Lighting

[o0ric0o]

Would a total of 30watts lighting be good enough for a 28 uk gallon semi planted tank?

i have 1x 18" 15W Arcadia Original Tropical Lamp and 1x 18" 15W Arcadia Fresh water lamp.

 

[aaronnorth]

It depends what plants you want to grow?

 

[o0ric0o]

im not sure what plants they are where i bought them from havent got names attached to them i'll have a look and see if i can identify them all.

Malayan Sword/Cryptocoryne Ciliata (cant tell the diffrence)
Cabomba Caroliniana Green Cabomba
Blyxa Aubertii or Soft rush (i think)
Elodea Densa (Egeria Densa)
Ludwigia Natans Creeping Ludwigia(somthing similar to this)

these are identifyed via a site http/www.plantsalive.co.uk

hope they are of help cant be 100% on my idents tho.

 

[rabbut]

That would be fine for the swards and elodia.

Probibly not enough for cabomba or ludwigia

Usure about the Blyxa.

Cabobma usualy needs about 3wpg and CO2 to do well, it can be a pain to grow. Without suficcient light and co2, they will grow quickly, but stringy at best, or just rot and die. Ludwigia can be OK at about 2wpg. Remember that wpg guidelines are just that, guideines. Largetanks will need less to get the same effect, and anything less than a 2 foot tank will need more. It's summat to do with the way water behaves, but nobodys ever made me clear as to exactly why.

HTH some
Rabbut

 

[o0ric0o]

this is a 2foot tank but rather deep it looks like a custom made tank to me lol, but for free i cant complain

i'll grab a pic of how it looks now. 3 weeks in.

 

[rabbut]

The tall grass like plant at the back behind the wood, on the left looks like valis spiralis to me An easy to grow, low light plant that would be fine with the lighting and equipment you have.

In tall tanks, you need higher than recomended light levels, as light doesn't penetrate too well below cirtain depths, and the ammount of penetration depends upon spectrum. Blue penetrates better, but mostly red is best for plants. This means powerful lighting for the cabomba to do well.

I like the hard scape BTW

HTH
Rabbut

 

[o0ric0o]

Thanx for the comments

That lump of bogwood too me ages to find and i got it for only £5 i was so chuffed.

as for the cabomba if it starts to declin i'll take it out and replace it with somthing else
my daughters tank needs some plant life so i may put it in there only 27litre with 15w of lighting so should yo ok in there.


im also after some small plants to go in the foreground maybe some low maintanene moss or 5-6 cm tall (max hight) plants if any one has any spare sling me a pm please