Hello. I'm new to this forum and also new to live planted aquariums. I've got a few questions about lighting.
I don't know if the lighting I currently have would be considered low or medium. Knowing that will help me choose the plants I can accommodate. I have a 65 gal freshwater tank which is 24 inches tall and 36 inches long. All the tubes are 36 inches. The stock lighting (All-Glass brand) that came with the tank has two 25W tubes; no idea what type of light they produce. Then I added a second fixture which has two Coralife T5 21W tubes: a 6700K and a Colormax.
So would this be considered low or medium lighting? I'm pretty sure it's not high. Total wattage I have is 92W for 65 gal or about 1.4 W/g.
Can someone also point me to a FAQ about aquarium lighting? I have no idea what 6700K and all the other K numbers mean. I assume they're referring to some part of the light spectrum. What combination of lights should I have? Does it depend on what plants I have? What would be a good beginner general purpose lighting combination? At this point I'm not going to try any difficult plants and I also don't have room on top of my tank to add more light fixtures.
In case it matters, I do not currently have a CO2 but am planning on adding a DIY one. Just a 2 liter setup. I know that's probably not enough for my tank size but I just want to add a little bit at this point.
These are the plants I currently have: water sprite, Brazilian pennywort, corkscrew vals, pygmy chain sword, Java moss and one foxtail stem. All of them seem to be doing fine so far. The pennywort, water sprite and vals are growing quite well. The swords, not so much. I've just ordered some pygmy sags because I read those are easy.
Thanks,
Nick
I don't know if the lighting I currently have would be considered low or medium. Knowing that will help me choose the plants I can accommodate. I have a 65 gal freshwater tank which is 24 inches tall and 36 inches long. All the tubes are 36 inches. The stock lighting (All-Glass brand) that came with the tank has two 25W tubes; no idea what type of light they produce. Then I added a second fixture which has two Coralife T5 21W tubes: a 6700K and a Colormax.
So would this be considered low or medium lighting? I'm pretty sure it's not high. Total wattage I have is 92W for 65 gal or about 1.4 W/g.
Can someone also point me to a FAQ about aquarium lighting? I have no idea what 6700K and all the other K numbers mean. I assume they're referring to some part of the light spectrum. What combination of lights should I have? Does it depend on what plants I have? What would be a good beginner general purpose lighting combination? At this point I'm not going to try any difficult plants and I also don't have room on top of my tank to add more light fixtures.
In case it matters, I do not currently have a CO2 but am planning on adding a DIY one. Just a 2 liter setup. I know that's probably not enough for my tank size but I just want to add a little bit at this point.
These are the plants I currently have: water sprite, Brazilian pennywort, corkscrew vals, pygmy chain sword, Java moss and one foxtail stem. All of them seem to be doing fine so far. The pennywort, water sprite and vals are growing quite well. The swords, not so much. I've just ordered some pygmy sags because I read those are easy.
Thanks,
Nick
