New light / plants questions

[pistolero]

So I'm setting up a 55 and it's still cycling. I only had the regular generic T12 bulbs that come with the hood. Yesterday was at Petsmart and picked this light up:
LED Aquarium Light
and plan to get another one next payday. It's suppose to be 310 lumens @ 6000k. It sits right on the glass top.
Also found a lfs that had java moss. I picked up some java moss, duckweed and crystalwort. They had the crystalwort listed as "any" light, but when I got home and looked it up on the internet everything I found says it needs high light and preferably co2, so that was probably a waste. I like the way it looks, though.
So with 2 of the Marineland lights above what kind of plants could I grow? I'm thinking I could also put in one retro 54 watt t5ho strip @ 10K with a reflector if I had to. Take out the t12s and there would be plenty of room to fix that to the canopy. With the strip light would that put me around or over 2 "watts per gallon"?

 

[jeffp]

I'm fairly new to planted aquariums, but I know for sure those 2 LED strips will probably barely let you grow even low light plants. Definitely add the t5 strip, and that will put you into low/medium light

 

[jetajockey]

this link will help you with t5ho and the rest of the flourescent lights.
PAR vs Distance, T5, T12, PC - Updated Again Charts
As far as LED's go, I don't know other than I've heard that those marineland fixtures really aren't that good, but I have not tried them.

 

[pistolero]

Thanks!
fifteen characters......

 

[BBradbury]

Plants and Lighting

Hello pistol...

Two watts of light per gallon of tank size is good for growing most aquatic plants. I have much less light in my 55 Gs and have at least a dozen different plants I can grow. That's more than enough to cover the bottom and top of a 55.

I prefer growing plants in pots with a combo of pea gravel substrate and a good organic potting mixture. The mixture nourishes the plants from the start and helps them through the time it takes the plant to get used to your specific tank conditions. I find if I use the potting mixture, the plants don't die back at all and no dead plant material in the tank means there's none to clean out of the filters.

I have several, large planted tanks, so CO2 is really out of my price range. With the lighting you have and if you dose a good fert regularly, you should be fine without it.

Have fun with your new tank!

B

 

[Coursair]

There are a lot of low light plants. My newest tank, only a 10g is sand over Osmocote + capsules. My fixture is the Archaea 45cm LED. It's a new tank, so have to see how it does over time. So far, plants alive and growing. Dose liquid ferts 1x weekly.



View attachment 51533

 

[pistolero]

How about two of these babies?
85-Watt Replacement Bulb-9385B at The Home Depot

That would be right at 3 watts per gallon.

 

[Coursair]

How about two of these babies?
85-Watt Replacement Bulb-9385B at The Home Depot

That would be right at 3 watts per gallon.

The Kelvin looks perfect. As far as WPG it partly also depends on how tall the tank is. Our club uses a PAR meter to get a truer idea of how much light tanks are really getting. If you go high light , you'll need to add CO2 and Ferts or you'll just grow an Algae farm. 3 watts should be fine