Low-Light plants and lighting

[FMJnaX]

Hi all,

When I first bought my aquarium, I had no intentions of going with a planted tank. Well, my outdoor pond Anacharis started to multiply like crazy and I just couldn't get rid of the stuff. Needless to say, I while back I moved a couple bunches in. Just today, I split all of the old (original) off and threw it out. I still had enough to break the new stalks in half and still double down to 4 bunches. The stuff is growing quite well, but it's a lot thinner than the outdoor bunch... and probably for good reason. The pond outside gets good sunlight, has awesome nutrients, and is a cooler water.

Anyway, because my indoor stuff is starting to thin out, I'm thinking I should get a better bulb. What I have is what came with my 30" hood. It's a 24" All-Glass Aquarium Lamp rated at 20W (.689 WPG). Is there a better bulb that I can use that will also allow me to grow other plants as well (Java Fern, for example)? Also, are there any aquatic plant nutrients I can use that won't harm my fish? In terms of substrate, I'm just using your normal aquarium gravel.

Thanks all!

 

[travis simonson]

Unfortunately bulb type is not the problem here, the amount of wattage is what needs to be increased and that can most easily be done by adding another light fixture. You should aim for 1.0-1.5 wpg (a second 24" lamp would do the trick). And try to find bulbs in the 5000-10000K color range (most are, but it's best to check).

At the wattage levels you're running your fish waste will provide most of the fertilizer you need and you shouldn't need to provide any additional nutrients other than possibly some trace elements. Seachem Flourish works well for this. You might also consider using Seachem's Flourish Excel to supplement the carbon in the water column. It also does a great job of preventing certain types of algae

 

[Jchillin]

Here is the recommendation from a great plant site:

http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_viewer.php?id=110

You need at least 1.5wpg. What type of bulb (lamp) is it?

 

[FMJnaX]

I'm not sure what type of bulb it is. It has an "HG" in a circle on the bulb. On the box, it says flourescent of incandescent, but doesn't specify which it is. If it helps any, it puts out a purple type light.

 

[Jchillin]

Incandescent = normal looking round bulb
Flourescent = Long tube bulb.

 

[krap101]

probally means compact florescent

 

[TankGirl]

If it is a purplish light it might be actinic, which alone is not going to be much good for plants. Aside from that most unhelpful comment, "what everyone else has said"

 

[FMJnaX]

Too confusing for me. HAHAHAHA. Here's a picture of the bulb/lamp/light. I'm also including a pic of the freshly split Anacharis. IMO it looks to be in great condition, but just a bit thinned out.

 

[greenmaji]

that looks like a NO T-12 florescent bulb to me.. I think the 6500 daylight bulbs I got look a little purple compared to incandescent bulbs. GE makes a "daylight" NO bulb that is 6500K, they also sell a bulb that they advertise its for planted aquaria but they dont bother giving you the K value.. Im sticking with the slightly cheaper bulb that has a good K value myself..
2 of them would do for low light plants though..

 

[TankGirl]

If it was an actinic bulb it would definitely say so on it - I can't read the writing on the bulb in your picture to be able to tell. None of my 6500 - 10,000 K bulbs look actually purple to me, just much more white than the lower kelvin ratings (which appear yellowish). My actinic bulbs appear purple.

 

[FMJnaX]

Well, the color isn't really purple. It's a white light, but when I was looking directly at the bulb, it seemed to have a purple glint to it. Me and my wife can't decide what color it puts off really. lol

Anyway, on the glass it says:

All-Glass Aquarium
Preheat
Made in Germany

20W
Aquarium Lamp
Hg (in a circle)

Each end has 2 prongs (the contacts). Nothing else to note. I may just grab a new bulb/lamp/light regardless of what this one is. IMO, it's better to know what you're working with than to have an un-labeled, unknown light.

 

[greenmaji]

two 20 watt fixtures should be enough for a 30 gallon for low light plants.. if you can fit another 20 watt over your tank..

 

[FMJnaX]

I'd probably have to build my own canopy/hood to support two strips and still be able to have the flip-lid on the front... unless someone can point me to a commercial 30" dual light hood/canopy.

Oh, and I found out that the bulb is probably a flourescent. On the back of the ballast/hood, it says that it's a 30" flourescent ballast, also made by All-Glass Aquarium.

 

[czcz]

FMJnax,

Since you're building the hood, have you considered building DIY CO2, then maybe a 36W AH Supply kit? Combined with existing 20W you'll have 2wpg, should you want medium light plants later. The 36W alone should be great for the fern and anacharis (yours already look nice ), and you can take time building CO2, if you even want to. Just a thought.

 

[oxymoron]

For what it's worth, my 20g started out with 15watt fixture, so I decided to upgrade to a double light strip. The double strip died within 3 weeks, so while I was waiting for a replacement, I put the old hood/light back on and my anacharis and sword are both growing like crazy at .75 watts/gallon. Your results may very I suppose, but I am thinking about using the store credit for something besides lighting at this point.

 

[FMJnaX]

My anacharis grows like crazy. I'm pinching it off every week during the PWC. The problem that I'm having is that it's thinned out. I know it has something to do with the warmer water, but I just want to see if I can thicken it up a bit. What I'm doing now is that the older parts I remove from the PWC is going outside to the cool-water whiskey barrel pond. I'm going to see how the new shoots show and then think about doing partial transplants in to the 29 gal. I'm currently processing the pond to make sure I don't have snails or other problems. The 6 stalks I put out there on Saturday have just now started new shoots; probably because of the colder water.

Anyway, thanks for the note oxymoron.

 

[Guest]

If it is a purplish light it might be actinic, which alone is not going to be much good for plants. Aside from that most unhelpful comment, "what everyone else has said"

What exactly about actinic light is not useable for plants? Can't they photosynthesize light as long as it is in the visable light spectrum? It grows algea, doesn't it? I'm confused :?

 

[TankGirl]

Actinic tubes emit light from only the blue end of the spectrum, so though they are not harmful to plants or anything, they just don't have all of the spectrum that plants need. Marine algae, anemones and corals require this blue, which is not supplied by regular fluoro tubes. FW algae is extremely opportunistic and adaptable and will use whatever light is available, and that is why it is so good at getting a foothold in our tanks.

That's my understanding of it, anyway.

 

[BillD]

Wattage of tubes can be misleading, as is the watts pergallon "rule". Flourescent tubes come in a wide variety of temps, CRIs, and outputs. Lumens of light is a better indicator of how much light is produced, than the wattage. As an example, a 48" GE plant light produces about 1800 lumens of light, using 40 watts. it is a reddy purple light,with not enough power to light a room and terrible colour rendition. By contrast a GE chroma 50 has a 5,000 degree colour temp a high CRI, and decent light output somewhere in the 2400 to 2600 lumen range (guessing here as I don't have my chart handy), again using 40 watts. A Philips Ultralume, using 40 watts, 5,000 degree temp, medium CRI, gives about 3,300 lumens of light. The Ultralume has almost double the light of the GE aquarium tube, using the same power. You would obviously get very different results and appearance using these two bulbs, but both would be covered by the same "rule", which makes it very inaccurate.