Do i really need to get a light at a fish store or will like a 160 watt florescent light work if they sell them at menards or something
Planted tank lighting
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Depends on what you're hoping to achieve. I have a pair of 36 watt 4' T8 lights I picked up from a hardware store, with 6700K tubes in them and no reflectors over my 180L/50G tank. With weekly liquid fertilization the undemanding plants in the tank are growing fine.
If you want to end up with a tank you can enter the Aquatic Gardeners Association's aquascaping contest, you'll want some better lights.
160 watts of fluorescent lights sounds like a lot, should be adequate as long as they're a suitable light temperature.
If you want to end up with a tank you can enter the Aquatic Gardeners Association's aquascaping contest, you'll want some better lights.
160 watts of fluorescent lights sounds like a lot, should be adequate as long as they're a suitable light temperature.
FSM;4362599; said:
correct a 75g i currently have 4 bulbs each running 40 watts a piece will that supply a decent ammount of plants? and will they live in regular beach sand or do they need substrate? obviously substrate makes them grow faster but will sand work?
sand is substrate, and works fine. I add fertilizer to the sand substrate in my planted tank though. The common "plant" substrates (flourite and eco-complete) don't provide the main nutrients plants need (nitrogen, potassium, phosphorous) but they have some iron and such in them. They do have a high cation exchange capacity, which means nutrient molecules (cations are positively charged ions) will "stick" to the substrate.
FSM;4362800; said:
well i mean like nutriant substrate for plants... what type of fertalizer... liquid or?
can some 1 give me a solid answer, 4 40 watt bulbs florecent, is that enough for plants, 160 watts total
I have that over my 75gallon. 2 bulbs marked at 6,500K and 2 marked at 2,700K. However they are not specail bulbs so the Kelvin rating is probably not what is on the package. Flourite substrate and DIY Co2. about 40 micromols of par, lowlight (Check the sticky). they grow plants ok.
I plan on upgrading to T5 HO.
I plan on upgrading to T5 HO.
warlord651;4364240; said:
For a solid answer we need to know how tall the tank is, how far the lights are from the surface, reflectors or not, bulb specs, and so on... to be sure. If you don't have all that or don't post it, don't be so pushy. Also, questions end in a question mark. It looks like this "?".
Short answer. It should be fine. Because, technically, having a house light near a tank with 0 top lights would be fine for some plants.
I have the basic t12 shop lights with a white reflectore just sitting on the tank. I put plastic wrap over the top of the tank to keep my fish from splashing/jumping out of the tank.