[Austin]

So I'm thinking I may upgrade the lights in my 50g because things grow slowly (or die), but nothing really "flourishes." I have 2x15W T8 6700K lifeglo bulbs. About 1800 lumens. So, 0.6 watts per gallon.

Firstly, will this be too might light? I was thinking I would only put one bulb in, giving me 54W. Is it possible to only put one bulb in -- anyone with experience? I want a low tech tank without CO2.

I was considering buying a dual T5HO 48" fixture since that seems to be the standard -- 2 and 4. Does anyone have any recommendations? I was looking at this: Odyssea T5 Aquarium Lighting
I seemed to find mixed reviews. What do you think? It's cheap, but will it crap out on me or burn my house down? And anyone who has/seen it.. is it black or gray? Hard to tell.

I want something that fits on top over the glass of the current "hood" kind of, doesn't need to be perfect... But I don't want to use the stands really, if that won't melt it or burn my house down...

I kinda like the current dim lights. I worry it may look too bright, but I want to have jungle val or something draping over the top, or floating plants if thats a problem?

I kind of like the "white" color these 6700K bulbs give off. I think 6500K is more yellow... hmm.

Any opinions on the strength of light and hardware please post.

 

[Austin]

Catalina Aquarium 48 Inch 1 x 54 Watt T5 HO Planted Aquarium Light

I just found this too. Seems better quality, and if I decide to go the single bulb route. Still looking for opinions on which route to go. XD

 

[Boredomb]

I would go with a single T5HO on that tank before I went with a dual. Btw I know someone who uses an Odyssea and never had an issue with it.

The current setup you have is pretty low light. On my 55 I use to to run a dual 48" T8 fixture and had amazing growth out of my plants.

A single T5HO would produce close maybe a lil more then that setup I had. If you go two you might run into algae problems without dosing Co2.

 

[Austin]

Yea I definitely don't want to grow a tank full of algae. And I don't want to dose CO2 (that'll probably change someday!). Is it even possible to get good growth without CO2?

A single bulb would practically double the brightness. I don't want to have to go back and get a double one later though. xP

 

[Boredomb]

Yeah you can get decent growth without Co2. I seriously can't answer if a dual T5HO would be alright on your tank or not. I can tell I would have never tried it on my 55 as I had a hard enough time with a dual T8 and algae. I had to have floaters or would get black bush algae. Every tank is different and so is the setup. What might work on ones tank may not work on another.

 

[Austin]

Hmm that's interesting. So, if a single t5ho would be the same as a double t8, and you had algae with that, should I maybe just replace my lights and keep 30w t8? Hmmm
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[Boredomb]

Hmm that's interesting. So, if a single t5ho would be the same as a double t8, and you had algae with that, should I maybe just replace my lights and keep 30w t8? Hmmm
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Depends on the plants you want. Anything slow growing and doesnt need much light then leave the light the same. If you want a tank full of fast growers like stems then you have no choice but to upgrade. Its all about what you want. Later down the road I figured this out. Right now I have that same fixture sitting on my 2 10 gallon tanks. So it lights both of them with one light fixture and I haven't seen any algae in one tank at all but the other has some. The difference is plants. One has a tank full of fast growing plants and the other with the algae has slow going plants. Its all about what you want and how you are willing to make it work.

 

[Austin]

Maybe I can get away with jungle vallisneria, swords, and crypts. I would be okay with that. But would higher lights make them grow quicker? That's kind of my goal. I don't have a huge interest in demanding plants, but the current ones grow fairly slow.

I recently got hygrophila and red tiger lotus to see how they'd do. They probably won't live without the upgrade. I suppose that would be fine though. I just want my current plants to grow faster to keep the tank cleaner.

I probably should just go with replacing the bulbs. They probably are losing a lot of strength. But don't want to invest 30$ (I like life glo) if I should upgrade the fixture.

Hmm.
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[ChuckinMA]

Boredomb - where you using duckweed as your floaters? Or is there a better alternative? The duckweed I have spreads out way too fast.

 

[Boredomb]

Boredomb - where you using duckweed as your floaters? Or is there a better alternative? The duckweed I have spreads out way too fast.

At one I had that stuff and hated it. Nothing wrong with it pre say I just didn't like it. It spreads super fast and is hard to control buy is great as nitrate intake plant. I now use Watersprtite or Frogbit.

 

[Boredomb]

Maybe I can get away with jungle vallisneria, swords, and crypts. I would be okay with that. But would higher lights make them grow quicker? That's kind of my goal. I don't have a huge interest in demanding plants, but the current ones grow fairly slow.

I recently got hygrophila and red tiger lotus to see how they'd do. They probably won't live without the upgrade. I suppose that would be fine though. I just want my current plants to grow faster to keep the tank cleaner.

I probably should just go with replacing the bulbs. They probably are losing a lot of strength. But don't want to invest 30$ (I like life glo) if I should upgrade the fixture.

Hmm.
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Brighter lights alone won't make the plants grow faster but if the lights are hindering the plants then you might some faster growth.

If you are going to stick with those plants then your current setup with new bulbs might work. I don't know thro never had those types of lights on a 50 or in my case a 55 which is about the same.

Word of caution on the Jungle VAL. If you have soft water it probably won't do well for ya no matter the lights. If you have medium or hard water it will or should grow fine but it gets huge!!! Like I had some planted in my 55 and it would grow up and span thellength of the tank and then some! So if you have too many they will work at shading the plants below and already having low lights that might not be best idea unless that's your goal.

 

[avraptorhal]

If algae stops you from upgrading your lighting remember that you can control the lighting time which will affect the algae.

I had brown algae after I upgraded to dual T5 HO. By cutting from 11 hours to to 10 hours the brown algae is gone.

 

[Boredomb]

If algae stops you from upgrading your lighting remember that you can control the lighting time which will affect the algae.

I had brown algae after I upgraded to dual T5 HO. By cutting from 11 hours to to 10 hours the brown algae is gone.

This is true but you have to remember that there other factors that play into effect other then just light duration. Intensity is one and not every fixture is the same. Tank size, plants, fish, and nutrients all can effect it. I never said that a Dual T5HO wouldn't work just said I wouldnt try it.

 

[BWG]

I suck with lighting, but here's what I know from experience.

I have a 29 gallon (so one inch shorter than a 50) with a 2 bulb T5HO fixture from Odyssea. It's a 36" fixture so I have overhang. I can grow a nice variety of stems. When I run out of CO2 algae grows worse, especially BBA. The light is too strong to be sitting on the tank without CO2. That is with some floaters and with the light being on just 6 hours. I only let the light on 7 hours with CO2. I'm actually thinking about downgrading to a Catalina T5NO.

I previously used a Fishneedit dual T5HO on my 29 gallon. Worked well, but I had a 24" fixture on a 30" tank. Stems along the side frequently did poorly and eventually died. That was a much better light for being run without CO2. If I had a longer one I might still be using it. The reflector is just not as good, so less intensity.

Now a 50 gallon is a deeper tank in regards to width. I've never tried to light a tank like that. I have asked around before though and been told one of the best ways is to get a slightly stronger light and suspend it slightly over the tank.

 

[Chesh]

Hey, Austin!

Looks like you've gotten a lot of good input to think on already. I'm kind of subbing in just to learn and hear what the others have to say. . .

I don't have the experience to help with an upgrade, but I can tell you that you can have flourishing plants with what you have right now - you just have to pick the right plants, and stick with them. My current setup is a pretty well planted 55g, and I have the same lighting as you - 2x15W T8 6700K lifeglo bulbs - with a bonus canopy of floating plants, just in case my lighting wasn't low enough already ;-) This tank has been running for about a year now, and though growth is pretty slow, it's steady. . .

I can't grow a stem plant in this tank to save my life, unless it's floating. The swords I have would definitely appreciate better lighting, but they keep slowly plugging along. My Crypts, Anubias, ferns, and mosses are happy enough, and of course, the floaters have to be cleared out a little bit every couple of weeks.

I feel like this tank, with these plants, would be happier if I could double the lighting I have right now - but it's doing pretty good just as it is! Sorry I'm of no help with questions on an upgrade, but I wanted to show you that you can get a lot of plants to grow for you with just the lighting that you have now Good luck!

 

[Austin]

I don't have time to write a more detailed response at the moment but thanks for all the replies. I think I'm going to head to lowes to buy some GE 6500K lights to replace them for now. We'll see how that goes.
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[Austin]

I didn't get the GE because they were only 700 lumens... the Life glo is 960...

Brighter lights alone won't make the plants grow faster but if the lights are hindering the plants then you might some faster growth.

If you are going to stick with those plants then your current setup with new bulbs might work. I don't know thro never had those types of lights on a 50 or in my case a 55 which is about the same.

Word of caution on the Jungle VAL. If you have soft water it probably won't do well for ya no matter the lights. If you have medium or hard water it will or should grow fine but it gets huge!!! Like I had some planted in my 55 and it would grow up and span thellength of the tank and then some! So if you have too many they will work at shading the plants below and already having low lights that might not be best idea unless that's your goal.

I have hard water. I think they appreciate the carbonates? I love that it gets huge!

I'm not sure of the exact species of vallisneria I got. It has about 1 cm thick leaves so I figured it was jungle. I've never really seen a jungle val in real life and had it identified to me though. For $3 i figured I'd see how it does. Maybe I'll attach a picture. It was pretty beat up though, but got 3 plants in the bunch. One was an off shoot. I think it's grown about an inch in the past 2 days already.

This is true but you have to remember that there other factors that play into effect other then just light duration. Intensity is one and not every fixture is the same. Tank size, plants, fish, and nutrients all can effect it. I never said that a Dual T5HO wouldn't work just said I wouldnt try it.

Hmm, even if I can turn down the light photoperiod, don't want to significantly lower it. I'd rather view my fish longer.

I suck with lighting, but here's what I know from experience.

I have a 29 gallon (so one inch shorter than a 50) with a 2 bulb T5HO fixture from Odyssea. It's a 36" fixture so I have overhang. I can grow a nice variety of stems. When I run out of CO2 algae grows worse, especially BBA. The light is too strong to be sitting on the tank without CO2. That is with some floaters and with the light being on just 6 hours. I only let the light on 7 hours with CO2. I'm actually thinking about downgrading to a Catalina T5NO.

I previously used a Fishneedit dual T5HO on my 29 gallon. Worked well, but I had a 24" fixture on a 30" tank. Stems along the side frequently did poorly and eventually died. That was a much better light for being run without CO2. If I had a longer one I might still be using it. The reflector is just not as good, so less intensity.

Now a 50 gallon is a deeper tank in regards to width. I've never tried to light a tank like that. I have asked around before though and been told one of the best ways is to get a slightly stronger light and suspend it slightly over the tank.

Do they have t5no? I can't seem to find those anywhere.

Hey, Austin!

Looks like you've gotten a lot of good input to think on already. I'm kind of subbing in just to learn and hear what the others have to say. . .

I don't have the experience to help with an upgrade, but I can tell you that you can have flourishing plants with what you have right now - you just have to pick the right plants, and stick with them. My current setup is a pretty well planted 55g, and I have the same lighting as you - 2x15W T8 6700K lifeglo bulbs - with a bonus canopy of floating plants, just in case my lighting wasn't low enough already :wink: This tank has been running for about a year now, and though growth is pretty slow, it's steady. . .

I can't grow a stem plant in this tank to save my life, unless it's floating. The swords I have would definitely appreciate better lighting, but they keep slowly plugging along. My Crypts, Anubias, ferns, and mosses are happy enough, and of course, the floaters have to be cleared out a little bit every couple of weeks.

I feel like this tank, with these plants, would be happier if I could double the lighting I have right now - but it's doing pretty good just as it is! Sorry I'm of no help with questions on an upgrade, but I wanted to show you that you can get a lot of plants to grow for you with just the lighting that you have now Good luck!

Hmm, I guess it would probably be okay with just replacing the light bulbs. I just don't wanna spend 40$ to try it out and decide to upgrade. With the current lights the sword seems to be struggling, but maybe they've just lost a lot of intensity. One of them seems noticeably dimmer than the other...

 

[Boredomb]

They do still have T5NO but they aren't as common anymore. You can order them online. How old are the current bulbs you have now??

Ohh the Petsmart near me has T5NO through I don't know how good they are??

 

[Austin]

Hmm idk if I'm the only one who has trouble finding things online. I couldn't hardly find any t5no. Maybe I'll keep searching.

I can't even tell you how old the bulbs are. I had a period of a year to a year and a half where I took a haitus from fish keeping. So I can't remember how long they ran before that. I had a brilliant idea and tried to use them to grow some tomato seedlings at one point. I wish I could remember. My memor is terrible. I cant' imagine it was that long though...


Will the cheap ballasts ever affect the intensity? They came with the tank.
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[Boredomb]

I have no clue if the ballast can or not. I can tell ya if those bulbs are older than a year and it sounds like they could be. They lost most of their intensity and start effecting the plant growth. They should be replaced every year when growing plants.