Single HO T5 ?

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J

jaxy4

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 30, 2012
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Illinois
Will a single 48 inch HO T5 tube work for a 55 gallon planted tank? I want to branch out to some plants that aren't low light. Should it be flourescent? And can I put it in the fixture that holds my current single tube t8 lighting?


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Plus one. There are a lot of retro fitting that can be done but what your trying wouldn't work. If you had t5 ends and a balast then maybe you could take all the t8 stuff out of the housing and swap it over. Even then you really wouldn't have enough light to grow plants IMO


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A single t5ho on a 55 would grow lower end medium light plants well enough though, provided your fixture has very good reflectors.

If you are wanting to grow more plants though, I'd invest in a pressurized co2 system before investing in lights. 2 t5ho bulbs on a 55 will make enough light to be considered high light, but without the co2 the plants won't be able to fully utilize it and algae will begin to grow at an increased rate. With co2 and higher lighting, the plants can keep up with their own photosynthetic rates and will be able to outcompete most algae. Of course though, then you'd also be needing to dose ferts and all that.
 
HybridHerp said:
A single t5ho on a 55 would grow lower end medium light plants well enough though, provided your fixture has very good reflectors.

If you are wanting to grow more plants though, I'd invest in a pressurized co2 system before investing in lights. 2 t5ho bulbs on a 55 will make enough light to be considered high light, but without the co2 the plants won't be able to fully utilize it and algae will begin to grow at an increased rate. With co2 and higher lighting, the plants can keep up with their own photosynthetic rates and will be able to outcompete most algae. Of course though, then you'd also be needing to dose ferts and all that.
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I agree, a single HO T5 would be fine for most medium light plants, but it won't work in a T8 fixture. I have 2 planted 55's; one with 4x 65w power compact bulbs (i usually just run 2), and one with 2x 28w regular output T5's. The first setup is for higher light plants but you'll grow most things just fine with the second setup such as water sprite, sword plants, java moss/fern, any anubias species, temple plants, etc...Just don't expect to have a mat of baby tears on the bottom or something. I have even used the same fixture to successfully grow some low-light corals. Here's the fixture I'm talking about, it's super cheap!

http://www.afishybusiness.com/product.asp?itemid=3232&gclid=CKbk_LjhlbYCFQuxnQod-E8Aag

And as for CO2, if you end up getting a really strong light you can usually get by with the DIY CO2 using yeast and sugar. 55 gallons is kind of the maximum size for that method though.
 
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