Just Increased My Lighting.

[Snake42490]

Ok so 2 days ago I increased my light since I was only around 1.3 WPG. I originally had a 16 Watt Flourescent Bulb in the 12 gallon tank. I then went and made a Compact Flourescent Unit and also put it up under the tank. I put 2 different bulbs getting a different spectrum of light. 1 is a spiral CF bulb that says its 40 Watts this bulb is 5500 K.. but dont know if it actually is. The other one is a 10 Watt Full Spectrum Plant Light. Do you think all together that this is to much lighting for a 12 galllon. I dont plan to add Co2 to the tank. Just some plant food once or twice a week. I was only planning on keeping some Java Moss.. Anubias Nana and Dwarf Hairgrass. If you think i should tank 1 of the bulb out i could and only use 1 of the bulbs.. either the plant light or the spiral bulb tell which of the 2 would probably be better. Thanks.

 

[frozenbarb]

Ok so 2 days ago I increased my light since I was only around 1.3 WPG. I originally had a 16 Watt Flourescent Bulb in the 12 gallon tank. I then went and made a Compact Flourescent Unit and also put it up under the tank. I put 2 different bulbs getting a different spectrum of light. 1 is a spiral CF bulb that says its 40 Watts this bulb is 5500 K.. but dont know if it actually is. The other one is a 10 Watt Full Spectrum Plant Light. Do you think all together that this is to much lighting for a 12 galllon. I dont plan to add Co2 to the tank. Just some plant food once or twice a week. I was only planning on keeping some Java Moss.. Anubias Nana and Dwarf Hairgrass. If you think i should tank 1 of the bulb out i could and only use 1 of the bulbs.. either the plant light or the spiral bulb tell which of the 2 would probably be better. Thanks.

I think the light is perfect.

 

[Snake42490]

Awesome.. Do you know exactly what my WPG will come out to be using compact fluorescent along with fluorescent bulbs?

 

[Jer-]

That amount of light is too much for a tank without CO2 injection.

Without CO2, the plants will not be able to adequately utilize the fertilization you give them, no matter how powerful ur lighting is.

Im afraid you might be growing some algea soon in my honest opinion.

Just according to the wattage specifications you listed, you have 66Watts over 12Gallons. While this may seem alright with the WPG rule as you have a small tank, this also means that CO2 injection is probably gonna be required.

Maybe someone can add to this?
Just my two cent. I might be wrong tho.

HTH
Jeremy

 

[Snake42490]

i dont know if the wpg rule works for compact fluorescent.. but i agree with you. it just seems like a lot of light.. If i droped out the 40 Watt light and kept the 16 Watt and 10 Watt would that sound better?



hhmm.. I red the package and it says 9 Watts > < > < but then it says 9 watts cf = 40 watts incandescent
so i take it i only have 16 watt, 9 watt and 10 watt.. my wpg would be 2.91

 

[Jer-]

hm... thats a question i ran into before myself as i used 3 spiral CFs over my tank of 06 and 07 in my signiture.
I was told to take into the consideration only the lower wattage of the CF specs for my WPG calculation.

so... for a small tank with 2.9 WPG... lol.. Im not sure anymore... maybe someone with nano/small tank experience might be able to help.

sorry.

 

[Snake42490]

the package has a big 40 Watt at the top then you start to read the fine print.. and it tells the truth haha.. Thanks im sure someone has to know about these things.

 

[Mikaila31]

Incandescent lights normally aren't used on a planted tank. I'm pretty sure your spiral CF light isn't really meant for use with a aquarium, although it will work with one. I'm guessing you are talking about a CF bulb that is meant to replace a incandescent. ie: it screws into a socket. The one you have is meant to replace a 40watt incandescent and produce the same amount of light using only 9 watts. The WPG rule is for use with fluorescent or CF lights not incandescent.

So if your 16 watt, 9 watt, and 10 watt are all fluorescent then you are correct and you have 2.91WPG. I don't really consider a 12gal a nano tank. I can grow java moss and a few other really low-light plants in my 15gal with 1 WPG and no co2 or ferts. So, I would try for about 2 wpg on your tank, if the plants don't grow you can always up the light. You could also increase it after the plants become established, that way it is less likely for algae to be a problem.

 

[SuperColey1]

^^^^^

Listen to the good advice above.

Always start with too little and see how it goes. then if its wrong algae will only slowly grow. You can easily increase as you go along. and yes its the actual wattage and not the 'equivalent' wattage you are using. The equivalent is what it seem like to the human eye and not the actual output.

I would say around 2WPG would be medium light on a 12USG

Andy