Planted tank lighting

[Nikko7287]

Hello every one I'm new here so don't roast me ha. I have had a low tech planted 29 gallon tank before with little luck I have been researching for months on every thing it need. So I have finally saved up some money for a 75 gallon fresh water aquarium I'm building my stand and I'm going with just over 3" of eco-complete I was going to go with dirt for money reasons but heard its a pain and I'm getting 5# bottle of c02. I want to be able to grow any plant I want if that's possible. Everyone is saying go with t5ho light. Will a two bulb fixture be enough or do I need four and everyone is saying 6700k is a good light. I like the clean brightness if 10k but i don't if that's good for it. I bought a grow light in the past from zoo med and it made my tank super dark and u didn't like that any thing will help thanks

 

[BBradbury]

Hello Nik...

If you're going high tech, it would be worth your time to research Solarmax lighting. It carries a combination of the 6500 and 10,000K lamps. It gives the plants a good spectrum variety.

B

 

[Nikko7287]

Cool thank, so do you think the just 6700 or 6500 would be good for growing or

 

[BBradbury]

Hello again Nik...

Bulbs in the 65 to 6700K range come very close to natural daylight at 5500K. Check with a company named alphaprobreeders. Ron McGee is very knowledgeable when it comes to the subject of planted tank lighting. He's been very helpful to me when I was looking at lighting and plants for my 55 G tanks. Very similar length dimensions to your 75.

B

 

[Nikko7287]

Cool thanks

 

[jwh0818]

Hello again Nik...

Bulbs in the 65 to 6700K range come very close to natural daylight at 5500K. Check with a company named alphaprobreeders. Ron McGee is very knowledgeable when it comes to the subject of planted tank lighting. He's been very helpful to me when I was looking at lighting and plants for my 55 G tanks. Very similar length dimensions to your 75.

B

We can help here just as well. If your going high tech I would get a x4 bulb since this is a 75g were talking about. I would do x2 6500 bulbs x1 floramax bulb and x1 10k bulb. This will give you a very decent growth along with the co2. Are you gonna be dosing ferts?

 

[Rivercats]

I agree with the 4 bulb T5HO or if you want to go LED then Build my Led fixtures are great for planted tanks and you can get a dimmer for the fixture which allows you to run the lighting from 10 to 100%. I have 4 of these fixtures and get very good plant growth and color using them.

You also need to look into using dry ferts:

As for dry fert this $15 package is all you need and will last a couple years... http://greenleafaquariums.com/aquarium-fertilizers-supplements/micro-macro-fertilizers.html.



You need 3 dosing bottles found at the bottom of this page... http://greenleafaquariums.com/aquarium-fertilizer.html.



This is a good thread about dosing PPS-Pro. Only read the opening post not all the comments after it.... http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/pps-analysis-feedback/39491-newbie-guide-pps-pro.html.



There are two things I do different from the article. First I use 3 dosing bottles as I split the macro nutrients for better custom dosing to the needs of the tank. Nitrates in one bottle, phosphates and potassium in one bottle, and micro's in the 3rd bottle. The other thing you'll notice the recipe calls for using MgSO4, magnesium sulfate, which you don't need if you have hard tap water with a Gh and Kh of 4 or higher

 

[Nikko7287]

Cool thanks guys