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What is high light and low light in watts?

1062 Views 1 Reply 2 Participants Last post by  Quantum
Hi everyone.

I have been looking online for like an hour trying to figure this out. Today, I bought a tank with a light fixture for two T5NO bulbs. Each bulb is 14 watts. I want to have the option of growing plants with high light requirements. Would I be better returning it and buying a different tank with a T5HO light fixture? Would the T5NO 28 watts (total) be considered low, medium, or high?

Edited to add: The tank that I got with the T5NO is 25 gallons.
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there really is no set definition because of all the different types of lighting systems now available; x number of watts of T12 is less light output than that from T5 with the equal wattage, then there is LED, which is more efficient still and will produce more visible light per watt, there are also variables within the same lighting type, e.g. two T8 bulbs in the same fixture, but made using different materials can differ in light output, this is usually not a huge difference in that most modern fluorescent bulbs use triphosphors as opposed to the halophosphors, but it can make a difference (I think I've seen up to 10%)

I like the aqeon/coralife T5 fixtures, I would just experiment and see what works and what doesn't, I think you will find that you can grow quite a few different plants with that set up, I have the single tube version over a 29 gal and even with a lot of floating plants, the crypts and java fern below grow well
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