Another T5 Lighting Question

[mitchfish]

I have a 26 gallon tank, and it is a little high, so it is only 24 inches long. So I am going to some sort of T5 HO lighting fixture that is 24 watts and 24 inches long. Is that too much light or just right to get moderate lighting?

What is the best fixture in your opinion? Preferabely around $100 or less lol

And to go with the fixture, what is your favorite bulb brand/combo?

And if I get flourish excel, do i need some CO2 system??

Thanks

 

[pleechford]

Well it depends on what you want the light for? Type of plants, etc. If you get a t5ho it will cause you to have a massive algae outbreak if you do not have a co2 system to coincide with each other. It is like an equation. All sides must be equal, you cannot have one side that weighs heavier than the other.

I use a current nova extreme t5ho x2 24" 24watt on my 25 gallon tall. I have a flora bulb and a 12000k bulb (which gives it a nice crisp white look.) Although it is pretty heavily planted and I have a pressurized co2 system. I love my fixture. Although I do not think I'm getting enough lighting for my glosso to grow properly. Might have to improv a little to correct that.





All the white dots are co2 bubbles. I'm trying an experiment to see if I get better growth with the bubbles circulating through the whole tank.

 

[mitchfish]

What do you use for your co2?

 

[pleechford]

I have a 5lb tank with a Milwaukee regulator on it. A standard glass diffuser and over that I have a power head that sucks up the bubbles and distributes them in the tank.

 

[mitchfish]

I think i will go the low tech natural way and get T5NO and no co2 or excel and let the plants grow slower. I have seen some great looking low tech tanks with no co2, and im almost broke anyways lol

 

[steg22]

mitch there is a great t5 over tank unit on ebay, they are haileas and from all pond solutions, not sure about shipping to the us but you may have a distributer there! cost me £70 for a 90 cm unit and is adjustable to a degree, also it is set above the tank to allow plants to grow out of the water. my plants seem to be doing really well and i have no co2 supplements or any feed, I'm mainly growing amazon swords

 

[mohican]

I'm with pleechford. I also use nova t5ho on my tank and love them. In my opinion, you'll regret not going ho route. I use flora max and just 6500k bulbs and my tank loved it.

 

[pleechford]

I'm with pleechford. I also use nova t5ho on my tank and love them. In my opinion, you'll regret not going ho route. I use flora max and just 6500k bulbs and my tank loved it.

Can you take a pic of your tank? I'm curious to see how the 6500k looks in comparison to my 12000k and flora max. I have a real crisp white effect but that 12000k does no good for my plants!!

 

[mitchfish]

mitch there is a great t5 over tank unit on ebay, they are haileas and from all pond solutions, not sure about shipping to the us but you may have a distributer there! cost me £70 for a 90 cm unit and is adjustable to a degree, also it is set above the tank to allow plants to grow out of the water. my plants seem to be doing really well and i have no co2 supplements or any feed, I'm mainly growing amazon swords

Do you have a link? I cant find anything Thanks for the suggestion btw

 

[mitchfish]

I'm with pleechford. I also use nova t5ho on my tank and love them. In my opinion, you'll regret not going ho route. I use flora max and just 6500k bulbs and my tank loved it.

Isnt that simply too much light for a non-co2 tank? The more i read up about these, the more i get convinced to go the low tech route. I dont find super high lighting very attractive anyway.

Now that I will have a planted tank pretty soon, does anybody know how much to water change for a non-co2 tank??? I have heard anywhere from nothing but top-offs to 50% water changes weekly. Thats the one thing Im still confused about.

 

[steg22]

Do you have a link? I cant find anything Thanks for the suggestion btw

here's the link mitch Aquarium Lighting | T5 Lighting - All Pond Solutions also I do 50% water change every other week and on the weeks in between i do a 30% one

 

[mitchfish]

Do you use a co2 system?

 

[steg22]

no i haven't needed one as of yet so i figured if i dont need one dont use one. my friend uses a standard co2 canister with a plastic fixture inside his tank and he gets on well with that so if i ever need one i'll probably go down that route to begin with, i believe adding co2 can effect ph levels though and also my tank is well stocked so i wouldn't want to add too much extra co2