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T5's and deep tanks

nudibranch

Seedling
Joined
15 Feb 2012
Messages
1
We have an 800 l south american cichlid tank which is 85 cm deep and lit by two T5's. Having kept fish for many years but not really plants, I'd like to see what more experienced people think about this lighting for growing simple, hardy plants. We were doing quite well with ordinary vallis and cabomba until the cichlids dug it up (of course). The idea now is to try a few big, tough plants in pots and surround them with stone/slate so the fish can't access the roots - they leave the leaves alone. The primary purpose of the tank is for fish but some healthy plants would really improve the appearance. Are T5's enough for that depth? A contact at Chester Zoo recommended metal halide as that's all they use, with great success, would this be better? Again following the Chester Zoo method the aim is no CO2, just liquid feeding.
 
Hello,
Assuming that you are not using CO2 I see no reason whatsoever to go through the expense of metal halide bulbs. You said it yourself that you had no trouble growing plants with the T5 bulbs you are using now, so why would you want to add more light, which only adds more problems. MH lights are simply brighter because the come in higher wattage bulbs, but so what? More light then requires more CO2 and more nutrition and more flow and more water changes and on and on.

If your aim is to grow simple hardy plants then I advise to stick with what you have and carry on. Add a bit of inorganic nutrients once a week or so and everything will be fine.

Cheers,
 
I have 8x 54w T5s 18" above the water level in an 8ft x 3ft tank that is 28" in height. The light output is enough to grow just about any plant, infact for much of the daily lighting duration I only use 4x 54w (two 4ft tubes in parallel along the length of the tank).

Although I use ATI pendants which are supposed give better PAR ratings than many rivals, yours should be sufficient with reflectors.

As far as my experiance goes, our resident demi-god (Clive)is right. Light should be the limiting and controllable factor, you dont want too much.
 
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