should I keep or uprgrade my lighting system?

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calfishguy

calfishguy

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I recently purchased a 29 gallon tank and have planted it with some anubias, crypts, bronze crypts, amazon sword, and micro sword. the tank came with standard t8 20w lighting. I originaly wanted to put a dual t5 no with two 6,7K 18 watt bulbs. I Will be adding more bronze cripts and micro swords soon. I have standard black sand and dose flourish and flourish excel.

Should i keep or upgrade. All opinions welcome

thanks:thanks::fish1::fish2:
 
I may be wrong but the mico sword seems to me like the most needy of those plants. Swords are known more for being heavy root feeders rather than light lovers but alot of foreground plants tend to prefer more light. That being said, the wpg rule would put you at insufficent light but that rule really doesn't apply now that we have more than just incandescent. I'm no expert but I don't think your to far under an appropriate amount of light for those plants.
 
Just remember more lights means more things need to be replaced in terms of nutrition. High lighting means your plants will use up much more nutrients and like others stated you will need to invest in pressurized or diy co2. My 40 gallon tall tank has 160 Watts and with that daily fertilization for the water column as well as root tablets. I also use diy did co2.

I'm still new to all this but with all these things you have to balance it fairly well. I have both high tech and a low tech tank. Both have their pros and cons. I find the low tech approach easier. I used the dirt topped with sand approach with my low tech and it requires much less maintenance and is thriving. But my high tech is more of the show piece.
 
Many people keep t5 ho fixtures without issues and they don't dose c02. So I don't think that would be an issue. After checking the price of shipping id be over 150$ for the lights. I no longer think its worth it.
 
Look up FishNeedIt or Odyssea T5 lights. Nova Aqua may have a good light fixture on Amazon in that size, too. Just make sure to find the planted tank fixtures. They all come in fresh and saltwater versions.
 
If getting even a cheaper T5HO fixture is out of the question right now, go to Lowes, Home Depot, whatever is close to you and at least see about getting a Plant Grow bulb. I don't have T8's but I know people use plant bulbs gotten from hardware stores. And maybe you could even afford to get a second fixture and bulb which would help your plants alot. With the bulb you have now do not expect much growth and the micro sword may or may not survive. As for CO2, I have a heavily planted 220g with 3x150watt HID Metal Halides and 4x39watt T5HO and use glutaraldehyde (same ingredient as Excel). I do have a dirted tank so my substrate is rich and I dose PPS-Pro and I have incredible growth. So no, you don't need CO2 with high light. My plants don't pearl but they grow at an incredible rate.
 
I think I'll order the original t5 no fixture I wanted then. Will it be enough for the micro sword to grow.
 
Some say micro-sword needs high light some medium. I think you could do it, at least try. I had mine planted in an area that did not get overly strong light. It took longer to establish but once it did it started sending out runners. Just be patient with it and give it ample time to get going.

I think you'll be happy with the upgraded lights.
 
I think I can get a dual t5 ho at my local petland for the same price so I think I'm better off getting that right.
 
Its easier to get it locally if possibly. Just to be sure the bulbs are for planted tanks. Many fixtures come with one atinic bulb (which is for saltwater and no use to FW plants), hopefully they have 6700K's or plant grow bulbs of some type in them. My light fixture came with saltwater bulbs and I had to invest in 6700K bulbs for them. Just check to be sure the bulbs are not for saltwater setups. Good luck!
 
calfishguy said:
Change of plans I'm going with the t5 no
Click to expand...

Good choice. You will have no problems growing plants with that light and you won't need co2. Keep in mind that micro swords are slow growing in any tank.
 
Thanks I will be receiving the light in early september am I safe to buy more micro swords or should I wait.
 
calfishguy said:
Thanks I will be receiving the light in early september am I safe to buy more micro swords or should I wait.
Click to expand...

It's better to wait for the new light but it's really your call. If the swords are growing even a little (not up but new shoots) you could plant anytime.
 
Got mine today, well technically yesterday and it's freaking awesome. The mounting brackets won't work even though it's for a 36 inch tank. But it sits perfect on the black boarder, using it in conjunction with my 40 watt 24 inch go dual ho fixture.just can't beat the price, hell only took three days to get to my door in central Indiana from Canada :)

The seller will swap them all to 6700k bulls free if requested.
 
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