Stocking 20 gal long

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If I wanted a heavily planted tank with low light plants would I need a stronger light? Or does lighting just depend on what type of light the plants need and not how many there are in the tank? Also I have a saltwater setup with a 4 bulb t5 with actinic and 10000k will those work for plants or what K would be good for the plants?

10k would be fine with FW plants, but 6700k would be a lot better, do not use actnic, it will have no benefits

all plants have different ranges of lighting requirements, if you want a heavily planted low tech tank, than just buy a T5NO, but you are limited only to anubias, crypts, moss and ferns mostly, but if you get a high output fixture, you can literally grow any plant depending how much wattage you get

the amount of plants does not matter of the wattage, the amount of fish should really depend on how many plants you get and vice versa, if you have one more than the other you will get a algae bloom if you dont dose CO2, for example, if you have more fish than plants and you overfeed, you will get a nice algae bloom, as well as having too many plants to fish, you will get some type of other algae when you have low nitrates, both would need dosing of flourish excel or getting a CO2 system, but if you have low tech tank and balance out both plants to fish or fish to plants, you will have a nice balanced system within your tank thus having no need for a CO2 system or any dosing of nutrients... hope this makes sense, this only works for small tanks low tech tanks in my experience with a 10g and 20long, going to try a 30g breeder next month and see what i come up with
 
Okay thanks for all the help. Would you say just a one bulb t5 fixture or two bulb. And I've heard that 6700k isn't very appealing to the eye, if this is true would something something like 8000k look better and help the plants more than a 10000k? And I'm not trying to do anything fancy, just a heavy planted low tech tank.
 
Blacksteel said:
Okay thanks for all the help. Would you say just a one bulb t5 fixture or two bulb. And I've heard that 6700k isn't very appealing to the eye, if this is true would something something like 8000k look better and help the plants more than a 10000k? And I'm not trying to do anything fancy, just a heavy planted low tech tank.

either buy a T5NO and run two bulbs or buy a T5HO and use one bulb, and if you ever plan on getting higher lighting plants, you will already have a second bulb ready

6700k is suppose to replicate the sun, their are some other things that make 6700k better, but I dont know them exactly
 
Yeah a t5ho sounds better for the future. Also what kind of filters are recommended for planted tanks? HOB With activated carbon? Or canister?
 
Okay thanks for all the help. Would you say just a one bulb t5 fixture or two bulb. And I've heard that 6700k isn't very appealing to the eye, if this is true would something something like 8000k look better and help the plants more than a 10000k? And I'm not trying to do anything fancy, just a heavy planted low tech tank.

Just checking...in a T5H0 fixture, you have to run two bulbs at the same time...you cannot run just one bulb, right?
 
Aspencer said:
Just checking...in a T5H0 fixture, you have to run two bulbs at the same time...you cannot run just one bulb, right?

No you can run 1 or 2 or 3 is up to you.... Depending on the type of fixture
 
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