do I have enough light?

[muskieswen]

My tank is a 55 gallon. I have two 32 watt t-8 lamps at 10,000 kelvin. I am trying for a heavily planted community fish tank. I also have a high pressure c02 system. Is my setup adequate at 1.16 watts per gallon or should I add a couple of more lamps. Brazil and amozon swords, oakleaf, dwarf hairgrass, sagitarias, valesnarias,wistaria,cryptocorns,red ludwigia,red tiger lilly, bacopa and maybe some something floating.

[djlen]

I would not tell anyone that they can't grow plants in a certain tank at a certain wattage.
I will only say that I have two 55s and had 80watts(48" shop lights) over them and was very limited as to what would grow nicely in them at that wattage. That was with CO2 and fertilization.
64 watts is very low and has quite a distance to travel to reach the bottom levels of a 55.

Len

[plainzwalker]

I was going to post my own question, but I'll just piggy back on this one...

I have a small tank, 60cm x 30cm x 30cm, with a 15w T-8 tube in it. Will this be enough for java moss or something thats bushy?

I want to use the tank for guppy breeding...

thanks
Jeff

[TKOS]

15 watts in a 20? gallon tank is fine for java moss. It won't grow fast though.

As for the first tank, I agree that adding some light will definatly help your cause. If you are handy then you could hook up a set of shop lights at 48 watts each. Also 10,000K bulbs aren't really that great for freshwater tanks, they are meant for saltys. Aim for 6500K for best results.

[plainzwalker]

well..all the sites are saying between 13-15gal...its a 60l tank...

I havent bought the substrate yet, just have the water and filter in there for right now...

[TKOS]

Yeah, it is still fine for java moss and even java fern. It will chug away but the growth won't really take off.

[promethean_sprk]

I was able to grow plants fairly well in a 55 with 2 40W bulbs, I had another fixture but it kept cooking bulbs. Finally I got a T8 to bring the wattage up to 144 and the growth is much faster and lusher.

I'd get another pair of T8 bulbs going, or get another T8 ballast and overdrive both your bulbs. You should also use a plant bulb to get some red in your spectrum.

Brazil swords are not a water plant BTW.

[Godslayer]

IMO I would shoot for 2-3WPG with the plants you listed, possibly more due to the depth of the 55G. Your 10000K bulbs are fine for growing plants. Older ideaology led everyone to believe that bulbs around 5000-6500K were best for plants however that's simply not true. Many people use the GE Aquarays bulb which is I believe 9325K and it's an excellent bulb. Plants care more about the quantity of light, rather than the color. Your eyes care about the color. Choose the bulb that looks best to you, the plants won't care either way.

[muskieswen]

Thanks everyone for the info. I am going to change out my t8s to t12s so I can use 40 watt bulbs. Also in my reflector (store bought) I am going to add one more 40 watt. Just started c02 today and tonight my plants were leaking out little bubbles. It is the start of something good for a change.

[promethean_sprk]

T8 bulbs are considerably more efficient than T12 bulbs, and also give you flexibility in that you can ODNO, ect. Also, plants DO care about the color of light, green light bounces right off them. They absorb red and blue light best. Red light tends to gets filtered out by water pretty quickly, while the blue penetrates well. This is why people go for high temp bulbs.

I believe the T8 ballast gets much less hot than a t12 ballast, which is where the energy difference comes from. T12 bulbs will also light in a T8 ballast, and there are a few T8 bulbs that are pretty suitable. Check this link: http://www.aquabotanic.com/lightcompare.htm

Note the standard $1 cool white, 4100k T8 bulb scores higher than ANY T12 bulb. A specialty T8 is #1 on that list.

I once put a 70W hps on my tank, which emits monochromatic orange light, the plants grew great. I believe the main reason people prefer the high color temp lights are a slight increase in efficiency since the water doesn't absorb it, and plants look alot better under a blueish white light than an orange light. I'd still be using the HPS if my wife didn't complain the 60hz orange light made her want to spew...

[Godslayer]

Promethean: Yes plants absorb red and blue light the most efficiently however the kelvin rating of a bulb has nothing to do with the spectral output it produces. It is simply a *rough* estimate of how the light produced will look to the average human eye. You'd do well to be more concerned with what the spectral distribution of a bulb is and not the kelvin rating. Of course you should choose bulbs with a K rating that suits your eye. This is why people often mix good plant bulbs with eye pleasing bulbs.