Lighting

[DaveW]

I'll thinking about upgrade my lighting and have a couple of question I need answering, please.

1. Is more always better? As in, better to have 3.3 WPG then 2.2 WPG.

2. My hood is 31 inches, the current lighting is 2X 24 inch tubes set in the middle ( pic A ). If i get 2X 18 inch tubes and place them in the middle ( pic B ), will this be OK or do I need longer tubes.

I was thinking of getting Interpet T5 compact lighting. Option 1 is to get a pair of 55 watt tubes ( the same as pic A ), and option 2 is to get a pair of 36 watt tubes ( the same as pic B ).

Would appreciate any help.


EDIT

PS: My tank is 33 US gallon and 18 inches tall

 

[pseud]

1. Is more always better? As in, better to have 3.3 WPG then 2.2 WPG.

2. My hood is 31 inches, the current lighting is 2X 24 inch tubes set in the middle ( pic A ). If i get 2X 18 inch tubes and place them in the middle ( pic B ), will this be OK or do I need longer tubes.

1. Depends on what plants you want to grow. You can grow a nice amount of plants with about 2 wpg, with 3 you increase your ability to grow the more high light requiring plants, and more red plants.

2. I'd go with longer tubes. 18" is less than 2/3 of the length of your tank.

 

[George Farmer]

As pseud says, depends on what you wish to grow in your tank. You could grow pretty much anything with over 3 WPG but dosing CO2 and other nutrients becomes more complex i.e. less room for error.

I have a 33 Gallon, with 4 x 18W tubes, giving only 2.2 WPG. I still have success with most plants, even Glossostigma elatinoides.

Light is very important but it's equally important to balance it with the necessary components i.e. CO2 and other nutrients.

 

[hunterm8]

If you have interpet 55w you may have to add some fans they kick out a lot of heat!

 

[DaveW]

Cheers, I think I'll go for the 2 WPG. I don't want to grow many different plants than I have now. I just want them to grow well with a little pearling .

Do you think I could get away with set up B? The hood does not have much room to fit another two tubes(it's a Fluval duo deep tank). The ballest Is built into the middle of the hood so I was going to remove the fitted one and replace with the interpet one.

 

[DaveW]

I've been thinking, would the following set up work?

The two tubes would be the Interpet 36 watt ones I was thinking of getting. And of course reflectors.

The other option would to be to make another hood?

I've install a 2 litre bottle and increased the mix for the co2, but without more light, it's not going to make much difference.

 

[zig]

What are the dimensions of this hood? I dont think the lighting arrangement you are thinking of right now will work very well unless the width of the hood from front to back is quite narrow ie. no more than maybe 12 inches, and even then the tubes should probably be closer together.

Co2 even on low light tanks works really well.

 

[DaveW]

The overall dimensions of the hood are 80cm X 35cm/31.5" X 14". The tubes will be about 15cm/6" apart (sorry the diagram isn't very good).

I've got my co2 from 7ppm to 16ppm, it might be a bit more but my ph tester is not great. When I get a better tester I might add another bottle.

 

[hunterm8]

This is what i have to to the lid of a juwel vision 180 the extra tubes are interpet compacts 55w with arcadia reflectors

 

[zig]

Id probably only space them about 3-4 inches apart because the tubes are very short to begin with, but trial and error i guess you could always change the position later.

Edit: if you find you are getting light falloff at any point in the tank, just use lowlight plants in that area and they should grow well.

 

[DaveW]

Cheers guys.

I hoping to upgrade soon, but now I have to think about the substrate.

It looks like I'm getting into the PTS (Planted Tank Syndrome). LOL

Thanks again.