Affordable lighting for planted tank

[max h]

The lights are the Beamswork ET-120 with 6500k leds. I had to get 2 because the tank is 60" long so they are offset and overlap in the middle.

 

[flchamp89]

There good stingray videos on youtube with par meter. I have a stingray and love it but its a 10.

 

[MD_Plants]

That is a very nice looking tank

 

[Evanwd]

What do people recommend for an affordable light for growing plants in aquariums?

 

[DHIWZ]

What do people recommend for an affordable light for growing plants in aquariums?

Do you know what plants you'd be looking to grow?

 

[TwoHedWlf]

What do people recommend for an affordable light for growing plants in aquariums?

And what size?

And what's your budget?

 

[Kellye8498]

What do you consider "affordable?" I have a Planted + 24/7 and I love it. Got it for around 120.00. It was affordable for me because it did what I needed it to and does it well and I was willing to splurge a little on my fish and plants but some people think that's very expensive. Some people like Nicer lights as they are cheaper than Finnex. You can find them on Amazon.

 

[Jocelyn Adelman]

I like finnex 24/7 (have the old model, would recommend the SE). Lower light but still decent and less expensive the finnex stingray. Finally depending on the size tank, the best light I have is the chihiros series a... priced well for smaller tanks, not so much on the large ones. This one is fully dimmable, making it easy to adjust the lighting you need to the plants you are growing... however, being dimmable makes it not a great beginner light... hard to figure out what setting works for you tank/plant selection/ferts.

The more light you give, the more ferts you will need, +/- co2 (injected/liquid). Also low light plants like anubias and javas don't always do well in higher light...and vice versa, hair grass won't carpet in lower light and no injected co2.

 

[Evanwd]

These are the plants, their in a 10 tank. The plants have fertilizer. There isn't any CO2 because it's expensive and to risky in my opinion for such a small tank, so I have an air stone that in theory saturates air born levels of CO2 into the water.
The plants are starting to die so I put them in better gravel with fertilizer but no improvement so I suspected it was the light because there is no growth at all.

I just want options under 150 preferable.

 

[Jocelyn Adelman]

So the plant is rotala rotundifolia. What liquid ferts specifically are you dosing? What ones did you add to the substrate cups?

Any of the lighting options I mentioned above would work.... also for a 10 gallon you could also get a desk lamp/shop light with a cfl bulb.... look for a color temp of 6500.

 

[Evanwd]

So the plant is rotala rotundifolia. What liquid ferts specifically are you dosing? What ones did you add to the substrate cups?

Any of the lighting options I mentioned above would work.... also for a 10 gallon you could also get a desk lamp/shop light with a cfl bulb.... look for a color temp of 6500.

Not using any liquids ferts just pellets in the gravel in the cups

 

[APColorado]

Cheaper then most led fixtures and the comparable in quality


Beamswork DA FSPEC LED Aquarium Light Pent Freshwater 0.50W

 

[Evanwd]

Does anyone have a link to that these lights, I can't find any that can be shipped to Canada

 

[Jocelyn Adelman]

eBay sells the chihiros, Amazon carries finnex. Beamswork didn't work well for me, but has worked fine for others. CFL bulbs and fixtures you can get at hardware stores (Home Depot lowes etc in the US)

What brand of fertilizer do you have in the pots? Rotundifolia is a water column feeder, it needs liquid ferts more then root tabs.
Not sure of the brands in Canada, but if you post a link to a fert you are looking at we can help you figure out if it will work

 

[Evanwd]

I ended up just putting a fluorescent light in a lamp next to aquarium that shines on the plants

It's 5000 k was the highest I could find and is 23 watts 1600 lumens closest to what was recommend when using these kinda bulbs

I also put it on a timer from 8 in morning to 10 at night

 

[Evanwd]

 

[Jocelyn Adelman]

You really need to get some liquid ferts with a decent amount of nitrogen and iron for the rotala.
If you can try ordering a 6500k bulb online, 5000 is very end of plant wavelength...

 

[aniroc]

Rotala is a difficult plant but OP's plants look more like Hygrophila polysperma to me.
The light should come from the top (change the hood to a glass top) or else the plants will grow (if they grow...) toward the light, sideways. A photoperiod of 14 hours is way too long; you cannot compensate low intensity light with a longer photoperiod.
Airstones do not add CO2.
What fertilizer pellets did you add in the jar?

 

[Evanwd]

Rotala is a difficult plant but OP's plants look more like Hygrophila polysperma to me.
The light should come from the top (change the hood to a glass top) or else the plants will grow (if they grow...) toward the light, sideways. A photoperiod of 14 hours is way too long; you cannot compensate low intensity light with a longer photoperiod.
Airstones do not add CO2.
What fertilizer pellets did you add in the jar?

The plants aren't rotala, is 10 hours good? No idea what the brand is they were given to me to try from a pet store. They have everything this, what's in them I took a picture I took a hand full from the container.

 

[Jocelyn Adelman]

Omg, aniroc I think you are right on the polysperma. No more cocktails and comments without enlarging pictures for me! Sorry OP. So used to skipping polysperma since it's illegal here in the US I didn't even take a close look.

Above all my polysperma loves potassium....

The fert pellets look good, but note at the bottom they say to be used as "part of a complete plant care system". Adjusting the light as suggested and adding a liquid fert is still the way to go.
If you are hesitant on the liquid, fix the light first, then if you need to get the liquid.