creature100 Posted May 14, 2004 Share Posted May 14, 2004 Hi there...im just in the process of setting up a planted tank (4x2x2)and am grappling with the light crisis. currently i have two 40 watt, 48 inch Resun plant tubes and one normal 48" cool white bulb. Do you think this is enough light?...id like to grow some foreground carpet like plants, ludwigia, ambulia, swords among others, i know that i fall quite a bit short on the WPG test but just wanted to know if anyone out there has had experience with deeper planted tanks like mine and what set ups did they use. taa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grungefreek Posted May 14, 2004 Share Posted May 14, 2004 Cant help ya much, never had a tank that big, never had one over 2ft . But i would say u should get rid of the cool white bulb if ya can and get maybe a natural (5000K) or daylight (6400K) bulb instead. Those cool light ones are like 3400K and cause alot of algae Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest acknal Posted May 14, 2004 Share Posted May 14, 2004 I had a 2ft tank with 2 4ft fluoros (tried gro plus, tri phos etc and heaps of plant food) but never really had any luck growing plants. If they did survive, they tended to grow strait up to the light (pruning helped). I also found that researching plants with lower light requirements saved on the hip pocket - grow lots of java fern. It was all heading towards installing some heavy duty lighting so I setup an african tank and never looked back with my java fern!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creature100 Posted May 14, 2004 Author Share Posted May 14, 2004 Thanks for your quick replies....another point i forgot to mention. On both sides of the tank i have raised the gravel depth to 6 inches, bordered by river rocks....so it has two 6 inch raised 'beds' on either side which go from the back of the tank to the front of the tank leaving a semicircle in the middle of gravel that is only 1 inch deep. So if i plant species that require higher light on the 'beds' and plant the semicircle area in the middle/front of the tank with Anubias, Java etc would you think that would be sufficient light since i have moved the plants 6 inches closer to the light? cheers Craig also does the watts per gallon actually have anything to do with water quantity or is it just a rough guide for light/tanksize? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett4Perth Posted May 14, 2004 Share Posted May 14, 2004 Hi Craig, You can soccessfully grow plants with that much light but your choices are reduced. You are right that the depth of the tank is an important consideration and the shallower areas will grow plants with a higher light requirement. I would still make the substrate in the middle deeper as 2-3cm is not really enough. Each tank is a bit different, I would think swords and ambulia would grow, Ludwigia in the higher light areas. Java moss, vallis, Java fern, Anubias, Rotala rotundifolia should all manage. As your lighting is borderline, I would use triphosphors instead of the cool white. Plants will grow with cool whites , but you need higher light levels. Brett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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