Reef lighting for FW?

[Reanea03]

I'm looking to break down my standard 90 gal, that use to be a reef tank (sump, skimmer, herbie overflow, etc) and is currently a fowr tank. My question is if my lighting will work for FW. I have two kessil 360w the lowest they can be set is 10k, I know ideal lighting for FW is 7-9k. I don't want many plants but a few would be nice to add dimension (if this is possible what plants do you recommend?). What have you guys seen or experienced? Is there anything else I need to take into account? Thanks in advance!!!


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[icydeath]

It would work. If not, just add a supplementary light.

That is the ideal range, but a few plants would do alright in almost any lighting. To name some Java Fern and most Anubias would work.

 

[Mebbid]

I'm not sure how dimmable they are, but unless you can get the light level fairly low on them you're looking at serious algae issues with that much light.

You would be looking at around 20par at substrate for low light. 40 - 60 ish for medium light and around 100 for high light.

The higher the light, the more fertilizers and carbon source you're gonna need.

 

[icydeath]

Something you can do would be to get acrylic or binder dividers, mist them with spray paint and use it to dim your lights.

 

[ScaryFatKidGT]

It will work fine, color temp has nothing to do with it, you will just have extra blue light and be lacking in far red but plants will grow fine.

 

[icydeath]

It will work fine, color temp has nothing to do with it, you will just have extra blue light and be lacking in far red but plants will grow fine.

Color temp does play a factor and their plants WILL grow fine, but you miss what Mebbid is saying.

Mebbid is speaking to the intensity of the light, not the color. At that intensity the plants will need extra ferts and co2 to properly complete the Calvin cycle.

 

[Reanea03]

So with these lights im getting 80-100 par on my current substrate which is about 29" from my light. So I could do hight light plants, but will out of control algae be a big problem?


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[Mebbid]

So with these lights im getting 80-100 par on my current substrate which is about 29" from my light. So I could do hight light plants, but will out of control algae be a big problem?


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It will be, unless you fertilize and add carbon properly. A pressurized CO2 system would be most recommended at that light level however you will run into problems with keeping the CO2 level high enough when using a sump. High amounts of glutaraldehye (up to 1ml per 2 gallons of tank volume daily) can be used to keep the algae at bay in that powerful of light.

I would go with either Estimative Index ferts or PPS Pro you can get them as packs from Aquarium Plant Fertilizer | Green Leaf Aquariums

An added side note, low light plants do just fine in high light. Within reason plants don't have a maximum light level, just a minimum one.