Hello,
I have a 325L tank, 1,3 x 0,5 x 0,5m, and I use two Finnex Planted+ ALC 24", both aligned to light up the whole length of the tank. The idea was to use a single 48" one, but they wouldn't deliver it where I am.
This tank is running for almost 2 years now, and despite my best efforts, it never flourished as expected, plants seem to be unhappy. I changed and tweeked and improved about everything since I set it up, and I got some results, but it still isn't what I expected.
At some point, I wasn't sure if I had too much light or not enough. Some slower plants like bolbitis and Anubias would grow better when shaded, while more demanding plants would wither.
I tried running at 50% power for a few months, no improvement. Now I'm running close to 100%, only the green LEDs are dimmed down a bit. The lights are very close to the water surface.
The lamp only accepts programs every 3 hours, so it is set as a 3h ramp up, 6h plateau and 3h ramp down, totalling 12h of non darkness. The room where the tank is at receives a lot of indirect day light.
I understand light is but one part of the full complexity of planted tanks, but what do you think, is it ok or not enough? The idea is to grow most plants, but not necessarily the trickiest ones.
I have a 325L tank, 1,3 x 0,5 x 0,5m, and I use two Finnex Planted+ ALC 24", both aligned to light up the whole length of the tank. The idea was to use a single 48" one, but they wouldn't deliver it where I am.
This tank is running for almost 2 years now, and despite my best efforts, it never flourished as expected, plants seem to be unhappy. I changed and tweeked and improved about everything since I set it up, and I got some results, but it still isn't what I expected.
At some point, I wasn't sure if I had too much light or not enough. Some slower plants like bolbitis and Anubias would grow better when shaded, while more demanding plants would wither.
I tried running at 50% power for a few months, no improvement. Now I'm running close to 100%, only the green LEDs are dimmed down a bit. The lights are very close to the water surface.
The lamp only accepts programs every 3 hours, so it is set as a 3h ramp up, 6h plateau and 3h ramp down, totalling 12h of non darkness. The room where the tank is at receives a lot of indirect day light.
I understand light is but one part of the full complexity of planted tanks, but what do you think, is it ok or not enough? The idea is to grow most plants, but not necessarily the trickiest ones.