Is My Lighting Ok?

[Fats]

Hi i was wondering if my lighting would be ok for a planted aquarium or if id need to upgrade it?

I have a 165L AR850 it has 3 T8 tubes which are - 2 x 25w 8000k super bright tubes and 1 x 20w 15000k tri-colour tube all 3 are made by Atman.

All info appreciated.

Thanks
Ian

 

[three-fingers]

Sounds fine, as long as you like the colours of those lights (a little too blue on their own for my taste).

Easy-low-medium light plants should be no problem .

More important than upgrading the lighting would be getting decent water circulation, using some decent fertilisers (like TPN+) and adding CO2 (or at least minimising its loss).

 

[Fats]

Sounds fine, as long as you like the colours of those lights (a little too blue on their own for my taste).


Easy-low-medium light plants should be no problem .

More important than upgrading the lighting would be getting decent water circulation, using some decent fertilisers (like TPN+) and adding CO2 (or at least minimising its loss).

What do you mean by blue? what would you recommend?

They were what was put in by the manufacturer,the tri-colour tube is pink'ish is this just to highlight the colours of certain fish?


I have been dosing with easylife profito for the last week or so,not decided on the CO2 yet,cant really afford pressurized(so the wife says)..lol.

Thanks
Ian

 

[three-fingers]

The higher the K-rating, the more blue the light will appear to our eyes. If the tube marked 15000K is pinkish, it's not really 15000K. See here: http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_temperature A pinkish tube should balance out the two 8000K tubes quite nicely so I would leave it as it is now .

The pinkish tubes are usually marketed as "plant growth enhancing tropical sunlight" bulbs or similar. It's not too important to worry about the colour of the bulbs for the plants (they are adaptable), just make sure you have enough light.

ProFito seems pretty good, though it contains no nitrogen or phosphorous from what I can see, so you should either stock this tank very heavily with fish and feed lots (the elements will then come from the fish waste) or add in the nitrogen and phosphorous yourself. This can be as easy as switching fertilisers to Tropica Plant Nutrition + (which contains everything) or sticking with ProFito and adding potassium nitrate as well as monopotassium phosphate.

The cheapest way to do it is to make your own fertiliser. See here: [URL="http/www.ukaps.org/EI.htm"]http/www.ukaps.org/EI.htm[/URL]

CO2 wont be needed if you chose the right plants . I would focus on getting circulation in the tank right, to avoid dead spots that can trigger algae. A general rule being used is to have a water turnover in your tank of 10x per hour.

If your filter doesnt accomplish this (supplied filters rarely do) then the addition of a powerhead or better yet, a decent circulation pump (like one of these: [URL="http/www.warehouse-aquatics.co.uk/marine...lph-p-2599.html"]http/www.warehouse-aquatics.co.uk/marine...lph-p-2599.html[/URL] ) would do fantastically.