Advice On My Lighting For My Co2 Setup.

So I want to know what you all think of my current lighting, a Beamswork DA FSPEC pent 48” for my current plants: rotala walichi, limnophila, nymphaea rubra, moneywort, wisteria, HC, and alternathera reinickii- I’ve also got a pressurized co2 system at 30 ppm. Substrate is flourite Black sand with root tabs.

I’ve heard that the Beamswork will output 48-60 PAR at my substrate levels, but I also happened to find an old amazon gift card that’s still good which has enough for another Beamswork da fspec. In your experience, would it be worthwhile to upgrade to two to get around 110 PAR or is that superfluous? Is there a notable benefit for the plants and will such high light bother fish?

 

HC is super picky and hard to grow, so I can’t imagine it hurting. You’ll need a water column fertilizer, root tabs in a inert substrate isn’t going to cut it for a CO2 injected tank. I recommend Nilocg Thrive because it’s the most concentrated liquid fert out there, or mixing your own dry ferts, which is cheaper.

 

What about the lighting? Is what I have sufficient or is even higher light recommended?

 

What about the lighting? Is what I have sufficient or is even higher light recommended?

Oh I meant that additional lighting couldn't hurt, 60 PAR sounds high for a beamswork, what is your tank height?

 

The tank is about 20” high but I’ve got a thick layer of substrate ranging from 2-4/5 inches across the tank. I’m estimating PAR from data from this thread:



I’m trying to weigh in the cost/benefit of adding the other light considering I already have a pretty good co2 system