what light do you recomend

[joedodge]

ok i have a 36 inch tank that i want to plant with amazon swords,java fern,anubius nana, and java moss i want a good light that will provide good growth of these plants with no c02. ive looked at the stickys and such but was wondering what you all recomend thankyou so much

 

[joedodge]

bump

 

[chonhzilla]

Coralife 36" T5 Freshwater Aqualight

 

[joedodge]

ok sounds good what wattage and lumens should i go with tho for those plants

 

[joedodge]

ok that light has 2 96 watt bulbs in it wich makes 192 watts that makes 3.31 watts per gallon. and its a 6700k wich makes 69.7 lumens according to the sticky tho it will not be enough light for my plants what do you guys think im a lil lost about this

 

[chonhzilla]

ok sounds good what wattage and lumens should i go with tho for those plants

Well its got two bulbs. I'd go for one 6700K and 10000K on the other. Both bulbs will be 21watts, but the penetration power of them T5's will grow your plant collection just fine. So you got a total of 42watts over however many gallons you've got (40maybe?). Plus its not so intense you'll need CO2.

-Chonh

 

[joedodge]

hmm im so confused about this lighting stuff lol after doing the math i cant seem to find a light that has enough lumens and wats per gallon with out mix matching bulbs is there a 36" light that is ready to go and will grow my plants

 

[FSM]

ok that light has 2 96 watt bulbs in it wich makes 192 watts that makes 3.31 watts per gallon. and its a 6700k wich makes 69.7 lumens according to the sticky tho it will not be enough light for my plants what do you guys think im a lil lost about this

2x96W is a ridiculous amount of light for what you want to do. Without CO2 you are pretty much guaranteed to spawn an algae invasion.

A 2x39W T5HO fixture would work well, maybe even be slightly too much.

 

[joedodge]

ok excelent so a dual bulb 39 watt light will work but it wont be 36" long the length of the tank is that ok

 

[chonhzilla]

hmm im so confused about this lighting stuff lol after doing the math i cant seem to find a light that has enough lumens and wats per gallon with out mix matching bulbs is there a 36" light that is ready to go and will grow my plants

Oh yeah....its not easy at all, but for what you are doing the 2X21 watt light fixture should be more than enough to do what you need it to do. If you are shooting for something that's at 2watts per gallon then you are gonna need some kind of CO2 supplementation or you'll start to run into algae. If you do have all the proper equipment then you would shoot for something that has your desired wattage and lumens per gallon for optimal conditions.

-Chonh

2x96W is a ridiculous amount of light for what you want to do. Without CO2 you are pretty much guaranteed to spawn an algae invasion.

A 2x39W T5HO fixture would work well, maybe even be slightly too much.

I agree totally.