• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Is it high light ?

eminor

Member
Joined
5 Feb 2021
Messages
784
Location
France
Hello, I have an aquarium of 51 liters, a ramp t5ho 2*24w, 1400 lumens*2, it is located at 12 inches (30cm) above the aquarium, is it considered as a strong light? thx
 
Hello, I have an aquarium of 51 liters, a ramp t5ho 2*24w, 1400 lumens*2, it is located at 12 inches (30cm) above the aquarium, is it considered as a strong light? thx
Yes, but forget about lumens. Plants do not see lumens. They sense the world only in terms of PAR.
In any case, 48 watts of T5 over a 10 gallon tank is completely over the top. Just disable one bulb and you'll give yourself more margin of error.

Cheers,
 
Yes, but forget about lumens. Plants do not see lumens. They sense the world only in terms of PAR.
In any case, 48 watts of T5 over a 10 gallon tank is completely over the top. Just disable one bulb and you'll give yourself more margin of error.

Cheers,
so i remove one bulb and i let the fixtures at 30cm heigh ?
 
even with a single t5ho i'll be able to grow a difficult plant ? my co2 ditribution and levels are now good, is it ok ?

ps : by 30cm above i mean that the light need to travel 60cm to get the botom since the tank is 30cm height
 
Last edited:
even with a single t5ho i'll be able to grow a difficult plant ? my co2 ditribution and levels are now good, is it ok ?

ps : by 30cm above i mean that the light need to travel 60cm to get the botom since the tank is 30cm height

While conventional wisdom is 100% correct in recommending lower light, I for one, would be very interested in seeing a journal about a 51 litre tank using high light to grow difficult plants.... (Dutch Donut has gone over to the salty side so we need a replacement journal! :)) I think there are a few of us here including myself that are interested in getting tips on growing the more challenging species.

The worst that can happen (and it already happened to me as I was running more light than my skill level could handle) is that you get algae. Then you learn how to do a 72-hour blackout to reset the tank (which was a good learning experience for me).
 
While conventional wisdom is 100% correct in recommending lower light, I for one, would be very interested in seeing a journal about a 51 litre tank using high light to grow difficult plants.... (Dutch Donut has gone over to the salty side so we need a replacement journal! :)) I think there are a few of us here including myself that are interested in getting tips on growing the more challenging species.

The worst that can happen (and it already happened to me as I was running more light than my skill level could handle) is that you get algae. Then you learn how to do a 72-hour blackout to reset the tank (which was a good learning experience for me).
yes i should do that, i used 7000 lumens on this tank, it worked for few months, then i did an error with co2, BBA appeared, i really don't have the skill to do high light, but i'm gonna start a new 51 l tank do to a journal with really high light, i think i learn so much when i do those mistakes =)
 
High light (to much light) is a classic bread and butter post on the forum.
If you want to blast your plants with high light then you need perfect C02 perfect flow and distribution and a lot of spare time monitoring and maintaing those conditions.
Your priority must be high light, not fish or plants as it is quite obviously possible to maintain the most spectacular planted tanks with medium or even low light?
Of course anyone can do what ever they like with their own tanks, experimenting with lighting is all part of the experience and more often than not is the only way to satisfy that itch.
If nobody used too much light to match their tanks, the forum would be a far less active place ……
 
High light (to much light) is a classic bread and butter post on the forum.
If you want to blast your plants with high light then you need perfect C02 perfect flow and distribution and a lot of spare time monitoring and maintaing those conditions.
Your priority must be high light, not fish or plants as it is quite obviously possible to maintain the most spectacular planted tanks with medium or even low light?
Of course anyone can do what ever they like with their own tanks, experimenting with lighting is all part of the experience and more often than not is the only way to satisfy that itch.
If nobody used too much light to match their tanks, the forum would be a far less active place ……

I always tought plant need crazy amount of light to grow which seems to be wrong
 
Hi @eminor, no most of the plants we keep under water do not need lots of bright light to thrive in our aquariums but if you want to get the most out them they do need a good supply of C02.
We have established that we can safely keep fish at around 30ppm of C02 so we can then try and work how much light we require to make the most of the available C02 Without encouraging too much algae!
The problem is, it is very easy to over step the mark and use to much light and end up with ‘A‘ a very high maintainance tank requiring daily attention or ‘B‘ a tank full of unwanted algae! or ‘C’ a tank that is a never ending burden of maintainance and is still full of algae ha ha
There will always be exceptsions to the rule and is does seem some folk can use very high lighting compared to others and get good results but It is just not really necessary.
 
Hi @eminor, no most of the plants we keep under water do not need lots of bright light to thrive in our aquariums but if you want to get the most out them they do need a good supply of C02.
We have established that we can safely keep fish at around 30ppm of C02 so we can then try and work how much light we require to make the most of the available C02 Without encouraging too much algae!
The problem is, it is very easy to over step the mark and use to much light and end up with ‘A‘ a very high maintainance tank requiring daily attention or ‘B‘ a tank full of unwanted algae! or ‘C’ a tank that is a never ending burden of maintainance and is still full of algae ha ha
There will always be exceptsions to the rule and is does seem some folk can use very high lighting compared to others and get good results but It is just not really necessary.
yes co2 drived me crazy, but thanks to this forum i know a lot more how to fix it, i have even more than 30 ppm with lot of surface agitation and high KH (12), fish are fine, plants grow well =)

even if my rotala rotundifolia still have some stunt growth, the flow is okay, no dead zone, weird
 
even with a single t5ho i'll be able to grow a difficult plant ?
This is another misconception that traps hobbyists into a never ending struggle.
Difficult plants are difficult NOT because they require high light. They are difficult because they require high CO2.
If you use high light without paying careful attention to CO2/flow/distribution you will face a lot of difficulty.

Cheers,
 
This is another misconception that traps hobbyists into a never ending struggle.
Difficult plants are difficult NOT because they require high light. They are difficult because they require high CO2.
If you use high light without paying careful attention to CO2/flow/distribution you will face a lot of difficulty.

Cheers,
thx, how to determine light range for t5ho, one t5ho @ 30cm is low light with good reflector ? is there a kind of approximative chart ?
 
Last edited:
I dont know of a chart but I can tell you that during the hay days of T5 lighting, about 10-15 years ago, one tube the length of the tank was low tech, two bulbs the length of the tank was standard high tech and four tubes was for algae farming or dedicated experts !
 
I dont know of a chart but I can tell you that during the hay days of T5 lighting, about 10-15 years ago, one tube the length of the tank was low tech, two bulbs the length of the tank was standard high tech and four tubes was for algae farming or dedicated experts !

t5ho on the top seems really high high light, @ 30cm i don't know if it's low or medium, my reflector seems really good
 
even with a single t5ho i'll be able to grow a difficult plant ? my co2 ditribution and levels are now good, is it ok ?

ps : by 30cm above i mean that the light need to travel 60cm to get the botom since the tank is 30cm height
As explained many times previously, the difficulty with plants have nothing to do with how much light you have, but how effectively you can deliver CO2 to the plants. Each plant has a different ability to uptake CO2. This difference in ability is what distinguishes the difficulty.

A useful estimate of PAR is provided in the post My Juwel LED Lumen Count
Unfortunately there is no clear cut chart for LED. That must be obtained from the supplier.

Cheers,
 
Back
Top