got my plant light finally

[smooth_cannibal]

went to a hydroponics store here in Denver yesterday and picked up a new light to use for my planted 55g I am starting.

it is a 4ft hydrofarm single tube t5ho light with a reflector I bought separately for a total of 48 bucks with tax. saved me some money not having to ship a fixture and i'd rather give my money to a small local business any day of the week. it came with a 6400k bulb as well. from what I gathered this puts me in around med light with it sitting directly on the glass top.

this thing is really bright and awesome compared to the stock lighting that was with the tank to begin with. I like it a lot. light travels out into the hallway the tank is next to. light should be great for some plants. I just have some hornwort in it since I haven't been able to move the goldfish out yet.

when I can afford to do the substrate I am going to start a build thread but that's a month out at least still. i'm before finally starting on soaking some of the wood I have collected.

 

[Hawkins409]

Cool! Congratulations. Having better lighting like you have changes everything!

 

[smooth_cannibal]

yeah time will tell how well it will work for me but I think it should suffice. now just the waiting game until I can finally do the rescape

 

[Rivercats]

I run a dual T5HO fixture on one of my 55g tanks and with Giesemann bulbs I get a good solid medium light which grows about everything except higher light carpeting plants. I also get good color on my non-green plants. A single T5HO would put you at the lower end of medium light IMO. There are some links in old threads giving Par levels for T5HO's at various depths.

 

[smooth_cannibal]

rivercats - i did see those charts which is how i came to the conclusion that a single tube setup is where i want to be for now. the light i got is daisy chainable and the reflector is modular so i can add more strips as i need them (up to 5).

i'm trying to not get too far ahead of myself starting on a much bigger tank. want to start off with the easy stuff like on my 10g. the 10g so far is going okay but i am still battling some algae. not really much on the plants but the glass still needs cleaning. i'm pretty new to plants still and wouldn't really say i know what i am doing yet.