Lighting

[robertsskippyj]

Hi I have a juwel rio 180 that has come with there T5 hi life tubes one day colour one natural colour.
i have a low tech planted set up. Both these tubes are 49w and you cannot turn one of them off you have to run both.
after reading various threads the total wattage seems a little excessive and i do get a bit of algae. what does everyone think?

 

[SLIM]

Thats alot for a low tech. How mny hours is your photo period?

 

[ATK!!!]

Sorry to hijack the thread a little but I have the same problem. I would really like my Rio to be a low tech planted tank when I get it but those annoying t5's are rather too bright, I have considered replacing the whole lighting system with the t8 version, sadly I will not have enough money. I have also considered putting in large amounts of floating plants, but I am worried that the roots will grow down and ruin the look of the tank...

So, which species of plants have compact/ no visible roots?

I had also considered covering a tube with aluminium foil, is this really a good idea?

Finally, are there replacement blubs out there that would fit the original juwel light fitting but are lower wattage??

BTW I will be running them for around 8 hours per day + some very low power moonlights for an extra hour afterwards.

 

[Rickzayne]

I have the same and run 9 hours a day, with fertz

And have no problems as the blue bulb does nothing for plants anyway

 

[RadaR]

as the blue bulb does nothing for plants anyway

Oh it will
What part of the spectrum do plants use most? Blue and red.
There are some mad claims that blue bulbs promote algae, but that's utter tosh.

 

[Rickzayne]

Ahh well it's been 3 weeks and still nothing for me tbh....

I'm sure when I asked this question someone told me my day light did nothing for plants -.-

 

[robertsskippyj]

Thats alot for a low tech. How mny hours is your photo period?

I'm running 8 hour days normally. I've seen these bulbs go down to 29w would this still be ok?

 

[ATK!!!]

I have the same and run 9 hours a day, with fertz

And have no problems as the blue bulb does nothing for plants anyway

May I ask what you do in the way of water changes? Because when I said low tech, I meant doing water changes every couple of months, maybe even less frequently depending on the stocking... Also what ferts do you use?

 

[RadaR]

Thats alot for a low tech. How mny hours is your photo period?

I'm running 8 hour days normally. I've seen these bulbs go down to 29w would this still be ok?

Really? At the same length as the original ones that come with the tank? Either way its not a good idea. The less powerful bulbs would quickly burn out.

 

[Rickzayne]

25% twice a week

Was using un named plant food but now I'm on TNC complete.