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TMC Signature High Tech

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Darwin88

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Hi all,

We're moving into a new house next week and that's a fine excuse for me to have a new tank.

It's a TMC Signature 600 x 450 x 450 (130 litres).

I'm going high tech for the first time - I've done my reading on Co2 and fert dosing so I'm confident with that side of things.

I'm just having trouble with which lighting to use. I know if I'm injecting Co2 and ferts I need high lighting....but how high does it need to be?

I want an over the tank luminaire but there's so much choice! Will a double T5 be enough? Or a 4 tube T5 luminaire? Or will a single tube LED such as the wavepoint LED bar suffice?

Help would be appreciated as whichever I choose it will be expensive and I don't want to have problems because I got the wrong thing!

Thanks

Rich
 
Hi Rich
Its a myth that you need high lighting in a co2 enriched tank, all plants do perfect in lower lit tanks with co2 and your less likely to encounter algae problems with lower light than if you were to bake the tank in high wattage.
Higher lighting puts more demand on the plants and if your co2 is then not up to scratch along with your ferts youll encounter problems.
A 2 tube t5 unit would be more than enough. Once you've got the hang of it all and you want to try more demanding species then you could possibly increase lighting but id aim for low ish lighting to start with

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 2
 
I would probably go for more light, but one where you have flexibility. In, say, a 4-tube luminaire you will typically be able to switch the tubes off in pairs. In this way you could start lowish and then adjust as you progress. I guess it also depends on the plants you want. A nice low carpet of HC on a depth of 45 cm would probably require more than two tubes. If you ensure strong co2 injection + efficient distribution I don't think 4 tubes would be too much.

Thomas
 
Thanks to both of you.

I was completely misguided there then, I was sure that co2 and ferts would upset the plants unless the lights were very strong.

I have certainly been scared about putting too much light in there and causing a mass algae outbreak - two T5's sounds enough for me right now but that's a great idea about buying the 4 tuber and just using two for now.

I don't want to get ahead of myself and take on too many demanding plants. I just want the plants that I do use to be lush and healthy.

Thanks very much for the help.

Rich
 
Thanks.

I'll be going DIY on the co2 - fire extinguisher with a TMC V2 reg. I may have questions about ferts but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

Filtration will be a Fluval 406 for now, I think that will put me somewhere close to 10x water turnover with enough power to maintain a decent flow distribution.

I'd like to try a carpet of eleocharis 'mini' with some stems towards the back. Out of interest do you think I'll be successful with the eleocharis at a depth of 45cm (using two T5's)?
 
I have the "mini" but under more light than what you are suggesting - and it grows nicely, but not very fast. I think it is supposed to be a little more light demanding than the Eleocharis parvula (perhaps a better option for you). But in my experience one thing is theory and another practice. Plants that should theoretically flourish sometimes don't and vice versa. So be prepared to experiment a little. In my last scape I spent a couple of months testing different plant species to find out, which I should bet on.

Thomas
 
Hmm. This takes me back to a very early tank which involved a large order of vallis. A safe bet I was told, it grows like a weed they said.

In hard water.

I'm on West Yorkshire's finest soft water - it was dead within two weeks.

Good advice. I will look into parvula, I've had some before but in a low tech scape and it wasn't very happy. I'm sure that was down to the low lighting/no co2 injection though.

Thanks again for the advice, I'll head to the plant section of the forum when I'm all set up and ready to scape.
 
From my experience 4 T5 tubes with good reflectors/ballasts was WAY too much. Currently I have 2 T5s hanging 80cm from substrate and its more than enough . I think it all depends on the quality of the light fixture. Some of them have very poor reflectors, cheap ballast so the output is weak even from 4 tubes... Search for PAR values of each light fixture, this will help to choose
 
Simanas said:
From my experience 4 T5 tubes with good reflectors/ballasts was WAY too much. Currently I have 2 T5s hanging 80cm from substrate and its more than enough . I think it all depends on the quality of the light fixture. Some of them have very poor reflectors, cheap ballast so the output is weak even from 4 tubes... Search for PAR values of each light fixture, this will help to choose
Click to expand...

Yeah...there's a big price difference between 2 and 4 way luminaries too. What sort of par values am I looking for? I'll be growing medium light plants, no HC! The Arcadia double T5 luminaire comes with two plant pro tubes, and at £130 compared to over £300 for the 4 tube version it's very tempting.
 
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