ADA low light tank, no you do not "need" high light
- Thread starter plantbrain
- Start date
Plants grow quite well at low light + CO2, much faster than most think.
When a tank is new, it runs a much higher risk(actually all the time for that matter )for algaen and adding more light may increase the growth rate of plants, but the trade off also includes increasing the growth rate of algae should you louse things up, which as people, we often do.
Speed has its price.
The success rates will be higher using Less, not more light.
The plant in the rear is just Rotala "green" rotundifloria. Common fast growing weed.
I've never had issues with foreground plants becoming uruly unless I neglected them or I had too much light, they are also far easier to deal with with less rather than more light.
5-8 w/gal and then you drop 2 w/gal?
There's a huge trade off there, you need 3x the light and then you no longer need it, what for?
So you can have the tank look the way you want faster, perhpoas 2 months or so? Just wait and be patient:dance:
Less cost(short and long term), less heat, less variation in the methods used, many fail in the hobby because they do get high light right off the bat and never are able to balance and maintain things, more demand for CO2 and nutrients(thus a less stable method ...no matter what method you chose) etc.
Just be a little more patient, tend things at decent manageable rate and you can do a nice tank. The tank is ADA and the equipment is fairly much ADA except for the light and filter etc. But you can do the tank and stand a DIY or have another place make that for you.
More light and faster growth is not better, it's just more work.
Regards,
Tom Barr
Regards,
Tom Barr
When a tank is new, it runs a much higher risk(actually all the time for that matter )for algaen and adding more light may increase the growth rate of plants, but the trade off also includes increasing the growth rate of algae should you louse things up, which as people, we often do.
Speed has its price.
The success rates will be higher using Less, not more light.
The plant in the rear is just Rotala "green" rotundifloria. Common fast growing weed.
I've never had issues with foreground plants becoming uruly unless I neglected them or I had too much light, they are also far easier to deal with with less rather than more light.
5-8 w/gal and then you drop 2 w/gal?
There's a huge trade off there, you need 3x the light and then you no longer need it, what for?
So you can have the tank look the way you want faster, perhpoas 2 months or so? Just wait and be patient:dance:
Less cost(short and long term), less heat, less variation in the methods used, many fail in the hobby because they do get high light right off the bat and never are able to balance and maintain things, more demand for CO2 and nutrients(thus a less stable method ...no matter what method you chose) etc.
Just be a little more patient, tend things at decent manageable rate and you can do a nice tank. The tank is ADA and the equipment is fairly much ADA except for the light and filter etc. But you can do the tank and stand a DIY or have another place make that for you.
More light and faster growth is not better, it's just more work.
Regards,
Tom Barr
Regards,
Tom Barr
johnlarson66
These Pandas Rock
Very beautiful setup. low light is awesome, however if you had a deeper tank I'm pretty sure you would need more light for ground cover. For example in my 20gallon (not long) I have a 68 watt fixture and I'll bet about the same amount of light reaches the bottom as your setup. I do not think it would be possible to have a ground cover in my tank with less light.
I like to use as little light as possible to reach my goals. I'm sick of pruning plants as well. Low light or not you have some money into that setup
I guess I prefer low to medium light.
I like to use as little light as possible to reach my goals. I'm sick of pruning plants as well. Low light or not you have some money into that setup
I guess I prefer low to medium light.
I trim it here and there, you mow your lawn don't you?:grinyes:
I "mow" about once every 3 months or there abouts.
I also "comb" the hair every week or two.
It's pretty low maintenance though.
Trimming about once every 1-2 months.
Regards,
Tom Barr
And you'd be wrong believing that.
20 gallons with 2x 20w is plenty to grow any species of plant.
That's a fair amount less that what you have.
I'd wager that you could grow most species with a single 24 W T5 with a good reflector on a 20 gallon.
I know you could grow pearl grass as a foreground plant at 1 w/gal using PC lighting.
I do not see why HC, Gloss, or hair grass are any different.
I grew Hair grass very nicely at 1.6 w/gal, on a 55 gallon tank using plain old shop lights.
I use CO2, but it can and has been done a lot.
The last decade or so saw folks buying nothing but high light PC set ups and assuming you need all that light.
If you look back pre 1996 or so, most everyone used 1.5 to 2 w/gal, they did not have the higher powered lights available really before then.
Regards,
Tom Barr
I have better luck getting ground cover to grow low with higher light, but thats just my experience. WPG is a dumb rule anyways. I have a 10 watt bulb in my eclipse 3 gallon, thats over 3 watt per gallon, but the intensity is really lacking.
I have tried some plants in lower light and not been successful, and noted how differently plants like Moss, Wisteria, and others grow in different tanks with different amounts of light.
That said he has less WPG than I do on my 20 but we are using the same type of light (Coralife single strip). I would imagine the light intensity would be about the same...(plus my light has to go through a Dirty Glass lid stained with calcium deposits) lol
I think a 20w x2 could actualy be better than my single 65 (it is 65 not 68 I think) watt. (better distribution of light)
A lot of people have problems with lower light levels because they don't use CO2 or use less CO2. While it's true that CO2 isn't as critical in low light tanks, here's evidence that shows that it can greatly improve growth and allow you to grow plants which were once considered to require much higher light levels. I've never pumped 30ppm of CO2 into a low light tank, but I'll have to try now.
My reasoning for using the high light first is 1-because I have it available.
2-to fill in the foreground faster and with less initial plants. 3- The foreground plants grow more compact.
I usually grow out my tanks take a few good pictures then rip out all the plants, get some new rocks and/or wood and start over. Then I sell all my left over plants to my LFS.
Over the last 6mon I traded in enough plants to the lfs to get four 4" beautiful discus.
Any way Its just my way and it work for me. I also have very little algae in all my tanks.
After some trial and error I managed to find the sweet spot in my tanks with my equipment.
I think everyone can do the same, High or low light.
2-to fill in the foreground faster and with less initial plants. 3- The foreground plants grow more compact.
I usually grow out my tanks take a few good pictures then rip out all the plants, get some new rocks and/or wood and start over. Then I sell all my left over plants to my LFS.
Over the last 6mon I traded in enough plants to the lfs to get four 4" beautiful discus.
Any way Its just my way and it work for me. I also have very little algae in all my tanks.
After some trial and error I managed to find the sweet spot in my tanks with my equipment.
I think everyone can do the same, High or low light.
