• 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

Lighting Advice for a Juwel 96 litre

john bean

Seedling
Joined
29 Jan 2008
Messages
3
Location
Walkern Herts
Hi All,
I would like to change the original Juwel hood with one 18 watt T8 tube for an Arcadia (old type) luminaire do I go for the 2 x 24 watt per tube unit or the 4 x 24 unit.
My tank has pressurised CO2 and ferts.

Thanks

John
 
Hi john bean

This is difficult to assess without knowing what you are trying to achieve.
If your tank already has CO2 and ferts, I assume you are already growing plants, so you would have already seen that you do not need tons of light to successfully grow plants. Admittedly, some plants do better in high light as opposed to low light.
You just need to be aware that even going for the 2 x 24w you will be more than doubling your light output, so be prepared to crank up your maintenance regime. If you chuck more light at it, you will have to up your CO2 and ferts accordingly.
On a tank that size, if you chose the 4 x 24w, your maintenance/CO2/ferts regime is going to have to be top notch, otherwise you will be staring at a tank full of algae in no time. It just depends how much time you can dedicate to maintenance.
With the 2 x 24w, CO2 and ferts, you could grow just about any plant you wished :D .

Chris.
 
Hi Chris
Many thanks for replying. The 2 x 24 watt T5 Luminaire it will be.
At the moment I am Growing anubias and Java ferns but want to try some of the more difficult varieties possibly some of the red leaved varieties.

John
 
Hi John.

You will have more than enough light for your red leaved varieties with the 2 x 24w.
You've already done the hard bit (CO2 and ferts :lol: ), so there is no reason you should not be able to grow most plants with that set up.
Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Chris
 
john bean said:
Hi Chris
Many thanks for replying. The 2 x 24 watt T5 Luminaire it will be.
At the moment I am Growing anubias and Java ferns but want to try some of the more difficult varieties possibly some of the red leaved varieties.
John
I'm sure I sound like a broken record, but the difficulty of certain plants has almost nothing to do with light and has almost everything to do with CO2. You should therefore be much much more concerned with how you will implement CO2 and flow within the tank and stop worrying about whether you have enough light. 99% of the time you'll actually have too much light.

Cheers,
 
Thanks for all the advice.

I use a modified hagen elite filter to diffuse and circulate my Co2.
Pictures here http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...uper-efficient-co2-reactor-19.html#post494825
How to make it is described below.
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...s/44053-tiny-super-efficient-co2-reactor.html
The Co2 is timed to come on 1 hour before the lights and turns off when the lights do.
The 18 watt T8 lighting is on for 8 hours, I don't know long i'll need to set it for with 48 Watts of T5?
and also what dose of TPN to use?

John
 
Back
Top