Lighting Help Please

[Lace]

I have been trying to understand the lighting aspects for a planted tank and feel very confused and brain dead now lol

I have a new tank which is 38" x 17" x 19, eventually I would like a nice planted tank - this won't be for a while but I would like to get the lighting sorted asap.

What sort of lighting would I be needing? some suggestions say wpg needs to be 2-3 others say wpg arn't really usable anymore So what would i need, T8 ? T5? how many watts? Do I need the two different types of tubes? I have been looking at the Hagen Glo T5 and T8 suggestions and help very welcome

Thanks

Lace

 

[haowin]

hiho, im not 100% but from what ive gathered on lighting, it basically depends on the type of plants you want to keep. differing from low to high. Low i thinks 1-2 wpg, med 2-3wpg, highs 3+wpg. Your tanks 53.15 us, 44.24 imperial gallons. So bascailly depending on the need of lighting from your plants you need to have the right wpg so if your plants only need low lighting you'd need 50-100w of lighting, medium lighting - 100-150w, high 150w+ of lighting. you can get cheap lamps from lampspecs.co.uk.
You'd need to look at adding co2 if you're giong to have a high amount of wpg. i'll let some1 else fill you in on that.
The T8 and T5, the T8's are older chunkier fluroscent lamps whilst the t5's are slimmer and produce a higher output. tbh i dont really think it matters that much. Generally i think people have a lamp specified to encourage plant growth and others just for lighting, so they have a balance. Just depends on the colour of lighting you wanna have
http/www.theplantedtank.co.uk/lighting.htm
Hope this helps a bit.

 

[mtv8dmarine]

Lighting does have a lot to do with plant choices. You will find most places online classify the type of lighting required by each plant. Low light plants that have too much light input into the tank will burn essentially (no not literally speaking). =P So, decide what types of plants are available for the lighting you have/want and then you can start planning. Higher lighting gives you more plant choices but also potentially increases algae problems whereas lower light will decrease the potential algae issues but also decreases your choices in plants.

I've read that the difference between T5 and T8 is the amount of light penetration to the bottom of the tank. T8's supposedly penetrate better although I can't backup the claim. I personally run a single T5 Glo bulb and my fixture has a light reflector so focus the light into the tank and help minimize light loss. It seems to do just fine giving me 1.1 watts per US gallon in a newly heavily planted tank (although my Vallis aren't blocking anything yet as they aren't tall enough to do so).

 

[Lace]

Thanks for the replys and links which I have read, unfortunately the more I read the more confused I get lol.

I think I will be aiming for a medium lighting for now. I will definately have a look at lampspecs later on.

 

[mtv8dmarine]

Well you know you can always ask and if someone is around that has an answer hopefully they'll be able to help you out.