Lighting ?

[pwrmacG4]

just curious how strong of a light I need to have when I get my new tank. Is a 108w light fixture enough for a 75gal tank? I plan to have it heavily planted.. thanks for any input.

 

[alter40]

It depends on what type of plants you want and how high tech you plan on doing this tank.

With the strength of lighting your looking at I would say your limited to pretty much only low light plants.

 

[pwrmacG4]

how strong should I go? 260w?

 

[pwrmacG4]

bumped for more replies

 

[Lotus]

You'll want at least 2 watts per gallon to grow a nice variety of plants.

 

[pwrmacG4]

so I need to have at least 150 watts of lighting. well if I use the stock light that will come with the tank.. and a newer light I should be fine.

I am going to get a second timer so I can have the less powerful light come on first and a few hrs later have the powerful light come on and stay on for about 4 hrs and then go off keeping the less powerful light still on.. and then it will go off a few hrs later.. total of about 9-10hrs. trying to replicate the sunrise-sunset.

 

[pwrmacG4]

I will have a total of 240w of lighting. I purchased 1 light so far that has 108w total.. 1 12000k daylight bulb and 1 plant bulb. I am purchasing another light fixture that is 130w.. that should be good enough huh?

 

[catfishbum]

i would just time both the lights to come on at once, for about 9-11 hours. youll have to watch your tank close for algae or of your plants start to close up after the light has been on for 10 hours or so, theyll let you know when theyve had too much light.

as for that 12000k bulb i personally think that is way too much on the kelvin scale, im pretty sure plants do best in the 6-8k range. I have 4 6700k bulbs and they work great. Lighting at least to me is a tricky game (especially in a bigger tank), too much and you get problems, not enough and no plant growth. You have about 3.2 wpg if you go with 240 watts, thats a lot of light without c02 and ferts. Its a hard game to play at first but try different things, youll be able to tell pretty quick what works and what doesnt. I am at about 2.1-2.2 wpg and running light c02, i have a small algae problem but i think its because i dont have enought plants to use the nutrients in the tank. you should consider c02 if you are running that much light IMO.

Good Luck

 

[dogdoc]

My .02. If that 108 watts were from t-5 HO's in the right spectrum and with good individual reflectors like TEK, you'll be surprised at what will grow under them. Especially if you have CO2.

 

[Fuzz16]

you can also burn low light plants with too high of light.