Planted Tank Lighting Questions - Aquaone Tank

[norclaj]

Hi,

I have an AquaOne AR980, which is currently in a misserable state.

Im looking to start from scratch an create a fairly heavy planted tank. Ive been doing some research and it seems that one of the things that you need to get right is the lighting.

My hood currently houses :
2 x 36" 30W
1 x 30" 25W
These are what were supplied with the tank when we purchased it.

The dimensions of the tank are as follows :

96cm (W) x 60cm (H) x 47cm (D)

Ive worked this out to be 59.55 UK Gallons (71.51 US)

My question is how much light will i need to make my tank a healthy planted tank ?

And also if i need more lighting is it possible to swap the current tubes with more powerful ones without making any modifications (as im no electrician)?

Thankyou for reading this post, and hopefully you'll be able to give some good advice.

Andy

 

[lljdma06]

Do the 2, 36" bulbs equal 30W or are they 30W a piece? It makes the figuring easier. What kind of bulbs are they? T8, T5, etc?

 

[norclaj]

Do the 2, 36" bulbs equal 30W or are they 30W a piece? It makes the figuring easier. What kind of bulbs are they? T8, T5, etc?

The bulbs are 30W each, but in terms of being T8 or T5 etc, im not sure. Ive had a look at the technical specs on AquaOnes website and it doesnt say what they are. Sorry...

 

[ShoC]

There is a thread that provides good information regarding NOT needing hight lighting to achieve a lovely tank..

shouldn't be to far down the list.

 

[lljdma06]

There is a thread that provides good information regarding NOT needing hight lighting to achieve a lovely tank..

shouldn't be to far down the list.

Yes, there is that thread, which is an excellent read, clearly emphasizing information that has been around for a while. In addition, take a look at the member's section and the journals, there is a lot of details on tank setups there. 30+30+25 gives you 85W, which over 71USg is about 1.2WPG roundabout. If you want a lower-light tank, personal experience tells me that the lighting amount you have is sufficient, especially for your size aquarium, to have a very nice planted tank. You can also have more light and get good results too, but you would need more things (CO2 injection, a fert regimen, etc). CO2 is also great to add to lower-light tanks as well. You may have more of a plant selection with a higher-light tank, though many plants grow under both conditions without shaking a leaf. If it were my first tank, I'd go lower maintenance first and then upgrade if I felt like it later. I've had both types and am not really swayed either way. But that's just me. It really depends on what you want. I really recommend reading and research.

How big are the bulbs? Are they like an inch across or like 1/2 inch? Can you determine the color temperature? It is usually a number in the thousands with a K tagged at the end. For example, I have 6700k bulbs and usually I can see this written on the bulb itself. Color temperature can influence how well plants grow. The type of bulb can do this as well. A T5 supposedly has more output than T8, and compact fluorescents tend to have more than both. WPG, though, as a guideline uses US gallons and the wattage of T8s. But don't kill yourself trying to figure it out. It's not really important that I know.

llj

 

[norclaj]

There is a thread that provides good information regarding NOT needing hight lighting to achieve a lovely tank..

shouldn't be to far down the list.

Yes, there is that thread, which is an excellent read, clearly emphasizing information that has been around for a while. In addition, take a look at the member's section and the journals, there is a lot of details on tank setups there. 30+30+25 gives you 85W, which over 71USg is about 1.2WPG roundabout. If you want a lower-light tank, personal experience tells me that the lighting amount you have is sufficient, especially for your size aquarium, to have a very nice planted tank. You can also have more light and get good results too, but you would need more things (CO2 injection, a fert regimen, etc). CO2 is also great to add to lower-light tanks as well. You may have more of a plant selection with a higher-light tank, though many plants grow under both conditions without shaking a leaf. If it were my first tank, I'd go lower maintenance first and then upgrade if I felt like it later. I've had both types and am not really swayed either way. But that's just me. It really depends on what you want. I really recommend reading and research.

How big are the bulbs? Are they like an inch across or like 1/2 inch? Can you determine the color temperature? It is usually a number in the thousands with a K tagged at the end. For example, I have 6700k bulbs and usually I can see this written on the bulb itself. Color temperature can influence how well plants grow. The type of bulb can do this as well. A T5 supposedly has more output than T8, and compact fluorescents tend to have more than both. WPG, though, as a guideline uses US gallons and the wattage of T8s. But don't kill yourself trying to figure it out. It's not really important that I know.

llj

The bulbs are like an inch across and it looks like the colour temp you refer to is 10.0K, and from what i can make out these are T8.

I think i need to do a little more research before i go diving in to this feet first, however you idea of going low maintenence first sounds like the best option..

cheers for the help..much appreciated.