Aquarium Lighting

[mitch70]

I have had my aquarium now for approx 16 months and am looking to change the lighting (I am trying to go the live plant route - low tech nice easy plants)
 
I currently have a Fluval Roma 240 with 1 x aqua glo tube , and 1 x power glo tube - both are t8 4o watts - 42 " long
 
can anyone tell me the difference between the two?
 
can I put two of the same on instead of one of each
 
which combination would be better for low tech planting?
 
Thank you in advance I seem to be asking a lot of questions lately.
 
 
I currently have no "rooted" plants but will be getting some after my holiday.

 

[levahe]

You can use any combo of tubes you fancy, just use whatever you like the look of best. A lot of people like the look of 6500k bulbs

 

[mitch70]

Thanks for the reply - probably just go same combo as initial set up - it states on seapets website that life span for the t8 is 10000 hours as I have my light on 10 hrs per day this equates to 3 years! so might not have to change the bulbs yet?
 
or should i err on side of caution and replace after 16 months?

 

[fm1978]

Nah, you'll be fine with those ones provided you get really easy to grow stuff, of which, there's loads to choose from. What you could do as a budget beating, I-don't-want-to-spend-much-money, kind of thing, is to buy and fit reflectors. That will maximise the amount of light output by your current tubes.

It's true you could go crazy and buy new tubes and try to get as much wattage per litre but, in my opinion, it's just not necessary for the easy grow stuff.

Lights aside, the other thing you might have to consider is a wee dose of fertiliser and/or good live plant substrate.

 

[mitch70]

Cheers for the reply - my wife has said the same - DON'T spend a fortune!
 
my LFS has tropica fertiliser both the premium and specialised but mostly stock the premium - will the premium be ok ? (no phosphorus or nitrogen)

 

[haleem8777]

i have started to grow a low tech tank. i brought some cheap fertiliser and it works better than i expected so your premium should be fine.But if the specialised is still in your budget buy it.
 
Also i was wondering what plants do you have

 

[levahe]

The premium is OK, the specialised is more for heavily planted tanks or tanks with co2 so if you are planning on getting loads of plants that might be better

 

[Livewire88]

The lighting you have will be fine for most plants, however you will find it difficult to grow carpet plants because the light wont be as bright low down in your tank. 
 
I had the same bulbs in this tank; and as you can see the plants grew fine 

 

 

[mitch70]

Wow, now that tank is something I aspire to maybe one day,
 
 

i have started to grow a low tech tank. i brought some cheap fertiliser and it works better than i expected so your premium should be fine.But if the specialised is still in your budget buy it.
 
Also i was wondering what plants do you have

 
I currently only have none rooted plants 2 x large java ferns attached to bogwood and 1 x anubias barteri attached to a rock, after my holiday will be looking for some nice easy rooted plants.
 
 
Again thanks for the replies, appreciated.