Suitable Lighting For A Low Tech Tank

[Ch4rlie]

Hello,
 
Am pretty new to fishkeeping and have only been doing this for a couple of months.
 
I have an established 90 litre Fluval Roma tank, has Threadfin Rainbowfish and RCS.
 
I use an external filter, a TetraTec EX 1200, with flow output control valve turned down low.
 
I am using the light set up that came with the tank when I bought it. 
It has 2x 15w T8 tubes (46 cm long)
one is 'Power Glo'
one is 'Aqua Glo'
 
Both are at 18,000K
 
I know basically nothing about suitable light at all, I have not had any major problems with algae (only a bit of BBA on anubias but I wash that off once a month in old tank water during water change)
Plants growing fairly well.
 
But the tank looks kinda bright though.
 
I have the lights on for 7 hours everyday
 
My question is, 18,000K x 2 T8 15w is this too much light?
I have a feeling that 2 x 18,000k is really for marine/reef tanks?
Will I be better off with 2 x 6,700K?
 
I am aiming for a low tech set up for now as only want to grow plants that are easy to maintain and do not really require C02 or ferts. But happy to add ferts if this is beneficial (like root tabs or something like that)
 
Plants -
 
Green Cabomba
Java fern
Java Moss
Cryptocoryne Walkeri
Twisted Vallis
Anubias Barteri
Anachris
Hornwort
Water Wisteria
 
Any tip and advice, comments, criticism on any of the above would be appreciated.

 

[daizeUK]

I don't think it's too much light, 30W of light for a 23G tank sounds fine for low tech.  If you don't get algae with 7 hours then I'd say you're doing just fine.  Let the algae be your guide
 
As for the colour temperature, that's mostly personal preference.  18k sounds far too blue for my tastes.  I've heard it can make the colours show up better on certain fish but I found that it washes out the colours on the red fish I've got, so I prefer daylight bulbs.
 
Your plants would probably benefit from a trace fert even on low tech.  As far as my understanding goes, ferts in the water column are better than root tabs since they are absorbed more efficiently through the leaves than the roots.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Thats sounds good.  

 
Am thinking 6.700K will be much more natural look for my tank set up I reckon and should be ok for my plants?
 
Have to say that colours do look a bit washed out in my tank, probably due to the 18,000k, Threadfin rainbowfish are tea sort of coloured and pretty sure the lights are not showing them to their best!
 
Also when you say "ferts in the water column", sorry to sound a bit like a noob, what does that mean?
How would I apply that, is that a spray or liquid drops or also which ferts/brands would be good, simply put, I have no idea! lol 

 

[daizeUK]

Yep I mean ferts that you add to your water rather than burying in the substrate.  The cheapest way of doing it is to buy dry powder ferts and mix your own solution but if all you want is trace ferts for a 90L tank then I'd recommend buying a pre-made bottle such as Flourish Comprehensive or Easylife Profito.  You then add weekly with your water change.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Thanks daize, that sounds pretty perfect for me.
 
Am off to LFS now to get lower brightness bulbs of 6,700 K or less maybe and a bottle of fert, probably Flourish as have heard of that in other threads.
 

 

[Ch4rlie]

Back from LFS, spoke to the chap at LFS about T8 lights, he recommended Glo Life 6,700K to go with Glo Power 18,000K that I already have in tank as these go together much better he said.
Get the best of both worlds, good for plants and stocking as well as would have full spectrum of lighting (not sure if he was going for hard sell or trying to twist my arm to buy)
Take out the Glo Aqua as much more blue spectrum in that one apparently.
 
Actually saved me £18 in the process, so thought I'll give it a try.
 
Plants now much greener and more natural looking IMO.
 
Below is 2 pic, completely unadulterated in any shape or form just resized. Natural pics on the same camera. 1st is before, 2nd is after.
Really the pics do not do my tank much justice to be honest but you get the idea anyway.
 
 
BEFORE                                                          AFTER
 

 

 
 
Amazing what a change of bulbs can do.
Am sure there are more variations I can do, and probably will do until completely satisfied. Perhaps like trying both tubes to be 6,700 or to get Glo Sun ones at 4,200 but much more yellowy and not particularly nice according to the chap at LFS as everything would have a yellow tinge.
 
Also did not realise how much these bulbs cost! Not cheap, was thinking "must be less than a tenner each" on the way up in the car! Wrong!

 

[daizeUK]

Looks much better, I like it 

 
I just use daylight bulbs (about 6k) but you can combine different colour temperatures to get different effects.  Some guy did a comparison with pictures of different effects you can get, maybe somebody can remember the link...
 
I buy my bulbs online, they are much cheaper e.g. try lampspecs.  The quality won't be quite as good but unless you're a planting guru I think the price difference is well worth it.