Lighting?

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ry4n7

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
May 3, 2020
Messages
18
I have some low light plants that are supposed to do ok without co2 in my aquarium, not sure of the names of them all but 1 of the stem plants grows really quickly and shoots runners everywhere..the problem is its not bushy and very spaced out.

I guess it's maybe a lighting issue not getting enough down to the bottom of the tank? If I replace bulbs am I better with tube or led lighting?

I have a juwel rio 240.
 
Although your plants are low light requiring, they will obviously do better under a better light. There are many factors to consider.

Light strength is measured in lumens. Around 10 lumens per litre is good for low light requiring plants.

Then there is the colour spectrum of the light. Generally plants use only blue and red light. They dont need green and reflect this light away. Thats why leafs look green. Blue light promotes compact bushy growth, thickening of leaves etc and red light promotes long growth and spreading. If you arent getting bushy growth your light is probably missing the blue spectrum.

The kelvin rating is a measure of how the light will look to your eyes, and isn't really "too" important to plant growth. Around 6500k will be a natural looking light to your eyes and will likely contain a good colour spectrum for growing plants.

I think the type of fixture is secondary to getting the right output. Although LEDs are more energy efficient.

So in summery, look for an output of around 10 lumens per litre. If you want a nice natural looking light look for something around 6500k. And try and get the colour spectrum graph for the lamp and you are looking for high outputs at the red and blue ends of the spectrum. Honestly, most off the shelf lights will meet these requirements.
 
Although your plants are low light requiring, they will obviously do better under a better light. There are many factors to consider.

Light strength is measured in lumens. Around 10 lumens per litre is good for low light requiring plants.

Then there is the colour spectrum of the light. Generally plants use only blue and red light. They dont need green and reflect this light away. Thats why leafs look green. Blue light promotes compact bushy growth, thickening of leaves etc and red light promotes long growth and spreading. If you arent getting bushy growth your light is probably missing the blue spectrum.

The kelvin rating is a measure of how the light will look to your eyes, and isn't really "too" important to plant growth. Around 6500k will be a natural looking light to your eyes and will likely contain a good colour spectrum for growing plants.

I think the type of fixture is secondary to getting the right output. Although LEDs are more energy efficient.

So in summery, look for an output of around 10 lumens per litre. If you want a nice natural looking light look for something around 6500k. And try and get the colour spectrum graph for the lamp and you are looking for high outputs at the red and blue ends of the spectrum. Honestly, most off the shelf lights will meet these requirements.
Thank you for the info, I bought the tank second hand about a year ago and the guy had led bulbs with a seperate plug to the light unit taped into position in the light unit.(I think it's the tube light unit but not sure)

So the bulbs are at least 1 year old and I assume he had them for a decent while before that so they may need replaced anyway.

Could you possibly link me to some lights that might work OK for me?

I tried to take the unit over to the shop to see if it was a modified tube unit or led unit with something broken hence the tape as I don't want to start pulling things apart incase they break and leave me with no light. But the shop was shut because of the virus.
 
Are you wanting to replace the bulbs or buy a whole new light fitting? If you are looking for a new light fitting I like fluval aquasky, they work good on a low tech planted tanks and i like the controlability with the bluetooth connection and phone app. I dont know the size of your tank but they come in various sizes and can fit tanks between 610mm and 1530mm.

https://fluvalaquatics.com/ca/aquasky/
 
Are you wanting to replace the bulbs or buy a whole new light fitting? If you are looking for a new light fitting I like fluval aquasky, they work good on a low tech planted tanks and i like the controlability with the bluetooth connection and phone app. I dont know the size of your tank but they come in various sizes and can fit tanks between 610mm and 1530mm.

https://fluvalaquatics.com/ca/aquasky/
I have the 3 piece lid on my tank, if I was to need a new unit I guess this is what I should be looking at? Comes with 1 day & 1 nature bulb

https://urmstonaquatics.com/juwel-multilux-led-120cm-light-unit-vision-260-rio-240-300.html
 
Are you wanting to replace the bulbs or buy a whole new light fitting? If you are looking for a new light fitting I like fluval aquasky, they work good on a low tech planted tanks and i like the controlability with the bluetooth connection and phone app. I dont know the size of your tank but they come in various sizes and can fit tanks between 610mm and 1530mm.

https://fluvalaquatics.com/ca/aquasky/
My tank has a 3 piece lid with the middle being the light unit. If I was replacing the whole unit would this work?

https://urmstonaquatics.com/juwel-multilux-led-120cm-light-unit-vision-260-rio-240-300.html

It comes with 1 day and 1 nature bulb but I don't know if they would be good for what I'm needing.
 
I think that would be a good light fitting for a low tech planted set up. The specs doesnt give lumens output, but i would trust Juwel to size the fittings appropriately. The colour spectrum doesnt include much red, but you arent doing anything light demanding and blue is the more important end of the spectrum. Looking at comments on other forums on this fitting, an upgrade on the lamps is needed if you want to go for more light demanding plants.

I cant see any control built in, so its basically on or off. I presume you put a timer on the socket or have to manually turn it on and off.

Advantage over the fittings i use is that when the lamp goes you can get a new lamp, whereas i have to replace the whole fitting.
 
I think that would be a good light fitting for a low tech planted set up. The specs doesnt give lumens output, but i would trust Juwel to size the fittings appropriately. The colour spectrum doesnt include much red, but you arent doing anything light demanding and blue is the more important end of the spectrum. Looking at comments on other forums on this fitting, an upgrade on the lamps is needed if you want to go for more light demanding plants.

I cant see any control built in, so its basically on or off. I presume you put a timer on the socket or have to manually turn it on and off.

Advantage over the fittings i use is that when the lamp goes you can get a new lamp, whereas i have to replace the whole fitting.
I've done some looking and it looks like I have the t5 unit, so I'll try find out today if it's faulty and needs replaced. If not I might just get the tube lighting. I've attached the specs for the tube lights Collage%202020-05-04%2011_19_37.jpg
 
I think that would be a good light fitting for a low tech planted set up. The specs doesnt give lumens output, but i would trust Juwel to size the fittings appropriately. The colour spectrum doesnt include much red, but you arent doing anything light demanding and blue is the more important end of the spectrum. Looking at comments on other forums on this fitting, an upgrade on the lamps is needed if you want to go for more light demanding plants.

I cant see any control built in, so its basically on or off. I presume you put a timer on the socket or have to manually turn it on and off.

Advantage over the fittings i use is that when the lamp goes you can get a new lamp, whereas i have to replace the whole fitting.
I just ordered the multilux led unit with day & nature bulbs as I think my t5 unit is faulty and don't want to spend £50 on tube lights incase its no use. So hopefully that will be OK for all I need. I have my lights on a timer. Thanks so much for your help. Really appreciate it
 
The colour spectrum on the specs you attached are different to what i found when i looked then up. They look spot on when used together. Hope everything works out for you.
 
The colour spectrum on the specs you attached are different to what i found when i looked then up. They look spot on when used together. Hope everything works out for you.
Sorry the attachments were for the t5 hi lite tubes. These are the specs for the unit I bought in the end. Collage%202020-05-04%2022_21_00.jpg
 
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