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CanadianWaters

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Would an Aqueon Floramax T8 Fluorescent Lamp rates at 25 W be sufficient light for a 45 gallon heavily planted tank? I am looking to get some of the higher light requirement plants.
Thanks for reading and hope you can help!
 
it may work for very low light plants. if your wanting to do high light, you will need better lights, fertilizers and co2
 
I do have both Co2 and fertilizers sorted out already. What lights would you recommend?
 
are you looking for leds or fluorescent? you could go with a 4 bulb 36 inch t5 fixture with 4 39 watt bulbs. otherwise if you are looking for leds send a pm to briannano12g or rivercats, they know a lot about planted tanks
 
Thanks for the replies! I don't know quite as much as I need to so ill probs be researching before I make a decision
 
Easy solution for you.. Go to petsmart.. get the 36 inch long T5 Normal output lamp they sell from aqueon.. It comes with 1 colormax bulb which is almost identicle to floramax in colorspectrum it has very high reds and blues (its a pink bulb) and a daylight bulb. which has Medium spread of blue green and red... Plants use red and blue.. so both bulbs will grow plants and the green spectrum makes the tank bright for your eyes..

I have 2 tanks using this light. my 30 long gallon and 55g... Its plenty of light... It isn't how much wattage you have its the color frequency. Hense why floramax bulbs are pink.. pink bulbs will grow plants better then white looking ones.. My 27G hex uses 3 T8 fixtures on a plexiglass hood I made.. I use 2 floramax and 1 full spectrum (white bulb) the full spectrum is simply so my tank wont look dim and pink lol it makes it bright white.

Here is my 30g using that 36 inch T5 Normal Output light I mentioned... This is an older pic my plants are much taller now and still holding their pink and red colors... and the 3rd pic if you is my 55g tank if you look on the left see how dim and pink it is ? That's what your tank will look like if you just use 1 floramax bulb.. Now remember our eyes cant see red very well so it doesn't matter to the plants how "Bright looking the tank is" but im just showing you what itll look like.. The 4th pic is after I got the T5 light it uses 1 pink and 1 white light.. I cant comment on how itll do in the long term on the 55g but its been like 1+ months now with my 30g and my plants are growing nicely and radiating colors..

img_2643076_0_105b7fb473b0fa01d2235ea53e330b2a.jpg



img_2643076_1_9d614e24b674060156ee7b032e84a17f.jpg




img_2643076_2_9352c1e447518775669d4890d7792264.jpg



img_2643076_3_49779d8fa990661b0cea8a831ad3f768.jpg
 
candymancan said:
Easy solution for you.. Go to petsmart.. get the 36 inch long T5 Normal output lamp they sell from aqueon.. It comes with 1 colormax bulb which is almost identicle to floramax in colorspectrum it has very high reds and blues (its a pink bulb) and a daylight bulb. which has Medium spread of blue green and red... Plants use red and blue.. so both bulbs will grow plants and the green spectrum makes the tank bright for your eyes..

I have 2 tanks using this light. my 30 long gallon and 55g... Its plenty of light... It isn't how much wattage you have its the color frequency.
Click to expand...

His tank is 24" tall. To get highlight, 1 t5no isn't going to cut it.
 
It isn't 1 T5.. it has 2 bulbs.. my hexagon is taller then tank (near 26 inchs) and its using 3 T8 bulbs that are only 14w... look at my tank and tell me it wont be enough.

img_2643082_0_458ce0b673a7c053de7e87f0638d6a76.jpg
 
candymancan said:
It isn't 1 T5.. it has 2 bulbs.. my hexagon is taller then tank (near 26 inchs) and its using 3 T8 bulbs that are only 14w... look at my tank and tell me it wont be enough.
Click to expand...

From what I can tell, he wants a high tech/ high light tank. And 2 t5no lights over a 24" tall tank. Aquatrader was selling a 4 bulb t5ho odyssea light for cheap (I think like 50 something).
 
Ah ok a super bright tank... Ok well I get it now.. I like fell in love with these aqueon t5 lights.. Its in stores.. bulbs are cheap and in stores.. don't have to find and order crap online.. and its been doing good in my tank.. All my plants are medium light plants though except maybe the red nesaea but those are doing great.. and to most people my lighting setup on my hex would be a low light setup... but I use 2 floramax and 1 full spectrum the so called wpg is only 1.6.. I think some people are outdated though on their lighting requirments stuck in the t12 lamp days and the days where you had no fancy bulbs putting out high spectrums of red and blues.

Why do you think some green houses are switching to all pink bulbs.. or why they use pink bulbs to grow weed... lol because plants go crazy over that color.

The light your talkin about is $100 not 50.. Good price still for 4 lights.. but meh I dunno 6500k lights still have greens and blues in them not that much red... hed have to buy 2 different bulbs.. But its up to him.. the one in pets mart compared to that is kinda pricey around $70 for a duel t5no vs $100 for a quad ho
 
They usually always come with bulbs..

And no he was talking about this lamp.. http://www.aquatraders.com/36-inch-4x39W-T5-Aquarium-Light-Fixture-p/52324p.htm That one you linked is $130 for only 2 duel HO lights. He was talking about this light. It comes with 4 6500K lights.. 6500k is "ok" for growing plants it has too much green spectrum in it though which makes the tank look really bright but plants don't use green... 6500k basically is a mix of all 3 color spectrums.. Blue green and red... This is probably a good light for you to buy because of its price and its got 4HO lamps on it.. But if it were me I would buy 2 pink bulbs to replace 2 of those 6500k bulbs.. that way you have 2 pink for plants and 2 6500k to make the tank bright.. Pink bulbs are usually in the 5,000k range... but remember the kelvin rating doesn't always show what the light puts out..




This is the lamp I was talking about.. I use 2 of them (one 36 inch on my 30 long gallon tank and a 48 inch on m 55g). Its a duel T5 lamp but normal output not high output.. Its $80 for a 36 inches.. so compared to that quad HO lamp up top for $100 its kinda overpriced but it comes with a pink and 6500k bulb so you don't have to buy new bulbs or pay for shipping so in the end its cheaper.. but its only a "medium" type of light not a high light like that Quad HO lamp

Freshwater Aquarium Lighting » Aqueon® Freshwater T5 Light Fixture | PetSmart



Am I confusing you on color spectrums ? Look at this box.. This is from my aqueon t5 box.. The spectrum graph on the left is the 6700k bulb.. Notice how it has high blue green and orange/red colors.. The green is what we as humans perceive as white visible light which makes the tanks really bright.. Blue and Red our eyes cant see very well but that is what plants use for photosynthesis.. The second light is a Colormax (technically color max is to make fish and plants pop out In colors) but its good for plants its very similer to a floramax as you can see it has really high blues , and really high reds range which is what plants use.. Hense why I said if you do get that Quad light in the first link.. it comes with 4 6500k bulbs.. but I would replace two of them with lamps similer in color spectrum to the colormax bulb... But you wont find those bulbs in stores HO bulbs you have to buy online..

In the end its up to you... I would probably buy the light sillyfishes is talking about.. the 4xT5 HO lamp for $100 plus $10-15 for shipping.. If I wanted a super high light tank like your after... But if I simply wanted a medium type of light that will grow almost anything Id save $50 and buy the duel lamp for $45 right here below .. Or just go to petsmart and get the duel normal output t5 for $70..

http://www.aquatraders.com/36-inch-2x39W-T5-Aquarium-Light-Fixture-p/52122p.htm

img_2643566_0_1ebc61059313155b4bafce6172ed1370.jpg
 
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