Saltair
Aquarium Advice Freak
Can somebody with some experience with lighting tell me if I am on the right track here? I have been looking into the WPG rule with the understanding that it is an outdated rule of thumb. Of course as out dated as it may be all the plants marketed refer to high, medium, and low light plants. Many will also give you the required WPG for specific plants, so having some idea of the concept and how newer technology has affected it seems important. I had determined that the rule seemed to be developed around the old T12 bulbs in your traditional size/shaped aquariums. Is that generally a correct statement? In looking on here I found the sticky above that speaks to updating the WPG rule and I found a spreadsheet that seems to back up this conclusion and provides a mechanism to converting your modern fluorescents to the old rule, and provides the lamp output in Lumens. Is this formula useful? For example it seems to indicate that my 30gal with a 20W T8 is closer to an equivalent 1 WPG than the .67 WPG they math would first indicate. Is this about right?
Why am I asking? I just purchased a starter plant set and was told they would all do fine in my aquarium. When they arrived I noted red leaves on a couple plants, they turned out to be some sort of Ludwiga, and what I can find about them indicates they are more of a moderate light plant.I had something similar before that did ok for awhile then shed all its leaves and died. I DO NOT want to get high tech. I don’t mind learning about simple ferts, but I have no interest in the money or maintenance of CO2. I wanted a simple, pretty, planted tank. I was thinking that if I made a small investment in lighting I may be able to get away with these plants. If the spreadsheet is to be believed 24W of T5 would get me to about an equivalent 1.5WPG. I found the Solar Max HE which offers two 14W T5 bulbs, and it is a little larger than the opening for light in my hood. I was thinking this light may boost my lighting some for little money without getting into so much light that I would end up with an Algae takeover or the need for CO2 Injection. Thoughts?
Why am I asking? I just purchased a starter plant set and was told they would all do fine in my aquarium. When they arrived I noted red leaves on a couple plants, they turned out to be some sort of Ludwiga, and what I can find about them indicates they are more of a moderate light plant.I had something similar before that did ok for awhile then shed all its leaves and died. I DO NOT want to get high tech. I don’t mind learning about simple ferts, but I have no interest in the money or maintenance of CO2. I wanted a simple, pretty, planted tank. I was thinking that if I made a small investment in lighting I may be able to get away with these plants. If the spreadsheet is to be believed 24W of T5 would get me to about an equivalent 1.5WPG. I found the Solar Max HE which offers two 14W T5 bulbs, and it is a little larger than the opening for light in my hood. I was thinking this light may boost my lighting some for little money without getting into so much light that I would end up with an Algae takeover or the need for CO2 Injection. Thoughts?
