Need Advise On Lighting Please

[Gilli]

I currently have 2 x 3 foot light strips 30 watts and am looking to buy some more suitable for live plants to give them a better chance. I understand I would need the T5 type of strips for good growth? Would they fit directly into the sockets already on the tank and if so which wattage would I need please? Also I see that some say marine - is there a big difference between freshwater tropical and marine T5 bulbs that I would need to differentiate between? Thanks for any help.

 

[Gilli]

anyone please?

 

[PDSimon]

Are you referring to your 250L tank?

Lighting isn't my subject but increasing it means you must increase the carbon source, ferts and it can cause lots of problems if the needs aren't met.

I would imagine your lighting is fine for plants as it is...

 

[Gilli]

Hi- thanks for the reply- yes its my 250L tank. I thought that the T bulbs were a sspecial type that mimics natural lighting so they would be needed for good plant growth - or am I barking up the wrong tree? You are saying that my lighting is adequate then provided I dose on ferts? My nitrates tend to be around the 40 mark so im not going to need a lot I wouldnt think....

 

[PDSimon]

well I have 40W for a 110L tank, yours is 250L and has 60W which is still good enough for plant growth. If you increase your lighting to more than 2watts per gallon then co2 is normally necessary.

Concerning the type of bulb it doesn't really matter on the colour or whatever...

Plants need more than just nitrate so introducting/increasing ferts will help. Not sure if/what you dose already? how long is your lighting on for daily?

 

[Gilli]

My lights tend to be on for around 8 - 10 hours a day and I dont have any problem with algae at all as you can see from my sig pic below. Its a mature 3 year old tank.

At the moment im not using any ferts as ive only just replanted and before that used plant tabs without much success, although my anubias which is on bogwood and ive had for about a year is growing beautifully and has actually flowered for the first time!. I now have a liquid fert which I have to work out how much to use.

 

[PDSimon]

Your plants look good... Why do you want to upgrade in the first place?

 

[Gilli]

They look good cos ive only just put them in! Previous to that they look good for a while then keel over and look pathetic!! Thats why I was wondering if upgrading the lighting would help - wont be going down the co2 road - too complicated and costly.

 

[PDSimon]

I see what you're saying... Maybe you should have started with my plants keep dying

You could upgrade them somewhat without getting co2 I think, but i'm not sure whether it will make much of a difference...

I'd certainly consider getting some good ferts, you need to be dosing both macro (nitrate and phosphate) and micro (potassium, iron and plently more) nutrients.

Hopefully someone else can help you a bit more


Maybe it would help if you described how the plants actually died and then one of the others could say whether that was a lack of so and so or a defiency in phosphate.. I don't know

 

[Gilli]

Well they start off ok for a month or so, then go straggly and leaves die off to the point where i hoik them out and replace them! As I said I used plant tabs maybe thats the problem. Ive tried growing the darker leaved variety as they tend to be more hardy so they say, but as ive said the only success ive had is with anubias.

OK well, my lighting seems to be adequate, so new plants and new liquid ferts - lets give it a whirl!