New light ballast question

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
The quick answer is NO.

The light has 2 18watt bulbs or 36 watts total. While that is plenty of light to grow alot of plants it is actually considered low light on a 20g tank.

If this is your first planted tank IMO it would be a good idea to use what you have and get some lower light plants. And maybe use this set-up to get ur feet wet so to speak in the planted tank game.
 
hm. so far my java fern, moss, valliisneria has all seemed to be looking much better under this setup. even if i pickup some eco-complete soil it still wont work?
 
I have that light on one of my tanks. It works great up to medium-light plants. High-light plants will probably need T5HO's, though. These are just plain T5's.
 
well i ended up picking up some eco complete and just replace my sand with it. I think in about a week im gonna buy some dwarf hairgrass and give it a try.
 
I also have my old 10 gallon light ballast with a coralife 50/50 actinic bulb that i have put above my tank also? Will this help a bit more? I will post some pictures when i get back from class.
 
Plants do not care about watts, they care about color spectrum and color tempreture, so it depends on the bulb you get , I think you will be good.
 
aquaculture;3781815; said:
Plants do not care about watts, they care about color spectrum and color tempreture, so it depends on the bulb you get , I think you will be good.
Click to expand...

This statement is not entirely true.

You can grow plants with regular old hoouse style incadescent bulbs. Many have done it for decades. But you need alot more watts when you use the wrong color spectrum.

Most lights have a little bit of each color spectrum in them. So you can use more wattage to increase the output of the spectrum you need.

hope that makes sense
 
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