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Is this enough lighting to start a planted tank?

1069 Views 2 Replies 2 Participants Last post by  Homer16
I purchased a 3 gallon LED tank for a female Betta. I was curious if the lighting was sufficient for plants? I want to start a planted tank but wish to start small

Heres a link to the tank I got
Marineland Crescent 3 Gallon Aquarium System - Fish - Sale - PetSmart
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I purchased a 3 gallon LED tank for a female Betta. I was curious if the lighting was sufficient for plants? I want to start a planted tank but wish to start small

Heres a link to the tank I got
Marineland Crescent 3 Gallon Aquarium System - Fish - Sale - PetSmart
Normally an LED for plants is a 1 Watt bulb array (8 bulbs in a 24" fixture for example). That has 16 so I would assume it is using the 0.065 Watt bulbs for a total of 1.04 Watts... in 3 gallons that should be able to light most plants, without getting into the really light needy plants... trouble will be that they may not be the right colour, I couldn't see the Kelvin rating, should be in the 6500K range for plants.

Smaller tank, lower light, crypts, ( parva crypt , crypt 1 ) java fern would be good choices. They might even grow with just the ambient room light.

That's a pretty small tank for most fish... what are your fish plans... if any?

Jeff.
Normally an LED for plants is a 1 Watt bulb array (8 bulbs in a 24" fixture for example). That has 16 so I would assume it is using the 0.065 Watt bulbs for a total of 1.04 Watts... in 3 gallons that should be able to light most plants, without getting into the really light needy plants... trouble will be that they may not be the right colour, I couldn't see the Kelvin rating, should be in the 6500K range for plants.

Smaller tank, lower light, crypts, ( parva crypt , crypt 1 ) java fern would be good choices. They might even grow with just the ambient room light.

That's a pretty small tank for most fish... what are your fish plans... if any?

Jeff.
I just have a female betta in there and *may* add a shrimp or 2 :)
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