What Lighting Do I Have?

[Michelleuk]

Hi

I just buying some plants but not sure if my lights would be considered as high.

I have t8 - 1 x Tube Day-Lite 25 W 1 x Tube Warm-Lite 25 W.

My tank is juwel trigon 190.

thanks

 

[KittyKat]

25 W daylight + 25 W warm = 50 W light
190 litres = about 50 US gallons

50 W / 50 gallons = 1 wpg (watt per gallon)

That's bog standard for "low tech". It's great for undemanding plants and lazy people (like me). I consider "low light" to be under 0.75 wpg and "high light" to be over 2 wpg.

 

[Michelleuk]

thanks

do u no any red plants that will survive my lighting.

Thanks

 

[Caprichoso]

There are many plants that can survive low light but thriving is a whole different story. I have a very nice Rubin sword in my low tech tank. The leaves start off very red and as they mature they turn green. It's not red all over but it is a nice plant that gives that little bit of contrasting colour to the tank. Ludwigia repens is another "reddish" plant. The top of it looks lush and colourful but the bottom is a bit leggy and scraggy. I put some plants in front of the bad looking bits, lol.

 

[KittyKat]

I have Crypt. beckettii (I think, I had it IDed as C. wendtii "brown" until recently) and that grows nicely under 0.65 wpg.

 

[RadaR]

thanks

do u no any red plants that will survive my lighting.

Thanks

You can keep some species of red plants however they wont necessarily stay red.
Not that you need CO2...but if you did use it then red colouration may be maintained. There are various factors for red colouration. Using CO2 though defeats the object of low-tech.
Another +1 for C. wendtii "brown".