Lighting Advice Please

[stormy78]

Hi, I have a Trigon 190 with the bulbs that ship with it, 2 x 24W T5 bulbs. I have about 13 plants in there including Jave Fern, Lilaeposis Carolinensis, Lilaeposis Brasiliensis, Anunbias Nana, Alternanthera Rosafolia, Vallisneria Spiralis and a plant I cant indentify.

Based on the WPG rule I believe I currently have 0.96 WPG. Should I add reflectors to the tank and take the WPG to approx 1.9, also I dont want to add a CO2 injestor just yet but does the WPG and amount of plants I have mean I need one? Thanks!

 

[Themuleous]

The WPG 'rule' assumes you have reflectors attached, so if you dont you are actually running at less than 0.96WPG, which isn't very much even if they are T5's. If you dont want to go high light, how about adding a third 24w T5 to take you to 1.5WPG, that would be about right for a low-ish light, non-CO2 tank and would increase the choice of plants you could grow quite a bit.

Sam

 

[stormy78]

The WPG 'rule' assumes you have reflectors attached, so if you dont you are actually running at less than 0.96WPG, which isn't very much even if they are T5's. If you dont want to go high light, how about adding a third 24w T5 to take you to 1.5WPG, that would be about right for a low-ish light, non-CO2 tank and would increase the choice of plants you could grow quite a bit.

Sam

Thanks for the reply Sam. Will the plants I have be ok in the current light conditions? I can not afford to add another light for a while!

 

[Themuleous]

The Java Fern, Anunbias Nana and Vallisneria Spiralis would be OK.

Its a bit iffy with the Alternanthera Rosafolia it isn't really a low light plant, but you might get lucky.

The Lilaeposis Carolinensis and Lilaeposis Brasiliensis wont do well at all. Both are high light plants really.

Sam

 

[stormy78]

Thanks for the advice. I will see how they get on and if it looks like they are dying I will get them out asap and replace them with something more suitable. Sam, or anybody else, is it wise to have something like Phyllanthus fluitans or Amazon Frogbit in the tank?