how much light do I need with T5s

For a 720lt planted tank, 160Gl, how much light would I need with going with T5s ? I would probably opt for the 1.5m 80watt tubes, as that fits my canopy set up the best. I have however struggled to find the correct T5 tubes in the 80 watt range, apart from the Osram skylight, 800 kelv.

I picked this up on the web - (Watts per liter or gallon isn't useful when dealing with T5HO lighting. Only the height of the tank affects the light intensity under one of those, and we know now that a 54 watt T5HO light, with the great single tube reflector, gives enough light to grow almost all plants, if you have CO2)

The water level would be 650mm in depth and I would be going for pres Co2 and ferts. I would be keen to grow a range of plants, not just the low light varieties.

Would be most grateful for any advice on this ?

 

How long is your tank? Sounds like 1.8m?

 

I would add four 80w t5's with single reflectors for that depth. I had two 54w on my tank and grew most plants but my water level to gravel is about 50cm.

But maybe someone here can help you with proper calculations.

 

yea that's correct length 1.8m, width 60cms, height 70 with water levl approx 65cms

 

Go 39w then. More readily available, just means more tubes and ballasts

 

Sorry for the High jack :wondering: but I would like to just find out how many T5's would I need for a standard 100lt tank, I was thinking of 2 T5 tubs one white and one blue or should they both be blue or do I only need 1
I have 54watt tubes that I want to use and I have 1 baluster as well that can hold 2 tubes

Sorry for the hi jack but at least it is on topic..... :ahhhhh:

 

54W is too long, its around 1.2m long. 39W is 950mm IIRC

And its a ballast, not baluster!

 

yes that is right but I want to use it in a tank bank so I am not to worried about the length.
or maybe I should try and swop the 54w for 39w...

 

Local lighting options info

Neil, wot's 101mm between buds?:blink1:
849mm T5 Fluorescent Tube 39W
If you cannot get aquarium specific T5 lamps.
Avoid the BLUE lamps. Otherwise, wide spectrum daylight lamps would be fine.
2*39W would ROCK

Osram SkyWHITE
1449mm 80W HO T5 8000K (not 800)

80W T5
~2 would grow most available plants, in tanks UPTO 2.1m LENGTH, 300-400mm WIDTH comfortably.

~ upgrade to 3 and if you CENTRE, or PLACE them correctly above tank, for great coverage to encourage most growth on tanks upto 450-500mm WIDTH

~ 4 accomplishes all the above with +600mm WIDTH, no problems!

Above assumes, DIY, and not common slimline factory-made units, which have a slightly narrower EFFECTIVE light spread.
Depends on reflector spread and configuration too!

OTHER 80W lamps?
Ask around, some lighting stores may obtain 6500K , daylight .
Well-known Brands are GE, Osram, Philips, Sylvania.

HTH

 

In an attempt to de hi-jack, I would be grateful not just for advice on the amount of T5s required, but any info on where suitable 80w T5s for a planted tank might be available, preferably in the Cape, please pm me. I think I have now sourced the 80w ballasts or if using Angel fish’s Thesaurus the 'balusters'.

Any advice on the minimum distance that the battery of T5s can be mounted from the water surface would also be appreciated? I will be using waterproof end caps, but presume the lights are going to have an impact on the water surface temp?

 

Yea thanks Altum, I had just replied when your thread came through. It's a DIY modification with a ‘slimline’ manufactured aluminum canopy, but is very under par with just x6 20wt T8s installed, so I plan to remove these and replace with at least 300wts of T5s. It has x3 small fans running up the center, so I hope that is going to be useful to reduce surface heat..

 

80? Whatsup!

:smile1:
My pleasure trevor!
You have pm
May help direct your efforts in a meaningful way

 

pics

Can you send pics?? i am curious to see this planted tank

 

Hi Nick, tank not set up yet, but I need to do so asp as original tank started spurting water last week-end.

I can sms you a pic of the canopy if you have any suggestions on the T5 modification front ?
regards,

Trevor

 

Hey Trevor... you upgraded to a beeeg tank, nice one mate, send us photos as I would be interested to see them.... Altum aka Water Zoo {coz its full of monkeys } has been helping me and we got a really nice all in one unit with 4x 54w t5s plus LED moonlights... turns out this is far more than I need if you look at a lumen/PAR per M2... my tank is 70 odd high plus the lights are mounted approx 5inches off the surface so all seems good...two growlux, one osram 10k daylight and a skywhite tube...

Going with an intergrated set helps alot as it is compact and also has all the reflectors built in.. I strongly suggest it, so does the algae ... ha ha

Chat soon and best of british !

BTW I have some plants I am going to get rid of as we tee the tank up for discus as they will not take the heat...so if you are keen you can take them off my hands when ready to plant..

 

Below image the calculation done for 2 x 54 should be fine ... not sure if the Osram in the calc is the same but that is in the last row .. the first row is the good old Philips 865 ...
did a similar for the 6x20 and 3x80 ... 3x80 is going to be allot of light 148 PAR (µmol/s/m²) and 10872 Lux (lumen/m²) - that is a truck load of light ...


Later Ferdie

 

hey ffish... I assume we are aiming for a rate of PAR per m2 in your screenshot you are saying that 109 umol/s/m2 is ideal, is this correct ? What is the benchmark range for a planted tank

wicked link BTW thanks for this

 

"What is the benchmark range for a planted tank" man that is a loaded question - well I am so new to this it is not even fun - but it does explain why my tanks are working. I think it was one of Barr's threads that made a reference to 30 - 40 umol/s/m2 PAR for an easy to manage tank - not to high maintenance - Now I assume coming from that stable that it would lean towards EI with no CO2? But this does put the old watt/gallon on its head ... could also explain why we get algae so easily - to much light not enough patience in most hobby tanks.

Later Ferdie

 

calculator is excellent ...without a PAR meter it is just about impossible to know what you are putting in...

I have 4 54w T5 bulbs ... with just 2 grolux, which on their own give me 51umol... algae has taken over so Im only running on half power...

I ran the same calculator using standard bulbs (not growlux and skywhites) and could not believe how much the PAR dropped..

All does come down to plant density, co2 and ferts admittedly... my other tank is a jewel 160 with standard jewel 2xT5s 35w ...which is relatively low but with ferts and co2 in balance, growing unbelievably...

Thanks for the advice

 

Yea, many thanks Milsky and Ferdie for your input. I would like to say that confirms what I need for my T5 lighting set up and that is that. However, there seems such as vast selection of ideas and different theories on the web, that I am getting more confused by the day or rather by the Watt! I fully appreciate that the wpg formula is pretty useless when it comes to larger tanks and T5s, as for starters a watt is really a measurement of energy rather than light and that PAR/per m2 would be a more practical formula.

For example, one dude on another forum, who has a great looking 150gl planted tank, is suggesting x8 54w T5s, compared to just the x2 54wt for a 160gl tank on the T5 light calculator. Another planted tank fundi has x2 150 hm’s and x4 54 T5s on his 120Gl and the results speak for themselves. Of course there are many other factors that the calculator is not fed with – which type of planted aquaria one is going for (low, med or high tech) and many other variables. Anyway it would seem from reports that many of the folk are perhaps over lighting with T5s and underestimating their intensity, which is relished by the algae army.

As 80wt (1.5m) T5s seem difficult or near impossible to get locally, in the various colour/kv ranges, I think the option left is to go for with x1 24w (540mm) & 39w(860mm) per line, as this would give me the maximum coverage (1.4m) for the tank length, be it some what short of the 1.8m. Was going to go for a mixture of Sylvania Grolux and Osram skywhite with either 3 or 4 lines, total 63w per line. Heavens, I’m back on the dam Watt thing! Not sure how you work out the PAR of the tube, as there seems to be no mention of it on the packaging? To confuse me further, I see you get either normal T5s or T5HOs, which are twice the brightness. I appear some how to have acquired both. Before I go back to keeping guinea pigs, any advice still most welcome..!