Advice for a newbie please

[IanT76]

Hi all,

Second post on here, and really starting to feel the aquarium love now, but getting a little confuddled over lighting equations & needs.

I have a Juwel Lido 120 tank (32g/120l) with surface area 60cm/40cm (50cm height). I've got 2 x Juwel Hi-light 'Nature' T5's, fitted with reflectors on both. They're rated at 24w/4100 kelvin each but the manufacturer states they put out "150% light" (???). My limited maths makes this a calculation of 1.5w/g (basic wattage) or 2.25w/g (based on the "150%" claim).

So, I now have these questions;
1) Are there any defining limits for what makes a low/low-medium/medium etc. tank? Is this dictated by light capacity or plant needs?

2) Working on the 1.5w/g level, would my tank be considered "low light"? And what about on the mysterious "150%" level of 2.25w/g?

2) The tank came with a Nature & Day lamp - my LFS recommended I go with a 2x Nature set-up. Post-purchase, I now see several sites/users recommending the stock Day/Nature arrangement. Does anyone have any experience with these lamps? And will switching back to the Day/Nature combo affect my w/g calculation?

All help appreciated in advance.

 

[jetajockey]

Hi, welcome to the forum. One of the best writeups I've seen on lighting can be found at this link. Lighting an Aquarium with PAR instead of Watts

What is the difference between the "nature" and "day" lamps exactly? I've not heard of this setup before, probably because it seems like the juwel setups are primarily overseas from here.

 

[IanT76]

Wow - that's a pretty intense article. Feel like I should have gone into that with a calculator & exam book...

Problem I have here is, I live in Dubai. Most people think that's in the Middle East, whereas it's much more like Middle Earth. Getting any kind of specialist equipment like a PAR meter will be impossible. I had to hit both ACE's and an independent hardware store just to get a plug-in timer for my lights....I asked for some ammonia as well and may have been better off asking for cheese from the moon.

Juwel are a German brand and very popular in Europe; I guess they're sold here because it's closer/easier/cheaper to import. JBL (another German brand) are predominant in the pet stores here as well. I just found the 150% claim a little confusing; is the output 24w or 24w x 1.5? If it's the latter, why not just call it 36w on the box and save the funky advertising sticker??? Weird.

I guess I'm going to have to wing it to some degree - I was smart enough to choose low/low-medium light plants and I got some ADA Power Sand & Aquasoil, so with my OK-ish lamps, reflectors and soon-to-be-installed CO2 injector, they should thrive. After a week, they're all looking OK so far, so I'm taking a lack of death as a positive sign! Lol. Perhaps I'm suffering from new-baby syndrome and just freaking out about nothing at all.

 

[jetajockey]

Sounds like a good plan. Lack of dying plants or algae issues is a good sign that you are doing well so far.

 

[IanT76]

Thanks mate. Of course, this could all be redundant; see my other post on a potential leech infestation