How Many Watts Will I Need?

karjean · 03-25-2010, 08:06 AM

May i put my input, as an electrician point of view, the wattage should not really matter. You should concentrate on the spectrum of the light you are looking to have and as the amount of bulbs and length wise fixture that will fit your aquarium. The wattage is reflecting the power consumption and the amount of heat produce by the fixture (ballast and bulb).
I personally think the T5 and T8 bulbs are much better lights for the low power consumption while the T12 is being phased out due to the larger amount of power consumption. I do not know for the States on the bulbs but in Canada the T8 is starting to be the standard and in Europe the T5 is the starting to be standard.
I hope this does help.

Angel079 · 03-25-2010, 09:49 AM

Like I said before wattage wise I don't see much issue there for the greater majority of plants. Try to look at the bulbs in there see for a manufacture name or anything so you can somehow figure out the spectrum you have there. There's no need to exchange the whole fixture (in the worst case) all you'd need to do is exchange bulbs for the named one's above from the hardware store and here (TN) I can get a 2-pack GE Daylight 4ft for less then $10 so that's really not a budget breaker.

Byron · 03-25-2010, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IceBerg

I just overhauled my tank and switch over to a peaceful community. My LFS made it a breeze and let me trade in my other fish that weren’t working out as planned. Unfortunately I don’t have the money to upgrade my lighting system at the moment. I'm even more confused now that I received this email from Sweet Aquatics. Are there low light plants that could work for me if I just upgrade my bulbs?

Kevin,
No special lighting will be needed. You can start with some easy low light
plants. If you like keeping plants and want to venture into harder plants
you can buy a better light down the road. The only thing I suggest is to
check the light bulbs. Daylight bulbs are best for plants. They give off a
bright white light, you can usually buy them at any hardware store. The
price depends on the length of the bulb. They are cheaper than the bulbs you
get at the pet store.
Would you like us to choose the plants for you? I will probalby ship on
wednesday.
Mary
Sweet Aquatics

I personally do not like designations of low, moderate or high light for plants because they are quite inaccurate. The truth is that the majority of plants available for the aquarium will grow fine in minimal light. If you don't want to accept my word for this, just look at the photos of the aquaria of several members like myself, Angel079, Wisfish and others. Angel079 has some plants that many would label as higher light requirement growing beautifully in her tanks with minimal lighting that some others would consider "low light."

I do believe you need to upgrade your light, as I detailed in my last post in this thread. Once you do, almost all the plants you listed before will do fine.

Byron.

Angel079 · 03-27-2010, 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Byron

If you don't want to accept my word for this, just look at the photos of the aquaria of several members like myself, Angel079, Wisfish and others. Angel079 has some plants that many would label as higher light requirement growing beautifully in her tanks with minimal lighting that some others would consider "low light."

I believe THE very tank Byron is ref to here is my 55g that I lowered from 64w to 32w only and then my plants really exploded within days, see results here http://www.fishtanks.net/aquariums/p...db7aa_full.jpg
There's plants in this tank that others and myself were CERTAIN they would not tolerate this lowering lights test and to all of our surprise that are doing great. Like I always say you don't need high tech or high end equipment and hardcore ferts to have health, thriving plants - Its all about the right balance

karjean · 03-27-2010, 08:57 AM

Byron and Angel are both right, throw away the myth. It all depends on finding the right light balance.

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