29gal T5HO 4x24W

[Nikola]

Hi people,
I'm planing to change my current light (chihiros A801) for T5HO fixture with 4 bulbs.

I know that you will say that it is huge amount of light for 29gal...but the reason I'm going for this is that I can chose more different bulbs for better visual effect and raise it more above aquarium.

Is it possible to go with this? How high from the top of aquarium I should hang it to not overkill it?

Goal is to be high light, I'm already doing EI, CO2 and high light and I think that this chihiros A serie is not giving everything what plants need. It is extremely powerful but something there is missing in my opinion.

Sent from my STK-L21 using Tapatalk

 

[Nikola]

And can someone help with choosing the bulbs?

Was thinking somethingike this:
Giesemann

PowerChrome Super Purple
PowerChrome Aquablue Coral
PowerChrome Superflora
PowerChrome Tropic

First two are for saltwater aquariums so I'm not sure how they would work, would they add some good coloration?

Later on I'm planing to make it dimmable so I will not need to raise it so high above tank.


I'm just having second thoughts about going with T5's or to buy maybe a Twinstar led light cause I will spend around 260$ for light fixture and bulbs.

What is better for growing plants?
My aquarium is 40cm tall.

Sent from my STK-L21 using Tapatalk

 

[oreo57]

Chihiros all white led version?
8000k 7600 lumens 50 watts.

And you want to replace it with approx 100watts of t5, raise it high and increasing light spill.
What do you think us missing besides " color"?
Bulb choices would be a personal choice really.
Would depend on what you think is missing and what "you" want it to look like.
Personally I'm not crazy about lights that don't really fit so any under or adj to 80cm aren't usually on my bucket list. Led or T5.

 

[Nikola]

Yes it's that one.
I'm not long in this hobby but I think that it's spectrum is not concentrated in reds and blues as some expensive brands.
Maybe I'm wrong, but had never seen that someone has this light over beautiful plants which are strongly colored.

It's a powerful light, my plants are growing, but they are not achieving rich coloration. I was trying with No3 limitation, I've made them more red but nothing special.

Was reading on the 2hr aquarist about lights. He is saying that you can get much deeper coloration of plants just by choosing good light. I understand that all conditions in tank should be perfect too, but still light can help a lot if good conditions are already there.

My CO2 is as high as I can push it watching fishes, it's 1,4 ph drop from aquarium water out of aquarium with an air stone in it.
I was trying to push the light on max, I'm getting better colors but algae appears, than I was dosing lean. So I started EI dosing to exclude nutrient deficiency and still they were there, so light is one click from maximum now, which still is very strong but it looks for me that this light is overkilling in some part of spectrum which plants cannot utilize the best.

Probably I'm talking craps, but don't know until I try something else.

Sent from my STK-L21 using Tapatalk

 

[Nick potts]

Lights would be the last thing on my list of culprits and unless you really don't like the look of the current lights I wouldn't waste money changing them just yet.

You mention you got algae when you pushed your current light to the max, doubling the wattage is only going to make the issue worse for you.

I can't really help you with the reds as my experience with them is minimal myself, but I would start by looking at fert levels, water quality, co2 stability etc.

 

[Nikola]

I really don't like the look but I can wait, no hurry.

I wanted to try that cause I was checking and checking over and over again flow, co2, ferts and I cannot find the problem, but problem is there inside in front of me.

It's interesting that today after a week of ei dosing I saw stunted growth of Lymnophila Aromatica. Top leaves are so small and stunted. This wasn't happening when I was doing lean dosing.
I'm using tropica specialized and dosing by rotala calculator 16ml per day(EI daily) for my 112 liter aquarium.

EI should exclude nutrient deficiencies but in my case it included something.

My pH drop is 1,4 exactly from light on till light off, was doing ph profile twice till now and no change there.

Flow is 10x volume with lily pipe. Surface agitation is moderate.

Really don't know what else to try. Only I can buy bunch of tests and test everything there which is waste of money,and if I dose ei I shouldn't have deficiency in nutrients.

Water changing regular twice per week 50% with vacuuming, brushing rocks, cleaning glass.

Fishes are happy, I don't overfeed, they eat once per day with filter off, and no leftovers.



Sent from my STK-L21 using Tapatalk

 

[Nikola]

On this pics maybe you can see Aromatica old leaves vs new ones. And wallichi looks bad.

Sent from my STK-L21 using Tapatalk

 

[Nikola]

Last decision is to make a fixture above aquarium. It's gonna contain 4x24W t5ho bulbs. Ballasts will be dimmable so I will run them on 50% with ramping up and down.
Was reading a lot these two days and I found that t5's give much more than leds. At least with other people experience. Lot of them said that after just switching to t5's had a great growth assuming other parameters to be good of course.
So I will give it a try like in a month.

Sent from my STK-L21 using Tapatalk