Help On New Light Bulb

[NorthEastFisherman]

Ok so recently i was in the chat on here and mikaila was shocked at my lighting and how low it was. I have a Tropic Sun 24'' 17 watt 5500k T8 bulb. Im not too sure on amount of wattage i need now. I've heard 1 watt per gallon rule or something like that. I dont have alot of money to buy a new fixture and hood so i need a 24'' bulb. Will a 24 watt T5 bulb be good for what i need? The plants i have are java fern, a jungle val, ruffled sword, brazilian pennywort, spiral bamboo, and a few other unnamed ones and im planning to get several more smaller plants for bottom and a few to go up top and float.

 

[DrRob]

For low tech tanks you can grow a lot, albeit slowly, under a single T8.
 
The more complicated and dense your planting the more light you need. Then things get complicated, as the more energy you put in the more you have to keep on top of other things, which is why planted stuff starts to end up with fertiliser regimes and CO2 supplements.
 
You'll need a new ballast for a T5, but a T5HO can give a lot more light than your T8 does at the moment and is probably the cheapest practical upgrade you can do. If you want to keep costs down than just go for a standard daylight bulb, rather than an aquarium one.

 

[Lunar Jetman]

Firstly, what size is your tank? Is the light you have the one that came with it? Lighting is pretty irrelevant to be honest with flow and ferts far more important to plants than anything else.

You should be able to grow plants without high light levels anyway. You have plenty of plant options of low tech tanks too.

 

[NorthEastFisherman]

Firstly, what size is your tank? Is the light you have the one that came with it? Lighting is pretty irrelevant to be honest with flow and ferts far more important to plants than anything else.

You should be able to grow plants without high light levels anyway. You have plenty of plant options of low tech tanks too.

Its a 29g with a different bulb than the one that came with it. The bulbs a Tropic Sun 24'' 17 watt 5500k T8 bulb and i dose florapride and another liquid plant food i forgot the name of. I also use carbon and lights are on 8 hours a day. I usually dose every water change but if i see plants not doing well i dose then.

 

[Lunar Jetman]

Ok, your bulb does produce low light but from your perspective are you having any problems with your plants? What plants have you tried?

 

[Joshwainwright]

Unless your plants aren't doing as well as you would like them to, I wouldn't worry or bother upgrading. I would have liked to upgrade to T5 tubes with my Roma 125 but the hood is so awkward to do so 

 

[shoulders]

what plants do you have ?

 

[NorthEastFisherman]

I had a huge growth spurt in my tank with all my plants and they grew like crazy then they all stopped. And now they kinda died (they like melted.. if that makes sense). I think they started dieing because i was doing alot of water changes frequently since my ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate went mayhem after stirring up some old substrate. But now that everythings all fine i trimmed the dead plants and added a little bit more ferts then i should and not seeing growth. The plants i have are: Brazilian pennywort, I believe jungle vallisernia, its for sure a val, ruffled sword, three unnamed plants that are all the same and are starting to die now, a java fern, and an aquatic fern (that was the name that was on the tube i got it in). I want to order some java moss balls, more pennywort, and frog bit or something that floats. My tank feels more open now than it was when all the plants were good.

 

[thomtom]

I have heard that a growth spurt and then a drop is fairly common because the plants use all the nutrients in the water and then have nothing left to live off of?
I have 100L tank with a single 18W bulb and the plants are growing (in my opinion) quite quickly.
What kind of substrate are you using?
 
I'm sure that someone more 'in the know' will tell you that I am incorrect though

 

[SO19Firearms]

I have heard that a growth spurt and then a drop is fairly common because the plants use all the nutrients in the water and then have nothing left to live off of?

You're right - New bright light -> not enough nutrients / CO2 to support the extra growth.