Freshwater 36 Gallon Bow Front Planted - New

[ScubaSteve1217]

Hey all
New member here looking to get my brand new aquarium set up
I currently have a 36 Gallon Bowfront and am looking to mimic a South American biotope
I am planting Amazon Sword and Vallisnera
I have a 20 watt fluorescent. Which I know is not enough to support plant growth
Do you think adding an additional LeD such as the Marineworld Hidden LED 21" rated to 6500 K will provide sufficient lighting?
Not looking for mass growth, just plant sustainability
Also fish to be added eventually :
Angelfish
ram Cichlid
Tetra school
Cory cats

Cheers!

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Hi Steve.. welcome to AA!

It's hard to say if that marineland hidden LED unit would provide sufficient lighting along with the stock 20w florescent. There are other solutions, however, that can be considered. But first, what's your max budget for a light upgrade? Reason I ask is that there are some options that I know would work based on user experience, reviews, and (in some cases) posted PAR data. But there's no point recommending them if it's over budget.

Also, are you using the stock hood on the 36g or did you get a glass versa top?

 

[Brookster123]

That light may actually be enough for those plants, not sure if you can substitute an ozelot sword? I know for a fact they grow very well under t8. Ad far as adding accent light to a stock hood, check out the flexible current satellite plus strip. Liked it alot, it will not add substantial par but it will make colors pop.

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[ScubaSteve1217]

Thanks for the replies
Ended up grabbing the Hidden LED based on a lot of research stating it will perform well as a supplemental light for the low to medium light plants
I am using the stock bulb on the hood that came with tank, but I'm wondering if there is a better brand or style of tube I can purchase that will improve the light quality? I believe the hood is only rated to 20 W, standard 24" fluoro tube
Cheers



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[Brookster123]

Go for the floramax bulb, it's a nice full spectrum tube focused towards plant growth..

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[TheresaM]

+1 on the floramax...put one in my 16g earlier this week and I've already noticed a difference with the plants!

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

What Brook said. But, down the road, if you're dissatisfied with the plant growth, you can fit a Finnex Planted+ over the small opening in the stock hood. I setup a 26g bow front at my parents' house. I believe they have the same stock hood.

Here's what it would look like:

https://flic.kr/p/dy7oaQ

 

[ppo8820]

People arent yet familiarized with LED lighting or how to classify it to high, medium, or low light for the most part. I have a fluval 24-34 inch LED plant light on my 29 and its SUPER bright. One store said it was medium light to high, and another said low to medium, so no one really knows. I do know my plants love it, so thats all I care about. Petco has a huge sale right now. I got it for 80 bucks and it was like 180, so thats a nice discount. I like the LEDs best and they pay for themselves over time.

 

[Brookster123]

People arent yet familiarized with LED lighting or how to classify it to high, medium, or low light for the most part. I have a fluval 24-34 inch LED plant light on my 29 and its SUPER bright. One store said it was medium light to high, and another said low to medium, so no one really knows. I do know my plants love it, so thats all I care about. Petco has a huge sale right now. I got it for 80 bucks and it was like 180, so thats a nice discount. I like the LEDs best and they pay for themselves over time.

I am, what do you want to know? Your light would be high light on a 8 " tall tank. What plants do you have? low light plants would like it just fine on most tanks.. there's a reason petco is liquidating that light

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[Brian_Nano12g]

I think Fluval products are on sale in a lot of places. My local petsmart has significantly reduced prices on Fluval LEDs, canister and HOB filters (06 and C series).

Light intensity (PAR) is greatly affected by how far the light has to travel through water. I actually now run one of those Fluval AquaticLife & Plant LED fixtures on the 26g BF at my parents house. I'd say it's a good moderate level of lighting due to the 18" distance from light to substrate (high light on shallow tanks).

Fluval, for some reason, doesn't believe in PAR data, where the rest of the industry/hobby does. They do boast high CRI instead. I would have to agree that the Fluval LED unit does have high CRI and it produces a very pleasant warm light that has a healthy amout of red spectrum.

 

[Brookster123]

I just see a lot of small leds.. having surrounded myslef in quite a few led units I can say that fewer, larger diodes seems to produce stronger par.. i guess a ton of smalls could do the trick too!

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[Brian_Nano12g]

Small or large, they all work, IMO. There's a huge difference in a Finnex Ray 2 versus a FugeRay in PAR when both use the same exact tiny diodes, just one has twice as many. It's like the difference between 1 Sat+ versus running duals. The Fluval just has a pretty dense array of small LEDs, a lot of them.



While large, less numerous, diodes (1w to 3w) will output at a higher PAR, they usually have less spread and sort of a spot light effect that produces a lot of shimmer. Whereas the smaller chips, in abundance and tightly packed, produce a blanket of light (less shimmer).

 

[Brookster123]

True story! The bml has more shimmer, better growth too

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[ScubaSteve1217]

Any idea where to get the Finnex products in Canada? Apparently they don't sell here anymore



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[Brookster123]

What size do you need?

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[ScubaSteve1217]

30" for my bow front



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[Brookster123]

No more amazon.ca?? I'll sell you my 24" in a couple weeks

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