is 19 watts enough

[bettaboi]

i have a light that came with my tank and it has 19 watts is this enough for plant life or do i need some pc (i hope not they are expensive)

hope to hear some good news soon

 

[Nospherith]

Proven Performers... It says you can grow these plants in almost any condition. So, yeah that would be enough for the low light plants. Although, you may want to get one of those 6700K bulbs. One plant they don't mention are those aponogeton bulbs from PetCo. Those grew under 15watts in my 20. I hear you can also get them from Wal-Mart, but...

There's a bunch of online aquatic plant dealers too, if you can't find any of these at the LFS.

 

[guppygirl]

How big is your tank?

 

[bettaboi]

20 gal

 

[guppygirl]

Well, you could try growing low low light plants, but otherwise no, you need to upgrade.

 

[leafs]

I've been growing low light plants in my 29 gal with only 1 - 20 watt bulb. I have Amazon swords, Crypts, and Anubias nana's. All of them seem be growing fine, but very slow growth. The Amazon sword took a while to adjust, but it's doing good now. I really wanted to keep it simple and not get into the Co2 stuff, but I'm limited as to what I can grow.

 

[guppygirl]

Under 1 wpg is super low, crypts, java fern-moss and anubias are probably the only ones that will grow well in that kind of light.

 

[Silly me]

Under 1 wpg is super low, crypts, java fern-moss and anubias are probably the only ones that will grow well in that kind of light.

I would also recomend a upgrade in lights to have a healthy growth if any in a 20g tank.. 1wpg in a 55g is not the same with >20g tanks.. 19 -25 watts in not a lot of light not even for a 5g..

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Wouldn't 25 watts in a five be 5 watts a gallon?

 

[Silly me]

Wouldn't 25 watts in a five be 5 watts a gallon?

so?

 

[NinjaSmurf]

So, wouldn't that be enough? I mean, I've seen people suggesting low light plants for tanks with only 2 watts a gallon, I imagine five would be enough for most plants, would it not?

 

[ecto1]

You could add a second light strip over a glass canopy. That's what I did for my 75 gallon. Up until last week, I had 40 watts for 75 gallons - not nearly enough!

 

[guppygirl]

ninjasmurf, the smaller the tank, the more lighting it needs. 25 watts would do, but for amano's method, he reccomends 47 watts, giving you 9.4 wpg. However, you can light a five with 25 watts, it would just be low light.

 

[NinjaSmurf]

So the bigger the tank the less watts total? Then the total needed for a 55 would be what?

Sorry, watts give me a headache

 

[Silly me]

Over a 55g a 55W light would be low and 110W medium, and anything over that would be high.. personally I have a 55g with 292W might be bright but it grows anything I add to the tank.. From anubis and sword to flowering stem plants.

its almost if there is a minimum amount of watts to grow plants.. 40W.. IME 40w over a 10g or 40W over a 40g seems to grow the same plant equally well

ed. there is and always will be exceptions to the rule.