plant noobie: experiencing good growth but do i need more light?

[the-chad]

I have Java Ferns, Pennywort, ludwigea, wisteria, , water sprite, an ozelot sword, and a little bit of java moss.

all of these plants are doing much better than i ever thought they would considering i use no fertilizer of any sort, they are rooted in regular aquarium gravel, and according to i have read, seemingly really low lighting. They are all noticeably growing at a pretty steady pace.

THe wisteria in particular is growing like mad! ive propogated both the wisteria and ludwigia a couple times each now.

they are in a heavily stocked 35 gallon tank, 18 inches deep, and with only a single 15 watt 18" aqua-glo flourescent @18000K. the tank is 36 inches long, so the outer edges of the tank get even less light. oh... and i leave the light on for typically 12 hours a day. No, i do not have algae problems, in fact when i first received these plants they were covered in long hair green algae but my fish have eliminated all of that since i put them in this tank less than 2 weeks ago.

im supposed to have at least 3 watts per gallon right? but if im getting such good plant growth should i even bother increasing the lighting?

I will be getting a glass lid for this tank soon. I also have a floor lamp that uses five 60w incandescent Chandelier bulbs and i COULD move that next to the tank and point the light into the tank from above. these lights would end up being roughly a foot above the water. Im on a budget so buying a new light fixture is not an immediate possibility but could adding this floor lamp help/hurt? can/should i even combine flourescent and incandescent?

What do you guys think?

oh, in this tank i have
5 platys
2 Kribensis
6 harlequin rasboras
6 zebra danios
2 gouramis
1 yoyo loach
and 1 albino Cory

the first picture is 11 days newer than the second one. and although they are not quality pics (camera on my phone) and some of the pennywort was moved, you can still see some noticeable growth difference.

 

[MyanRan]

I guess it's really your preference. If you want to increase growth even more you could add another bulb, or you could increase it to T5 or something, but that's only if you want more work, such as CO2 and fertilizers and such.

 

[the-chad]

I guess it's really your preference. If you want to increase growth even more you could add another bulb, or you could increase it to T5 or something, but that's only if you want more work, such as CO2 and fertilizers and such.

what is T5? and are you saying that if i increase light i have to use co2/fertilizers?

 

[FishingMouse]

Yes exactly. T5 is a type of light/system (I don't use so I'm not sure) that is pretty high tech/high maintenance. You would have to use at least liquid carbon (rivercats only uses that even in her 220 gal to obvious success), and IME most would say you should still use liquid ferts once a week after pwc. It will help plants get some of the micronutrients they need.

 

[MyanRan]

You'll definitely have to adjust to higher lighting. I'm assuming what you have on your tank is 1 T8 Aqua Glo Bulb but I could be wrong, should say right beneathe the Aqua Glo label.

 

[the-chad]

You'll definitely have to adjust to higher lighting. I'm assuming what you have on your tank is 1 T8 Aqua Glo Bulb but I could be wrong, should say right beneathe the Aqua Glo label.

That is correct, it says t8. What does that mean and how does It compare to the T5 lighting mentioned above?
It seems as though I have an awful lot to learn About planted tanks...

 

[MyanRan]

Well from what I know, T8 lighting is very low-light, I know that because I have two of your lights on my aquarium, and I'm not able to grow the plants that I want to grow. It's personal preference. If all you are growing is Anubias and Java Fern, then it's fine. But I want my tank to be more complex, therefore higher light. T5 is a different kind of bulb which provides much higher lighting. It will not fit in your current fixture.

 

[hecurcia]

Just to clarify on the t5s. It should be t5NO if you want to keep a low/medium light tank. I run a dual 36 inches T5NO plus the stock t8 18 watts on my 40 gallon breeder with no algae problems. I just started using half dose of excel because of my vals.

 

[MyanRan]

Exactly. You could use T5HO but that would cause a little more maintenance. HO = High Output, NO = Normal Output. Just to clarify.