what is it enouph light?

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Joefish

Joefish

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Mar 13, 2005
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St Charles , IL
What are your thoughts to lighting per size tank? do you go by the watts method? i tried the planted tank in my 240 and wasnt happy the way it turned out in the end, with thinking im doing it right but loseing plants and or them falling apart, im sure i was doing something wrong.


but this time i want to make sure i have the correct lighting .


thanks for any input



Joe
 
There are plants that need more than 3 watts (I'm assuming per gallon...)

as far as I know, the watts per gallon thing is most accurate, or at least closest to what people refer to when on a 20-30g aquarium. smaller than that needs more light for equivalent plant growth, and larger tanks need less lighing.

you need to worry about the depth of your tank, and the types of plants you want to grow.. java fern is pretty darned easy fopr example and doesn't need much light.

Might even be worthwhile thinking about MH lights with a tank that size,

anyway, it's not all about the light, you need to fertilize the plants themselves too, which could be the problem here.


also remember that you can supplement tank lighting with sunlight.. but doing that may make CO2 a necessity also.
 
Howdy,

Lighting for a tank depends on more than just Watts:

1) Technology: e.g. Power compact emits more light per Watt than regular fluorescent.
2) Height of tank: Regular fluorescent lights do not sufficiently penetrate water any deeper than 2 ft
3) Lighting duration: Should range between 12-15 h/day
4) Age of bulbs: Regular fluorescent bulbs last about 6-12 months, whereas compacts last 12-18 months. After that, the emitted spectrum turns bad for photosynthesis.
5) Type of bulbs (spectrum)
6) plant species

To just name the top variables. Please specify your parameters, and we will be able to help you customize your lighting accordingly :thumbsup:

HarleyK
 
thanks for all of the replys, i did have a carbo block for Co2 but not sure how well it worked however i did have 2ft java ferns and they were sprouting newlings all of the time, but it was my grass that was dieing off bad, my onions grew like weeds and i also had grey onyx sand for the plants, this time i am looking for plants that will root into my driftwood, such as small ferns and lots of moss, can you guys tell me the name of the moss, is it a java moss? something that only gets around 1" or so?


thanks for all of your help!


Joe
 
also this is what i have to work with, so lots of driftwood to cover :D


tjs169.jpg

kxpic028.jpg
 
Howdy,

Most ferns and mosses do not requite too much light, think about Java fern, Java moss, Riccia, Anubia to just name a few.

Great tank :thumbsup:

HarleyK
 
the k rating on the bulbs is something to consider power compacts would be my choice for a tank that size but the amount of light(watts) depends on the type of plants and a k rating between 6500 and 10000k i only use 6700k but others like the 10k
btw sweet tank
 
i used to have ferns i would like to try something different, the plan is to keep all of the plants mid tank and up, to cast a shadow on the bottom and to allow for the plants to be close to the light.
 
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