Lighting - VERY CONFUSED

In my opinion the watts per litre theory leans toward the negative side. A man with a 600 litre freshwater planted tank needs what? 600Watts of light?thats 3 metal Halides! Just remember what conditions that the plants ORIGINALLY grow in their natural Enviroment. The water is so stained im suprised much light gets through at all. In my opinion make sure your water quality is perfect, then worry about lighting. Yes plants do need light to photosynthesise, but what good is photosSynthesis without good water conditions and good fertilistion?? Bad water quality = bad plant health.

 

You've got it all wrong dude...

Man made light is not nearly as bright as the sun. What's more, the sun puts out all the different colour temps. Man made lights just don't come close to the intensity of the sun. On a 600L tank you WILL need 600watts of light... Well, you'd probably get away with 500 watts. The deeper the tank, the more high output light you need. So if you have a 1m tall tank, you'd most definitely need metal halides. But if you have a 600L tank that is only 45cm - 50 cm deep you would be able to use T5's.

 

Slagter you are missing the point about water quality. What you saying is that your plants can live in a toilet but as long as they have the correct light they will survive? I doubt that.

And when it comes to lighting, Lumens means more than Wattage. But dont get me wrong. I can see you are an experienced aquarist, but i do belive every man is to his own opinion.

 

In terms of keeping planted aquaria, or any aquarium for that matter, it is crucial to keep your water quality at it's best. This is fairly obvious. You can have the most crystal clear water, but if you don't have enough light, nothing will grow. For that matter, if there is too little Co2, your plants will die as well...

Not once did I say that plants can live in bad water conditions. Please point out where I implied this? But, algae might flourish in these conditions...

I do 50% weekly water changes because I dose NPK as well as other micro nutrients.

It is also fairly obvious that Lumens means more than wattage. BUT for a beginner to understand how much light they will need, the WPG rule is still the best method for helping a newbie understand how much light they will need to grow plants. When you are dealing with T5 lighting, the WPG rule is very accurate. I can guarantee you that if you have 200watts of T5 light above a 200L tank (which is not taller than 50cm) you will have absolutely no problem growing any kind of plant in that tank. Even if the water is slightly stained by tannins. The deeper you go, the higher intensity lighting you will need...

Like I said earlier, this is still the best method of explaining lighting to inexperienced fish keepers without getting too technical. Which was what this thread was about in the first place...

 

Haha this is why i love forums...... Slagter, how about we agree to disagree? Cause this could go on forever. Happy fish/plant keeping.

 

Hi all

I know this is an old post, but my question relates to the subject so thought I'd post it here.

Reading thru the thread I am confused!! Is the calculation watts per litre OR watts per gallon?

I have just bought 4 x 54 watt T5 1.2m tubes and 2 ballasts to run them so in total thats 216 watts. My tank is roughly 500 ltrs, so if it is the wats per litre then I am 284 watts short, but if it is the watts per gallon then my tank is roughly 109 gallons then I have an over kill of lights, which leaves me with my next question, can you have an over kill of light? I plan to have each tube on it's own switch, and probably only have one or two tubes on during the day, when I get home turn on all lights until we go to sleep and then turn off all lights.

 

the rule works(ed) on gallons, not lit res wpg not wpl. Hope that helps.
its just a general guideline to help people equate the intensity for healthy plant growth. sometimes a tank looks bright enough, but in actual fact, does not cater optimally for the plants in the tank, so the wpg rule is basically a good starter rule to get the plants growing well.

Ps. i love lighting threads, its a spur of debate for something that at best only has shaky scientific data, yet everyone will fight tooth and nail over the 'science' of it

 

Hehee... good comment Ferryman... now no one can fault you on your "scientific research" and comment on wpg vs wpl etc

 

Thanks Ferryman. Can you have too much lighting, have been reading other posts and it seems like my kelvin rating is too high? The tubes I got are 15000k, I have 4 of them, will the tank turn into an algae pit as soon I flick the switches?

Yip, going thru the posts one can see the electricity that the lighting subject seems to bring up!!

 

Like my wife said to me one day,no amount of light(not heat) wil kill a plant. They were made to live of light. The lack of other resources in intense light will kill them. What else will also grow in that amount of light is a diff story.

 

A couple of 6500K T5's from Voltex and you are good to go - I have a 2m long 600 deep tank running on 2 T5's 54W and my plants are good to go.... In fact I haveto cut out and throw away every weekend. Even the plants that are not supposed to be thriving I have cut back...

Go figure

 

hi all
Please help.
I am a bit confused about what lighting to get.
i have a 1.2m tank - recently converted to a planted community tank.
by reading this thread i am assuming my light is not good enough and i dont understand the whole C02 thing.
currently i have a aqua glow 36" 30W flouresent tube.
i have a cannister filter and a power head just for airation. (is this 02 or C02?)
what would you all recommend if i want to grow my plants quite nicely.
i know about ferts - but have not started yet.
Thanks Guys.
Seems like a typical "girl" question

 

Guido, can you please post pics of your setup with the CFL bulbs?
Your lighting looks awesome for just 54W.
What size is that tank?
Thanks.

 

JulsM... trust me, this is no "girly" question. The lighting question has plagued aquarists for years, and has ended in very heated debates, as each one has their own philosophy.

I would assume that you have what the professor calls a "low-tech" set up when it comes to plants... meaning they are easy growers, and don't need any special attention. At the moment, DON'T STRESS about CO2. I am not convinced of it's necessity at the moment. (Unless you going the high-tech route... as Henk will more than likely tell us). I have what is considered low lighting, I dabbed around with CO'2... and landed up with bad algae blooms. Forget CO2. (Your filter is putting O2 into the water by the way).

I would suggest for your set up, (without actually seeing it), just increase your lighting by another 1 or 2 tubes. The rule is actually the more you can afford the better... and consider going with some liquid ferts. There are some commercially available from LPS stores, but I have actually found a lot of success out of Prof. Dirks ferts.

 

hi Zoom

I have been phoning around for pricing etc, was interested in the T5 lighting...
If i had to go this route - seems 2x 54W T5's should do it?
then the kelvin business...
i have read all the posts and seems like 10000k=bad idea.
do i then go 1x6500 and 1x8000 or what is the recommendation?
Any help would be much appreciated:wondering:

 

Another lighting Q:

Have someone installed CFL's? They are not suppose to get wet so do you have problems with water damp? Do not want the thing exploding when I turn ir on in the morning.

 

Juls... It might be a good option for you to PM dolphin with this q. He seems to be the one to ask about the K rating. Actually, come to think of it... give Laure a PM as well.

As far as I know 6500L gives you goot blue and red spectrum lighting, which is what you are wanting.

 

I have installed 2 cfl lights in my tank along with my normal tube light to give my 72l 32watts ill post a picture later they have really increased the plant growth in the tank and they are really a good cheap lighting solution. I used waterproof sockets and i dont get much spray if any on them and they work with no problem the tank lid which is plastic gets warm but not hot so thats not a problem and i havent noticed a significant tempreture rise either

 

Thanks Snyper, where did you purchase the waterproof sockets?

 

Thanks Zoom
Will do!