t5's

[RebelFish]

hey everyone,

just lately ive bought two 36w t5 power compacts for my 50 gallon tank, would this give me enough lighting for medium - high light requirement plants?

the bulbs are daylight plus, which looked the best for what i would be using them for (growing plants)

thanks

 

[houndour]

that gives you 1.44 watts per gallon. Assuming 50 gallons is 50 US gallons...I think the WPG rule is worked on US gallons.

So no, I would say thats low to medium lighting. More toward low though.

The daylight plus lights are fine for a planted tank. It's what I have.

What are your plans for your tank?

//edit
Welcome to the forum btw!

 

[RebelFish]

well the tank is 42" long x 22" high x 15" deep, which on a calculator brings it to 49.96 UK gallons?

the aims for the tank is to have a sand substrate, with cabomba, java fern, vallis, Hygrophila Polysperma etc for a start. adding more demanding plants later on

and of coarse algea free

 

[houndour]

hmmmm ok. US gallons is more then, so it'll be less than 1.44 watts per gallon.

You need to decide how far you want to go I guess...and how far your finances will take you.

The more light you have the more of everything else you'll need...nutrients, CO2...

Keep a tank algae free is the toughy and I'm battling with it right now. Take my example:

I have 55 watts of t5 interpet daylight plus tube with reflector (mylar stuck on hood!), laterite/sand substrate, dosing with Kent Grow and Fe, before last week I had 1 nutrafin CO2 unit and getting around 10-15ppm of CO2. I've been suffering really badly with algae. Since adding the second unit of CO2, I'm now getting a reading of 28ppm and altho I still have algae it's growth rates has dropped considerably this week. I'm also starting up on the EI (Estimative Index root) see the "EI Journal" post for more info.

As a general rule 2 to 2.5 watts per gallon needs CO2 injection to help keep algae at bay.

If you want medium to high light then you're looking at 2 to 3 WPG. Please somebody step in if I'm giving incorrect info.

Java Fern only require low light levels so that would be fine. Not sure about the others.

Hope that helps some.

 

[George Farmer]

The plants you mention should do fine in your light. The WPG rule is only a rough guide, it gets more leanient with larger tanks.

Ensure yoy use reflectors though to maximise penetration - 22" is quite deep.

CO2 would benefit but is not essential with that light.