Quote:
Originally Posted by David58117  Hello everybody, this is my first post! 
My wife and I recently bought an 80 gallon tank (48"x18"x23") and have been thinking "the planted tanks look pretty." We would love to have tall foliage with tropical community fish schooling in and out of the overflow of leaves. We're still unsure what plants these are exactly, but decided we should turn our attention to our lights.
Today we bought a coralife double T5 56 watt fixture (specifically for aquatic plants), it looks amazing but - is it grossly underpowered? 56 watts / 80 gallons = 0.7 watts/gallon. Sticking another unit up there would give a whopping 1.4 W/G (at a cost of $120). This would be a bit cumbersome (filter hangs on back, and the cords would be messy) but doable. Basically my question is - assuming my math is correct, should I give up on this fixture and return it, and if so what light fixtures are recommended (around $200..). Or would it work for the most part in a 23" depth tank..?
Thank you. |
before you run out and buy another lamp, first determine what are your goals with the planted tank.
Nice planted tanks and many species of plants can be grown in what most will refer to as
Low Light in the range of < 1.2
WPG and even as low as .7 WPG, Just
do not expect explosive rapid growth, they will look good, but they are not going to over run your tank either, and at those levels Moss will " maintain" but that is about it.
now with that said, even at those low light levels you CAN get great Lush Growth but you are going to have to fuel that growth with EI and Co2 and quality substrate.
do you plan on farming plants or
do you plan on doing multiple aquascapes? over the span of months?
constantly pruning etc?
Then you can expect to need > 2 WPG to accomplish that along with the pressurized Co2 and EI, and Substrate, and excellant water movement.
Disclaimer: I am no expert at this, i have simply asked the same questions of experts who backed up their stuff with actual pictures and journals. Complete enough that i cant see anyway to refute their statements.
Also this information is condensed and should in no way be taken as complete
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with that said, these guys general statements are @ <1.5 WPG you can easily get very lush growth from most all plants into the medium light requirement range ( BTW this is with T8 bulbs), but when you break the 2.0 WPG barrier you need CO2 and Ferts.
and that is my .02 worth, uhhh anyone here have change for a nickle ?
If you're still within the return window on the fixture and you know you want more light, I'd advise taking it back while you still can.
