Planted tank questions

I think your lights are fine, you just wont get any explosive growth. More lighting = more work, time, and money...generally speaking. IMO its much better to add CO2/ferts than just to focus on the lighting. You wont NEED any but it would help to speed up the growth to some extent.
 
Well I am not looking for explosive growth, I just want to add some plants like dwarf hair grass or others that may require bright lights. I was under the impression that T5 lights would be the solution, did I just send $100+ for nothing?
 
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they are decent lights. I would let some time pass and see what looks good and what doesn't. Some plants are going to like your tank better than others. When you see what is what, you can decide if you want to change your tank for the plants that don't like it as much, or focus on the plants that are doing well.

I used to fight to have high light plants. it was a constant struggle. Now I have lower light set ups and my life is a lot easier, and I still have tanks full of plants. They take longer to grow, but I like the way most of them grow better.
 
I agree, you should be fine with the new light fixtures. I personally prefer my plants not to have explosive growth (less worth pour moi -- don't have to trim as much). I don't use fertilizers or co2 (many members on this site are au naturale as well) and you can still achieve a good looking jungle of growth. Just experiment with different plants -- different things work for different people. :) Light wattage wise, you're good.
 
Stargazer53 said:
I agree, you should be fine with the new light fixtures. I personally prefer my plants not to have explosive growth (less worth pour moi -- don't have to trim as much). I don't use fertilizers or co2 (many members on this site are au naturale as well) and you can still achieve a good looking jungle of growth. Just experiment with different plants -- different things work for different people. :) Light wattage wise, you're good.
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I find that most of the plants at the pet shop I go to are listed as "bright" So I felt like my options were limited. Will look into some of the plants listed :)
 
Hello DJ, what are the dimensions of your tank? Which light did you get? What type of filter? Are you planning on adding co2?
My second tank for compressed co2 was a 33 long: 12 x 12 x 48. The 48 inch 2 x 65 compact flourescent is what I considered high light at the time. It is a shallow tank that gets very good light coverage.
Watts per gallon basis for judging lighting is not easily related to high, med or low light. Different fixture, reflector and bulb combinations can produce varying amounts of useful light to plants. Couple this with the distance from the light to the plant through water and even more variables to consider which decrease light reaching the plant.
There are two varieties of T5. Regular and HO. HO gets you more brightness for the watt. It is more efficient producer of light.
Alot of my first plants were "testers". I had to figure out which grew well in my water. I tried several types of bottle ferts, but had issues with high nitrates. Found the EI - Estimative Index fert system and made adjustments for my tap water parameters.
Stick with your current setup. Experiment with several plants. Try a few stems, bulbs and rhizome plants. Numerous folks on here can sell you a decent starter package that will be way better than the LFS selection. These will be real aquarium plants. What some will suggest will depend on your tap water parameters.
 
My tank is a 35 gal, 36" long, 18" high and 12.5 deep.
The lights are a Coralife 36" T5 Freshwater. I think it may be regular output, but I will have to double check that. The filter is a Aquaclear 50.
Compared to my last lights, its a million times brighter imo.
Plan on goin to the shop tonight and picking up a couple plants.
I wasn't sure if I need a c02 generator or ferts.
I also recently got a timer for the lights (one less thing to worry about) I have it set for 12 hours, but may cut it back to 10 or 8.
Thanks for all the input :D
 
yeah, 8-10 hours of light creates less demand for nutrients and gives the plants time to recoup. Since lowering my lighting to 10 hours, I find I have less work to do and more even growth, compared to when I blasted the light for 12 hours and needed to prune more often and pull out hair algae.
 
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