Low Light?

hello, I currently have a planted 29 gallon and using an aqueon 17w t8 24in full spectrum bulb that stays on 10 hours a day. Would this be considered low light and is there some kind of chart that would explain if it is or not?

 

Things have got more sophisticated now but when I started my planted tank in May 2008 I upgraded the lights to 1.8 watts per gallon of fluorescent light in order to grow plants properly.

This was considered low light at the time among aquarists in my area but it's only a very rough rule of thumb.

It depends what you want to achieve but at the moment I think you may be short of light intensity (your photoperiod is the same as mine).

Other people like to get into the sophistication of lighting, dosing etc. and some achieve wonderful effects that I do appreciate but my approach is to keep it simple and cheap as I have five aquaria to look after (2 at home, 2 at school, 1 at work).

My tank has been running on the original substrate without any additional fertilizers at all for nine years and seems totally sustainable just with normal water changes and monthly pruning required.

 

Is your 29 gallon 16 inches high? I have that light on a 20 gallon high (16 inches high) and I find it to be low light. PAR is used more to measure lights for plants in aquariums now, and I'm sure there's some chart out there for that light.

 

Things have got more sophisticated now but when I started my planted tank in May 2008 I upgraded the lights to 1.8 watts per gallon of fluorescent light in order to grow plants properly.

This was considered low light at the time among aquarists in my area but it's only a very rough rule of thumb.

It depends what you want to achieve but at the moment I think you may be short of light intensity (your photoperiod is the same as mine).

Other people like to get into the sophistication of lighting, dosing etc. and some achieve wonderful effects that I do appreciate but my approach is to keep it simple and cheap as I have five aquaria to look after (2 at home, 2 at school, 1 at work).

My tank has been running on the original substrate without any additional fertilizers at all for nine years and seems totally sustainable just with normal water changes and monthly pruning required.


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So for a 29 gallon I would need 52w light? 1.8 x 29 ?

 

Is your 29 gallon 16 inches high? I have that light on a 20 gallon high (16 inches high) and I find it to be low light. PAR is used more to measure lights for plants in aquariums now, and I'm sure there's some chart out there for that light.

I believe its 18in

 

It's doable for some low light plants, but others can't take that low of lights. I find that java moss, duckweed, and guppy grass do well under this light in my tank.

 

17W of power from any fluorescent is going to be low light at best on a 29G. Still some plants you can grow though.