Will this be enough light for 29gal?

whats goin' on bro,

im no expert but i'm getting into the whole planted tank thing myself right now, and I have been dealing with alot of lighting lately. As far as the first light goes, I would say there there is more than enough lighting for what you've got in your tank right now (low light plants), and the second one should do just fine also. If you plan on every growing some higher light plants, I would go for the first option, because I have heard the the T5 blows almost any other lighting out of the water. If you're gonna shoot for the higher light plants, I would aim at something like 4-5 wpg (thats what ive heard). As for the DIY CO2, I can't help you, im still tryin to figure out why my hagen diffuser isnt working. Goodluck mang. Peace.

-Butters-

Either fixture will work, the first will give you low to medium light, the second will take you into medium light. With the second fixture you will have plenty of light for a good variety of plants.

I have found that two fixtures are better than one in many cases. For a long time I had a 65w pc fixture over a 20g long (same length and depth of your 29g but not as much height) and wondered why even at over 3 watts per gallon I was losing leaves at the bottoms of my rotala. Then I added another fixture of the same rating and bang! Growth like crazy, no more leaf loss, and lots of pearling. I don't attribute it as much to the wattage, but to the way that the light was able to penetrate and diffuse without shadowing.

In a taller tank as yours, there will be more diffusion of light - which means that although the intensity will be less by the time it reaches the bottom, it will be more evenly distributed and not as direct.

So to make clear what I am saying - you can get away with going on about 2-4 watts per gallon to get growth out of some medium light plants. Even less if you plan to stay with your low light selections. And you can always add another fixture in the future.


Now as far as lighting type, I have been hearing some buzz about the T5s. Some are beginning to report that even at the same wattage and spectra, T5s seem to make plants happier than PCs. So I would go T5 for now. Plus the fixtures are sleek and small enough to allow you room to add another or try out a PC fixture in the future.

But like mgamer said, you will need to buy more proper plant spectrum bulbs as per the 5000-8000k range.

ive been meditating about upgraded lighting for my 29g. Thought about four 24" bulbs 2 aligned left, two aligned right and staggered. Possibly even cheaper I've found is the compact flourescent route, the cheapness is my lure, however it's possible a compact flourescent performance would be as good or better than the flourescent tubes. It gets to be so tough a decision that I quickly wonder if it's a wrong decision and perhaps metal halide is the answer.

Anyways a similar scenario with co2. After all the effort and time maintaining a dual homemade co2 unit might be less effective than just investing in and running compressed co2.

If you have the money get the best equipment available, you'll probably thank yourself later.

p.s. are you using fertilizers on your plants, computerman0219?

If you're bothering with CO2 injection and ferts, I wouldn't bother with using the first fixture. It would put you at less than 2wpg. That's fine for low light plants, but if I understand correctly, you won't need CO2 and ferts at 1.6wpg. I'd get more wpg and open the options for more kinds of plants if you're into CO2 already.

The first fixture is a T5HO, which gives off more light per watt than PCs. Both hoods will give you more light than you need for your plant choices. The second fixture has higher wattage but in terms of efficiency they may be almost comparable.

DIY CO2 don't generate enough pressure to make using an airstone effective. Hook it up to a powerhead.

CO2 will benefit even low light tanks. Whether you should use 2 DIY systems will depend on your plant choice. Slow growing low light plants may not need it, higher light plants will certainly benefit from it.