30g hex lighting

[nevermore52]

I've been having problems finding adequate lighting for a 30g hex. As I was looking on hellolights.com I came across this...

20" 1x96W Coralife FRESHWATER Aqualight CF hood w/ Quad 6,700K -Square Pin - 53111

Would this type of lighting work for a planted tank? Thanks.

 

[Dano01]

The wattage of the bulb is good (3.2 watts per gal)......the K value could be higher, but it will work.

 

[nevermore52]

I was also looking at their 96W Quad "50/50" 10,000K/Actinic 03 bulb ( http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdI D=427 ) which I used to use on my nano reef. The K value is obviously higher on this bulb but im not sure how it compares to the one posted previously for plant growth. Any advice would be appreciated



http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdI D=427

 

[fort384]

Actinic is next to worthless for FW planted tanks. 6700K is great for planted tanks. You may want to see if you can find a 50/50 bulb that has 10,000K and 6700K, just because the light may look a little better over the tank, but that bulb will provide light in the proper spectrum for your plants.

 

[nevermore52]

Yea, I thought the actinic was worthless but I wasn't sure. Unfortunetly, I dont think Coralife makes a bulb that is 50/50 10k/6.7k that fits in the aqualight hoods. Im not looking to make a huge investment in new lighting since I already own the aqualight hood from my previous tank.

 

[fort384]

Go with the 6,700K bulb then... it will be great for plant growth. Just be advised, with that much light over the tank, you will need to consider adding CO2 and fertilizer. Without it, your plants may not do so well, and you will be inviting a lot of algae... high light and no nutrients (or an imbalance of nutrients) for plants is a great environment for algae.

Just thinking outloud here, but if you wanted to stay low tech (no co2 or fert) you could probably go with the 50/50 10,000K/actinic. It would provide close to 2 WPG in the useable range for your plants, and the actinic will make your fish look sweet (even though your plants would not be able to utilize it). Something to consider, and I would get a second opinion if I were you...

 

[Peyton]

What kind of light does the tank have already? I have a 30g hex that came with a 15w NO bulb but the fixture was made to have two. I just installed a new ballast and another bulb. Ended up with 30w total (1wpg). Plants include african fern, java and windelov fern, anbias nana, and red crypt wendetii. It's not without issues but it is fairly low maintenance.

 

[nevermore52]

The light that came with the tank is just one 17w bulb. There is no spot for a second bulb. I like the idea about the 50/50 10k/actinic...makes the tank look awesome and I definetly dont want a high maintenance tank....has anybody tried a light like this for live plants?

 

[czcz]

Peyton, if your African Fern is Bolbitis heudelotii (I am pretty sure it is), in case you don't know you can attach those rhizomes to mesh on the sides or filter pipes or something and get a nice canopy going. I think such a layout would be a great column/hex tank. Great tank already!

 

[Peyton]

Peyton, if your African Fern is Bolbitis heudelotii (I am pretty sure it is), in case you don't know you can attach those rhizomes to mesh on the sides or filter pipes or something and get a nice canopy going. I think such a layout would be a great column/hex tank. Great tank already!

Thanks for the tip! That plant was taken from a basketball size plant from one of my other tanks last summer. It was just 2 or 3 shoots on a 4" or so rhizome. Quite frankly I didn't expect it to survive in low-light. It did take a while to adjust but it has taken off the last few months and now runs along most of the background.

 

[joy13]

What I did was cut the back of my tank lid off and put a piece of plexi over the bigger opening and put another 10 gallon light over so I actually have 2 lights on the top.