26gal bow tank, light ideas for plants

[georgetown]

Hello All,

I have been reading a lot of forms, and joined up today. Been a few years, just getting back into aquariums. A lot has changed in the lighting options.

I have a Fluval 26gal bow tank with stock led, they are 8000K 630 lumens. I am looking at low to medium light plant options. I have some swords and other plants right now, but they are not doing so good and I think it is because of lighting. I just started adding fish today. Tank is 24" wide, current light is 21" wide and would like to use my current hood.

I am using flourish black substitute, flourish fertilizer and liquid carbon. I want to stay away from co2 right now, maybe later in the future.

Was looking at the Finnex line, but no distributor in Canada. If I do get them, they said they would not warranty them outside the US.

Looking at the Satellite options are as follow

led plus 18" to 24". 600 lumens, too low of light?
led plus 24" to 36". 1000 lumens right for the tank? If I spend a few more dollars I could get the led pro 18" to 24" 1500 lumens. that is for high light, but would it then be more medium light for this size tank?


Or I can add another standard led to my stock fixture, double 630 lumens be good? or look at the marineland, but they don't get the best reviews.

that would be at the max for my budget. They have them at Big Als here for a good price, and good warranty. One year is included, I could pay for a 3 year exchange if anything happens to the light.

any thought? thanks so much

 

[Skyjacker07]

How tall is the tank, and how many inches of substrate? Start with that, I have a 36g bowfront and a 24-36 on it, it's roughly 19" from substrate to the light, which is fine for low light plants.

 

[georgetown]

I have 2 to 3 " of substitute in the tank depending where it is, and roughly 19" clearence between top of substitute and bottom of light as well.

I have been thinking maybe the plus model 24" to 36" would be good for that tank as it would produce around 35par at that distance. I would be at the lower end for medium light.

A lot to learn about led lights, so I should really be looking at the par rating the most and distance from top of substitute to bottom of light and aim for 35 to 50 par? The more I read the more I get lost. How much does the plus pro put out around 20"? Very hard to try to find par ratings beyond 12".

 

[georgetown]

Attached is a pic of when I first added my plants. The grasses wilted and dies on me, amazon swords are getting a little wilted on me right now. These are the type of plants I am trying to grow. I use to have good luck years ago with compact fluorescent, led are all new.

 

[Skyjacker07]

If you can get ahold of the current satellite plus pro it would be the light you would use the best, I had to add another light to get enough light for all different plants, I have the finnex 24/7 and the current satellite plus, fluorescents would work fine but would take some wattage to get decent growth, I would say you want between 35-50 par would put you in the par area you want, I'm at 76par with my two lights, but I also fertilize and inject co2, to keep algae at bay, I ended up dimming the brighter light to out me at 50-60 par.

 

[georgetown]

Thanks for all the great advice. I ended up going all out and got the current usa satellite pro 24" to 36". It is a pretty sweet light, easy to setup the 24 hour function. I started with all the colors set at 70% intensity.

I tried looking but can't find anything yet, anyone have the par ratings of this light and different depths? Manufacturer just listed it at 100+ par at 12". I am looking at ratings around 20" to calculate how much I should have my settings till I get more plants that need stronger light.

 

[Skyjacker07]

Going along with this graph I would say around 60-65 par