My first plants... HELP!

[Angel.Zero]

I have read a bunch of stuff on this subject but I am still confused about something. watts per gallon, I have 2 15w flourecents. I am not sure if I am reading the watts correctly or not. but they are "aqua-glo" bulbs from petco that are 18,000K (whatever that means). they say they are ideal for planted aquariums but at 15 watts/ea. I can't see how? Maby someone could tell me if these are a good good starting point? I have a couple umbrella plants in the tank now (Plan to add plants slowly).

 

[Jam17]

lol you plants will be fine in that wot size tank is it ?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

How big is the tank? Divide the tank size by the total watts. Here's my setup.

260W CF / 75G = 3.46w/g. But because mine is CF, it's a little more than that. There is another thread in here where the old w/g rule is being worked on. But with regular florescents, your w/g will be 30W/xG.

You should be able to grow just about any low-light plants, like java moss, java fern, ect. Anything else will depend on your lighting.

 

[Angel.Zero]

sorry, I have a 55 gallon tank

 

[Lonewolfblue]

So, 30W/55G is less than 1w/g. Not much you can do there, other than maybe java moss, java ferns, maybe anubias. There's places you can get some better lighting at a decent price. I got mine on Ebay for 99.00. Also, if it's the same tank as mine, you would also want to get glass tops instead of the hood. I have the same tank, with the same lights, and even the small bit of java moss I have in it isn't doing so well. So I'm planning on an upgrade soon.

 

[travis simonson]

If they're actually 18,000K lights I would recommend replacing them with lower K rated lights. Lights rated between 5000 and 10000K work best for growing plants. K rating is merely an approximation of the appearance of a bulb's color to the human eye. Therefore a wide range of K temps will work for growing plants, but 18,000K is too far outside the good range to be very useful, IME. Does it have a strong blue color?

 

[Angel.Zero]

It seems to have a greyish color and it doesn't seem as bright as the "regular" bulbs. $99 isn't fesable at this time but I would like to upgrade at some point in the future. It is 1.893 watts per gallon or something like that.

 

[Jchillin]

I am familiar with those bulbs. I used to have them on my 75 gal. If I'm not mistaken, they do have 40w bulbs in that brand. I would suggest getting the 40w bulbs, which will give you 1.45wpg and see if that helps prior to going for a new light strip.

If these are not to your liking, and you have an All-Glass tank, you could look into the dual 110w Compact flourescent light strip (BigAls carries them, if I recall it was $89.00). That will put you at 2wpg.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

It seems to have a greyish color and it doesn't seem as bright as the "regular" bulbs. $99 isn't fesable at this time but I would like to upgrade at some point in the future. It is 1.893 watts per gallon or something like that.

Actually, if your 2 florescents are 15W each, that's less than 1w/g.

30/55= .545w/g

 

[Angel.Zero]

I prolly divided backwards

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I did that at first too.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

If I'm not mistaken, they do have 40w bulbs in that brand. I would suggest getting the 40w bulbs, which will give you 1.45wpg and see if that helps prior to going for a new light strip.

The 40w bulbs are 4' his are 15w so 18" each I think, if they are 2' then they would be 20watts..

If you really want to grow plants, then replacing those fixtures with ones with 2 bulbs each would work well..