Interpet LED lighting vs T8 power glo 15w

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lewis.r

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Aug 6, 2015
Messages
89
Location
England
So I have a few plants in my aquarium currently and they are growing rather slowly.

I have a 12 gallon tank and my T8 bulb that in at the moment is a 18" power glo. I have worked out that's the watts per gallon is 1.25.

This number I think is quite low and was wondering whether now it is worth replacing it with interpets LED light and whether to go with a single or a double.
I'm concerned that if I do, Will I also get an algae bloom due to the change in lighting?
And also will the white LEDs support plant growth enough? The plants I have are for low tech.
Or should I stay with the T8 tubes and is there enough lighting for my plants from it?

Thanks in advance
 
How long have the plants been under T8? Im not familiar with interpets led. I am a fan of led. What is the depth of the tank? What plants?

Switching lights will not guarantee algae but you could certainly have problems if you don't balance the tank with the change In par.
 
Get a dimmable LED much better ;)
As Flchamp said its all depends on the depth and the plants you want to grow.

Watts per gallon is a good start but it's really not something to go off.

I had a 6 watt LED over a 3G tank and I had far too much light. Algae took over the tank in days.

You want PAR rating at the depth of your tank. Make sure any lights you are looking at have a chart for PAR so you know what your looking at.

20-40 is low light
40-80 is mid light
80-100+ is high light.

You will need to adjust your ferts dosing aswell to allow for extra light depending what you get.

I can't recommend any light sorry as I've never had much to do with nano fixtures.
 
How long have the plants been under T8? Im not familiar with interpets led. I am a fan of led. What is the depth of the tank? What plants?

Switching lights will not guarantee algae but you could certainly have problems if you don't balance the tank with the change In par.



One plant has been under it for about a year now and grown slowly but surely ( can't remember which type is is though) but I have just added 4 news plants today which are

- Limnophila sessiliflora
- Cryptocoryne x willisii

I only use clay root ball ferts usually and in my old tank where I had nothing the limnophila grew fine.

This is the first time Ive put quite a few plants in so want them to grow alright and the reason I asked about lighting is because my T8 has been in for pretty much a year now so ready to replace.
I'll have to read up on what PAR is as I've not heard of it before but as you say by increasing or changing the light I could have problems if changing to the wrong light.
 
And the depth of my tank is only 30cm and it's 60cm long. So not a massive space to fill of light.
I just don't want to end up unbalancing anything if I was to change to an LED lighting system.
But the benefits of them seem to be great!
 
You just need to do your research. If you want a particular light knowing the par will help you to understand how it will affect the plants. But also it will enable you to know if ferts and co2 is needed to balance the tank. If you just chuck a high par light on a tank yes youll have algae out the kazoo. Light is the limiting factor. The gas pedal. More par more macro micro and co2.

Idk the deminsions of your tank but if your not looking to grow the most difficult plants id vote for a stingray. If you want more as bert said 24/7 good choice because it is dimeable when it not in 24/7 mode.
 
At 12in depth minus substrate a stingray will put you at 35 at bottom. Not dimeable. Not fancy. But affordable and it grows plants.
 
You just need to do your research. If you want a particular light knowing the par will help you to understand how it will affect the plants. But also it will enable you to know if ferts and co2 is needed to balance the tank. If you just chuck a high par light on a tank yes youll have algae out the kazoo. Light is the limiting factor. The gas pedal. More par more macro micro and co2.

Idk the deminsions of your tank but if your not looking to grow the most difficult plants id vote for a stingray. If you want more as bert said 24/7 good choice because it is dimeable when it not in 24/7 mode.



This is massively helpful thank you [emoji4]. Looks like I'm going to be spending a bit of time reasearching what PAR is.
 
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