Light Advice

[Clarousel]

Hi all!

So I've been wanting to get some sort of lighting for my tank so I can have more variety of plants. My tank is 5 gallons, currently on my desk under a window that doesn't receive much sunlight. I know people always relate tank + window = excessive light but not in my case.

It isn't bright enough for elodea to grow but some algae does grow 1cm above the gravel at the front of the tank. I'm wondering what wattage I should go for. I was thinking of a 5W light but would it be too much if there's already some daylight?

 

[minnnt]

Are you dosing any fertilisers at all? You may find that if you start dosing fertilisers then the algae goes away. Especially if you chose fast growing stem plants like Hygrophila, Cabomba, Limnophila, Elodea etc.

5w would be a good choice, but if wanting to go a little more high tech and start dosing liquid carbon then maybe you should look into something more around 9w? The more light the more your plants can utilise the carbon. If you do decide to go with liquid carbon, then you will need to dose a more complete fertiliser that includes micro and macro nutrients and trace elements.

 

[Clarousel]

No I don't dose ferts, I'm going for a low-tech tank. Right now I've got java ferns and a stem plant which I'm not sure what it is (I put it at the front of the tank so it gets the daylight).

I'll most probably go with a 5W light. I wouldn't need to dose ferts, would I?

 

[minnnt]

You wouldn't need to no, but it would probably help with the algae. More plants would also help too.

 

[Clarousel]

Alright, thanks! Can't wait to get my light

 

[minnnt]

LOL!