Lights...

[Brendanpat]

Hi . My tank is 105litre (28 gallon) it came with a 16watt led light . My plants aren't really growing to well . (Algae thrives if I let it)Is 16 watt enough light ? I have it set on a timer for 7.5 hours a day

 

[Brendanpat]

Hi . My tank is 105litre (28 gallon) it came with a 16watt led light . My plants aren't really growing to well . (Algae thrives if I let it)Is 16 watt enough light ? I have it set on a timer for 7.5 hours a day

All plants are supposed to be low light demand

 

[Fishy_Dan]

I'm not an expert, but It may be that you have too much light. Algae is taking up that extra light and growing while your plants are limited by available nutrients and CO2. Is it a new tank or established?

 

[Brendanpat]

Yes it's only about 2 and a half months . And had to change plants a few weeks ago because they were so bad with algae .I thought maybe too much ,but I was googling and it said about 1-2watt per gallon for low light plants so that would be 28 watt I'd need going by that . But you you think too much ?

 

[Metalhead88]

What plants and what exact light do you have? While LED lights are great, not all of them are good for plants.

If you are unsure, post a picture of the gear and tank, maybe we can ID them.

You're lights are either too bright or have the wrong color spectrum. Also, it is possible that you have too much or not enough nutrients.

Are you using any fertilizers?

The wattage per gallon is a little out dated. Watt is power consumption.

A lot of low light plants like anubias or java fern take in nutrients from the water. If they do not have those nutrients in the water, they will die.

Swords are also considered low light, but feed heavily from the roots. 9 out of 10 times, you will need to add root tabs or other means of fertilizer into the gravel so they get the nutrients that they need.

 

[Brendanpat]

What plants and what exact light do you have? While LED lights are great, not all of them are good for plants.

If you are unsure, post a picture of the gear and tank, maybe we can ID them.

You're lights are either too bright or have the wrong color spectrum. Also, it is possible that you have too much or not enough nutrients.

Are you using any fertilizers?

The wattage per gallon is a little out dated. Watt is power consumption.

A lot of low light plants like anubias or java fern take in nutrients from the water. If they do not have those nutrients in the water, they will die.

Swords are also considered low light, but feed heavily from the roots. 9 out of 10 times, you will need to add root tabs or other means of fertilizer into the gravel so they get the nutrients that they need.

Leddy 75 Tropical Aquarium 105 Litre - Your Pet Store | Pet Shop Ennis Clare | Online Pet Shop

The innovative and stylish, Aquael LEDDY 80 rectangular Aquarium set with advanced LED lighting technology. The advanced 18-Watt LEDDY 80 SUNNY lighting module clips into the cover. Also included is a 100W heater, and a powerful internal filter ASAP 500.

yourpetstore.ie

It's a leddy 75 tank with a sunny aquael 16 watt led. Im in Ireland. Its probably a uk made tank . I have elodea densa and vallisneria Americana gigantea .and moss balls . I give liquid ferts for the elodea and have a root tab in beside each vali..

 

[Brendanpat]

Leddy 75 Tropical Aquarium 105 Litre - Your Pet Store | Pet Shop Ennis Clare | Online Pet Shop

The innovative and stylish, Aquael LEDDY 80 rectangular Aquarium set with advanced LED lighting technology. The advanced 18-Watt LEDDY 80 SUNNY lighting module clips into the cover. Also included is a 100W heater, and a powerful internal filter ASAP 500.

yourpetstore.ie

It's a leddy 75 tank with a sunny aquael 16 watt led. Im in Ireland. Its probably a uk made tank . I have elodea densa and vallisneria Americana gigantea .and moss balls . I give liquid ferts for the elodea and have a root tab in beside each vali..

 

[Fishy_Dan]

Yes it's only about 2 and a half months . And had to change plants a few weeks ago because they were so bad with algae .I thought maybe too much ,but I was googling and it said about 1-2watt per gallon for low light plants so that would be 28 watt I'd need going by that . But you you think too much ?

With LEDs you use lumens per litre rather than watts per gallon. For low light plants you want 15-25 lumens/litre.

My 8w LED gives out 900 lumens, so in my 58 litre tank it's 15.5. On the lower end of the scale, so I'm thinking of adding another LED strip. Do you know the lumens of your 16w LED?

Most advice seems to be in the first few weeks to use less light - 6 hours probably enough. Looking at your tank pics you don't have a heavily planted tank, so the liquid ferts may be excessive. Anything the plants can't use (light, ferts) the algae will.

Have you considered getting some floating plants? They grow really fast and help outcompete the algae.

 

[Back in the fold]

IMHO LED lights are worthless. I use incandescent lights but I'm hopelessly old school. Fluorescent tubes are the only way to go. IMHO.

 

[Brendanpat]

With LEDs you use lumens per litre rather than watts per gallon. For low light plants you want 15-25 lumens/litre.

My 8w LED gives out 900 lumens, so in my 58 litre tank it's 15.5. On the lower end of the scale, so I'm thinking of adding another LED strip. Do you know the lumens of your 16w LED?

Most advice seems to be in the first few weeks to use less light - 6 hours probably enough. Looking at your tank pics you don't have a heavily planted tank, so the liquid ferts may be excessive. Anything the plants can't use (light, ferts) the algae will.

Have you considered getting some floating plants? They grow really fast and help outcompete the algae.

I'll check out the lumens thanks . Yes I ordered some duckweed but I didnt put it in because I didn't realise how small it was and messy ,plus my filter creates a lot of movement on the surface of the water which is good for oxygen I think but I dont know how floating plants would work with all the movement.Any suggestions what kind would work ?

 

[Fishy_Dan]

I'll check out the lumens thanks . Yes I ordered some duckweed but I didnt put it in because I didn't realise how small it was and messy ,plus my filter creates a lot of movement on the surface of the water which is good for oxygen I think but I dont know how floating plants would work with all the movement.Any suggestions what kind would work ?

I have salvinia, it started out small but grows very quickly. Mine too gets blown all over the tank, but after a while small groups form at the corners and where my submerged wood meets the surface. The roots also grow down into the water, so don't be put off by the small size at first!

 

[Metalhead88]

Jungle val is known for wilting down when first being added.

The anacharis however usually does well in any tank.

How often and how much are you dosing liquid ferts?

 

[Brendanpat]

Jungle val is known for wilting down when first being added.

The anacharis however usually does well in any tank.

How often and how much are you dosing liquid ferts?

I have ordered some echinidoras rose and codifolius to plant aswell . I was just dosing once a week half the recommended dose because it's not heavily planted but I've been throwing in a bit willy nilly because I have new fry and was doing alot of water changes so the routine is a bit knocked about

 

[Metalhead88]

Dosing liquid ferts once per week the day after water change works for me.

Heavily planted tank gets a full dose, the other not so planted tanks get half dose.

The anacharis clearly appreciates the liquid ferts

 

[Essjay]

I do wonder about AquaEl lights.

We are told that plants need red and blue in the spectrum and that a K rating of 6500 has the right spectrum. But if you look at AquaEl's website, you read that the Sunny lights have a K rating of 65000 but no red in the spectrum while Plant lights have a K rating of 8000 and do have red in the spectrum. The quoted K rating and spectrum don't seem to match up.

I have AquaEl Plant lights and can confirm that they have red, blue and white individual LEDs so they do match the spectrum diagram on the website.
What colour are the individual LEDS with the Sunny version - are there any red LEDS there?