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210 Litre (46 Gallon) lighting advice needed.

andyaxis

Seedling
Joined
9 Sep 2009
Messages
5
Hi all,

Just setting my existing 210l tank to a planted CO2 setup. I'm new to planted aquariums, but plants I would like to include are Blyxa Aubertii, Blyxa japonica, Anubias nana, Rotala rotundifolia, and Christmas moss. My currect lighting is 2 x 40w (42") powerglo T8 lights. Not 100% sure if this is will provide the correct level of watts per gallon. I think I worked it out at 1.73 wpg. What level of lighting should I be aiming at? Will I need to add another light to this setup? The tanks been running co2 for around 2 weeks with a 48" plant collection I got from Java plants. Plants seem to be growing ok, but I dont like the look of the selection and have chose to simplify the choice of plants to the above. Been away this weekend and noticed some alge growth developing on the rocks. Not sure if this is due to low light conditions. Currently, I have the lighting set to be on for 8 hours a day.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Hi andyaxis
andyaxis said:
My currect lighting is 2 x 40w (42") powerglo T8 lights. Not 100% sure if this is will provide the correct level of watts per gallon. I think I worked it out at 1.73 wpg. What level of lighting should I be aiming at?
If you're just starting out, I would suggest you leave your lighting as it is for the moment. That's more than enough to grow plants. Some people start their tanks with 6 hours lighting duration and build it up slowly over a month or two.
andyaxis said:
Been away this weekend and noticed some alge growth developing on the rocks. Not sure if this is due to low light conditions.
Definitely not.

I would strongly recommend that you concentrate on CO2 distribution first and forget about increasing your lighting until you can grow plants successfully using CO2 and ferts with the lighting you've already got, and then if you want mental growth rates, up your lighting if you feel you need to, but be prepared to up your maintenance regime too.
Lighting should be way down the list of things to worry about when starting out on a planted tank :D

Chris
 
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