 flouresent housing and tube from a hardware store and installing it above your tank, just aim for lighting thats 6700K
I agree with root tabs under the amazon sword... As for the light I would go with something more basic like a dual T8 light fixture like this...
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia...cent-Residential-Shop-Light-1233-RE/202994372
I would use 6500k bulbs in it, 6500k supplies the necessary color spectrums that plants need for photosynthesis....
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia...cent-Residential-Shop-Light-1233-RE/202994372
I would use 6500k bulbs in it, 6500k supplies the necessary color spectrums that plants need for photosynthesis....
Don't go too crazy with the lighting, it can be a very slippery slope. The plants you're keeping could really get by with extremely minimal light, so your current fixture is probably adequate, if nothing else. If you increase your light by too much, you'll have to balance that out with fertilizers and CO2 to avoid facilitating an algae bloom, which makes for a much more complicated and time-consuming setup to maintain.
HZO
A dual T8 isn't enough to grow Amazon Swords?!?! Please tell me you're joking here... Just by that comment leads me to believe you know nothing about PAR, lighting reflectors, or the wavelengths plants utilize the most for photosynthesis...
Here's proof 48" T8 lighting at work on a planted tank...
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/1...ot-diamond-plate-2-light-how-high-hang-2.html
A dual T8 isn't enough to grow Amazon Swords?!?! Please tell me you're joking here... Just by that comment leads me to believe you know nothing about PAR, lighting reflectors, or the wavelengths plants utilize the most for photosynthesis...
Here's proof 48" T8 lighting at work on a planted tank...
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/1...ot-diamond-plate-2-light-how-high-hang-2.html
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I've been doing research for my tank and I'm going with a finnex planted 24/7 and it has a remote and tons of features you probably don't need but are pretty enticing even more so for the price! a 48in or 4 foot one runs 130$ on amazon.