Too Much Light For Low Tech?

[Smells a bit fishy]

I was wondering whether that amount of light is too much light for low tech setup.

The tank is 4'x15x15". The LFS said they use 1watt per litre in their tanks low tech. Just wondering if that will be ok or whether I will have to use CO2 from a bottle. I cant afford a CO2 setup

Help is much appreciated

 

[StandbySetting]

Ideally you'll want CO2 on a set up like that, I presume it's a Juwel tank? I had the same issue on a Rio 125, you can add surface plants to cut down on the light to prevent algae issues if running a low tech tank.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

No, I'm just ordered and going to pick it at the weekend, a twin ballast t5. I ordered the double as 1 the LFS said that's what they use and second it was cheaper then the single strangely.

I will see how it goes after a couple of weeks, otherwise I will buy some CO2 in a bottle

 

[KkAaNnEe]

1w per litre sounds like a lot to me, i have t8s now after having t5s and i much prefer them. I have had pretty much no algae so far touch wood, t5s i think are unneccessary in a low tech.

I have about 1w per gallon

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Ok. Well I have got it now. Just waiting for money for the bulbs. I will see how it goes, if I do get algea problems, the ways to fix it is put more fertiliser in and CO2 am I correct?

 

[ATK!!!]

Ok. Well I have got it now. Just waiting for money for the bulbs. I will see how it goes, if I do get algea problems, the ways to fix it is put more fertiliser in and CO2 am I correct?

As long as you have a decent amount of plants to utilise all of these!

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Well I'm looking for a medium to heavily planted tank. At the moment it's a bit trial and error. There are quite a few plants that are not doing too well, and some I don't like the look of, but once they are all in I'll take a pic and see what you guys think

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Ok so I've picked the ballast up. Now the LFS is charging me very close to £20 a bulb for this thing, can I use any T5 bulb as long as it's 54w?

If so what bulb? There are so many types of 'daylight' bulbs out there

 

[StandbySetting]

Yes, you can use any 54 T5, if you're in the UK I'd recommend looking at Lampspecs, you can order 3-4 tubes for about £10 all of varying colour temperatures so you can see what is nice on your eye the most, daylight is about 8000 Kelvin and if I recall correctly is 865, but is this is a Juwel tank you're going to need to get an Arcadia, Iaquatics or Juwel tube, the sneaky little gits made their tubes to a non-uniform size.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

No it's not a juwel tank, I've just bought an Arcadia ballast for the tank

 

[StandbySetting]

Lamp specs tubes will be fine then.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Cool, I have ordered 2 bulbs, I read the Arcadia booklet on bulbs and it said fish photosynthesise( unsure of spelling) at 2 peaks blue and red lumen amounts. Is this correct?

I have ordered 2 bulbs that give out 4,450 lumens as this is the blue section, but they do most of their photosynthosis at around 7,500 lumens, will this matter too much?

 

[StandbySetting]

Fish don't photosynthesize, plants do, and the red and blue peaks thing is correct, but the differences are so negligible it doesn't matter, go for what looks good for you.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Ok cool, thanks. I meant plants not fish lol