Lighting Advice For A New Tank

[Dave L]

Hello,

I'm waiting delivery of a new 72 x 24 x 24 tank for which I am having a cabinet built. I am looking at lighting ideas for the hood and came across this unit from Germany via ebay. 8x35W T5 Lighting


It seems good value but I would appreciate any advice/opinions on the suitability for planted community tank.


Thanks

Dave.

 

[Piscator]

I'm waiting delivery of a new 72 x 24 x 24 tank for which I am having a cabinet built. I am looking at lighting ideas for the hood and came across this unit from Germany via ebay. 8x35W T5 Lighting

It seems good value but I would appreciate any advice/opinions on the suitability for planted community tank.

Well, that sort of depends on the plants you'll be getting. Different plants have different lighting requirements. The "general rule" is 4 watts per gallon. With that light fixture you'll have 280 watts for a 180 gallon tank. This comes to about 1.55 watts per gallon. This seems a bit low to me. Also, the tank is 24" high - the intensity of light passing through that much water will be far lower when the light hits the bottom of the tank. If you buy two of those fixtures, you ought to be fine. But again, this is a general guideline.

 

[Colin_T]

I would dump the T5s and get a couple of 150watt metal halides.

Good plants to try include vallis, hygrophilla species, swordplants, ambulia and elodiea or hydrilla.
They should grow under T5 or metal halide lights.

Make sure your globes have a Kelvin (K) rating of at least 6,500K. 6,500K to 10,000K is the best for plants and viewing.

 

[Dave L]

Hi guys,

Many thenks for the replies.

Looks like I need to do a bit more homework. I think I'll look out for something with a bit more light output.

Thanks again

Dave

 

[Dave Spencer]

Looks like I need to do a bit more homework. I think I'll look out for something with a bit more light output.

Thanks again

Dave

4WPG over a tank your size is a huge amount of light. The WPG rule is vague at best, but it is not a linear function. 4WPG over a nano may not actually be a lot, but the bigger a tank gets, proportionally less light is required.

My guess is that 1.55WPG is sufficient for your needs. Even at these levels you may you need to consider a CO2 and a fert regime, all backed up with a lot of fast growing stems at the start to keep algae at bay.

I have bought a 3 x 24W T5 unit from EQJ-Trading before and they do work, but the construction is a bit cheap. Consider using MH like ColinT suggests. Your best bet, if it your first foray in to planted tanks is to buy a unit that also contains T5 lighting as well as MH. This will allow you to control your lighting more, using the T5 lighting at the beginning and end of the photoperiod, with a burst of MH lighting in the middle.

Controlling your lighting, planting heavily with fast growing stems in the first place (75% substrate coverage), and an appropriate fert regime will reward you with a problem free planted tank further down the line, when you can remove the stems and plant out with what you want substitute.

I feel you should have been informed of the other upgrades you need to go with those light levels . You would probably have been better asking this question on the planted forum, where there is an article on the Estimative Index. I use this method and can thoroughly recommend it, as it makes growing plants easy. If you do not have any kind of a scientific background, don`t be put off by it. If you do, then you will realise how simple it is.

Dave.

EDIT: BTW, Estimative Index used alongside high lighting will allow you to grow anything.