Lighting Requirement for Carpeting Plants

[saiiimon]

Hello,

I am new here and I have a question about lighting. I've currently had a tank for over a year and am planning to change things up and go for an iwagumi style aquascape. I have currently been using liquid carbon and am in the process of upgrading to diy pressurised CO2.
I've read a couple of the posts on this forum and I get the impression that lighting is not as important as getting the co2 part right. Is that correct?
I am thinking of growing a carpeting style plant (eg: hairgrass or something that looks similar) but the impression I get on other sites is that the lighting I have would not be enough (I have one 24watt t5 light). So I guess in essence my main question is, do I have enough lighting?
My tank dimensions are 70cm x 35cm x 40cm.

 

[ceg4048]

I've read a couple of the posts on this forum and I get the impression that lighting is not as important as getting the co2 part right. Is that correct?

Correct.

I am thinking of growing a carpeting style plant (eg: hairgrass or something that looks similar) but the impression I get on other sites is that the lighting I have would not be enough

That's why people on other sites are constantly battling problems with carpet plants.

So I guess in essence my main question is, do I have enough lighting?

You already have too much. Get smart and pay attention to flow/distribution and CO2. CO2 grows plants, not light.

Cheers,

 

[saiiimon]

Hi there. Thanks for getting back to me. I shall take what you said on board. I guess that saves me a lot of money on buying new lights!

 

[parotet]

I have two tanks. One with brand new LED lights and another one with T5HO. In both cases I was advised at the LFS that it was not enough for my tanks. One of the lights is dimmed and the other one is 50 cm above the water...
Save your money for CO2, fish, go to a restaurant, drink beers..

 

[Claire]

In my experience as well, you can train most plants to accept the light they are given. Even HC cuba which is deemed quite a demanding plant I have managed to grow under a single t5 by regular trimming to encourage sideways rather than upward growth. But as people have said before, getting the CO2 right is the main thing. The more light you have, the harder it is to get enough CO2 into the tank, thus making life harder for yourself!