LED lighting questions?

[DanTheGuppyMan]

Hi! Some background info: I have a 60g planted tank thats pretty heavily Planted, but not too much. I have been trying to grow a nice carpet plant (i havf HC and DHG) I have gotten very little growth withthe HC and i even bumbpe my C02 up to 2-3 bps and its only grown out maybe 1/4 of an inch iver 5-6 weeks! i love the look of that plant, but it doesnt love me LOL. i just planted some of the DHG 2 days ago so i cant say i have had growth yet. BUT- i do know that if j am going to grow a carpet, i need to bump my lighting up alot more than it is now. i would say i have roughly 2 wpg (about 1.8) and a double T5HO fixture. I asked this question in another thread as mentioned above and fort384 recommended me to the Truelumen pro series LED strips. i looked them up and i also like them. i want to add at least one 48" White 8,000K strip in addition to my existing fixture, and if i need another one i will. does that sound like a plan? I don't even know why I made a new thread for this...but another question- what is "PAR-Distance?" Here is a link to the LED strip I am getting- TrueLumen Pro Series LED StripLights | Current-USA
I would get the 48" TrueLumen Pro Series LED Strip Light, 8000K Sun White
Strip for my tank (48"x24"x12") Is this going to be adequate lighting for growing my carpet? The reason I'm asking again is because I was researching more and people said stuff about PAR over Distance and the wattage and blah blah blah which confused me so I'm here again asking will this be good for my tank?

 

[phishfriend]

"Lighting an Aquarium with PAR instead of Watts" is a great read. Helped me a ton. link is in my sig if you want to read it. good luck

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Check out this thread for PAR vs. Distance..

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=160396

Looks like for the Truelumen Pro fixture, a single fixture would get you close to 42 PAR @ 18" or 31 PAR @ 24".

So depending where this fixture is placed and how high your substrate is would affect how much PAR you get. Since you're going to use this fixture in conjunction with your T5HO's, you should place the LED's toward the front to be right over the HC. Vertical Distance from fixture to substrate as well as horizontal (from front to back) both determine how much PAR your HC is getting.

Also, since this LED fixture is going to be used with T5HO's, i would imagine that PAR would be amplified to some degree. Its hard to know how much without a PAR value meter. So you'll just have to see how your plants respond (or algae) and adjust accordingly.

What's also just as important, if not more important to HC growth is co2 diffusion. Are you monitoring the amount of co2 your injecting not just through how many bps but also through a drop checker using the correct 4dkh solution? To get an accurate reading this is important.. Also placement of the drop checker since you have a larger tank, not to mention if your getting adequate diffusion throughout the tank considering proper circulation and so forth.

In terms of lighting and PAR for HC growth... I was told by a knowledgeable plant/light guru on TPT named Hoppy that "about 40 micromols of PAR...will grow HC, so you would have plenty of light. More important than the PAR is the CO2 level in the water. You will need to spend some time, over a few weeks time, adjusting the CO2 to the optimum level for that much light."

Are your dosing ferts? How about the substrate you're using?

 

[DanTheGuppyMan]

Check out this thread for PAR vs. Distance..

LED Lighting Compendium

Looks like for the Truelumen Pro fixture, a single fixture would get you close to 42 PAR @ 18" or 31 PAR @ 24".

So depending where this fixture is placed and how high your substrate is would affect how much PAR you get. Since you're going to use this fixture in conjunction with your T5HO's, you should place the LED's toward the front to be right over the HC. Vertical Distance from fixture to substrate as well as horizontal (from front to back) both determine how much PAR your HC is getting.

Also, since this LED fixture is going to be used with T5HO's, i would imagine that PAR would be amplified to some degree. Its hard to know how much without a PAR value meter. So you'll just have to see how your plants respond (or algae) and adjust accordingly.

What's also just as important, if not more important to HC growth is co2 diffusion. Are you monitoring the amount of co2 your injecting not just through how many bps but also through a drop checker using the correct 4dkh solution? To get an accurate reading this is important.. Also placement of the drop checker since you have a larger tank, not to mention if your getting adequate diffusion throughout the tank considering proper circulation and so forth.

In terms of lighting and PAR for HC growth... I was told by a knowledgeable plant/light guru on TPT named Hoppy that "about 40 micromols of PAR...will grow HC, so you would have plenty of light. More important than the PAR is the CO2 level in the water. You will need to spend some time, over a few weeks time, adjusting the CO2 to the optimum level for that much light."

Are your dosing ferts? How about the substrate you're using?

Hi! I have ordered a drop checker with the 4dkh solution and it has arrived, but I'm on vacation in Colorado currently coming back Monday so I will get it hooked up as soon as I get back. I have my atomic diffuser in the left corner of the tank at a little more than 2bps where the micro bubbles then get sucked into my water circulator and blown out to the rest of the tank. Also lots of surface movement. Where do you think I should place the drop checker? I just ordered 2 48" TrueLumen Pro 8,000K LED strips plus all the correct equipment for it, and I am going to hook up only one strip with my T5HO fixture to see if that is enough light, but if not I will hook up the other too. I do dose some of AquariumPlant's root tabs (TOTAL, PHOSPHATE and IRON) as directed, and I'm getting hooked onto the PPS-Pro so I may switch to that at a later date. I use Fluval Stratum as my substrate (not a fan of it!) if I could I would switch to Eco-Complete.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Sounds good.. I place my drop checker as far from the diffuser as possible. But then again, my largest tank is 26 gallons. I've seen people with larger tanks place two drop checkers on opposite ends to make sure they have proper co2.

When i switched from seachem flourish comp to GLA green fert pack (micro/macro mix... Dosing PPS-Pro), my HC responded well in my 6g project. In this same 6g I'm using floramax (which is the same as eco complete) topped off with Fluval Stratum as well. So far i really have no complaints about both substrates. The Fluval Stratum is nice looking like ADA Aqua Soils without the larger price tag.. My only gripe is that its pretty delicate and light. Just have to be careful not to break it up and disturb it much.

 

[DanTheGuppyMan]

Yeah, I actually am looking into switching to GLA's green fert pack also. I noticed there are a lot but I can't remember what was what...do I need a special pack for my tank or are they all the same or what? And yes, the stratum looks good, but I also found it is super light and I had to use weights to hold my plants down. Also whenever I try to trim the plants and I accidentally root one up or something the whole tank turns muddy due to the disturbance...but now that my tank has rooted down good I don't have problems with anything rooted up anymore

 

[DanTheGuppyMan]

ok I don't know why the text is in color