# How is my lighting for starters?



## hughie (Sep 7, 2003)

Ive decided to get some live plants for my 60g community tank. Ive opted for some ech bleheri, some straight vallis and some elodea densa i think. i know these will grow pretty well in most conditions, but id like to get some plants with a higher light requirement.

I have two Tropical Sunlight 38watt 1050mm (42") FY38, well one is code FX38 but think they are the same. So its about 1wpg at the minute by my mathematics. What i dont know, and id like to, is whether my lights are any good. The tank is 48Lx18Wx24H and recieves plenty of natural daylight but not direct sunlight. The lights are on for about 13hrs a day. Ive been watching the youtube video Homemade Co2 generator and will be doing that if needed in the future.

So can i grow what are considered to be medium level plants in this tank with the current lighting? And what do i have to do to get some nice red coloured plants thriving?

Cheers!


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## KrBjostad (Jun 21, 2008)

I'm usually running 1.7 wpg and the only think close to red i could grow was wendtii red. medium level difficulty or medium light plants?


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## hughie (Sep 7, 2003)

KrBjostad said:


> I'm usually running 1.7 wpg and the only think close to red i could grow was wendtii red. medium level difficulty or medium light plants?


Medium light plants i mean. If ive enough light for those already, with or without ferts and co2, id be happy.

I also would like to tie one of the bleheri to some driftwood. Is it ok to do this with this plant?


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## KrBjostad (Jun 21, 2008)

bleheri? a sword? im not sure they attach to driftwood, and as far as i understand so far 2-3 wpg is medium light


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

with 1 wpg, i don't even know how well your e. bleheri will grow... at around 1 wpg, crypts, anubias, java fern, java moss, and a few others will do pretty well, but more demanding plants won't last long with that amount of light. as for red plants, they tend to need a lot of light.

in a 60g tank, diy co2 may not help much... you could try it, but at the very least, you would need to set up multiple bottles and time them so that you are keeping a pretty steady level of co2 production. it would be a pain in the ass to say the least. if you really want to take the plunge into a high tech setup with co2, a decent light fixture and a pressurized co2 setup won't cost too much and it'll save you money and hassle down the road. if you aren't gonna upgrade the lighting and do pressurized co2, i would just stick to your current lighting and low light plants without the diy co2.


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## hughie (Sep 7, 2003)

Ok thanks alot, advice taken on the Co2.

Ive confused bleheri with an amazon sword or something low light i think. i used to have something that looked like it a few years ago, and it thrived in this tank with less light, Im now aware its considered medium light but ill see how i get on with it. I didnt attach it to wood in the end. Cheers for your replies.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

hughie said:


> Ive decided to get some live plants for my 60g community tank. Ive opted for some ech bleheri, some straight vallis and some elodea densa i think. i know these will grow pretty well in most conditions, but id like to get some plants with a higher light requirement.
> 
> I have two Tropical Sunlight 38watt 1050mm (42") FY38, well one is code FX38 but think they are the same. So its about 1wpg at the minute by my mathematics. What i dont know, and id like to, is whether my lights are any good. The tank is 48Lx18Wx24H *thats a 90g if its those directions- assuming the same footprint, a 65 would only be about 18" tall*and recieves plenty of natural daylight but not direct sunlight. The lights are on for about 13hrs a day. Ive been watching the youtube video Homemade Co2 generator and will be doing that if needed in the future. *Not sure if it will be too effective in that large of a tank. You could buy 2l bottles of flourish excell if you wanted to help growth then just dose everyother day. Around me a 2L bottle is 35$ I think it was a 500ML bottle that lasted my 125g about a month or two on daily dosing so that should probably last you half a year easily. If upgrading anything, i would upgrade the lights a bit. You could do lights and co2, but unless your serious about planting i doubt it would be worth the cost for you.*
> 
> ...


I would just stick to crypts, java moss, java fern... as those are lower light plants. There are alot of kinds and colours of crypts so there are stil ltons of planting options and ive seen amazing crypt only tanks.


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## hughie (Sep 7, 2003)

Sorry my common sense floundered for a while there. My tank is a juwel Rio 240. I believe its 18H and 16W not 24 and 18.

Ive decided now to keep the tank and lighting as they are and grow the low level plants you all mentioned. Im going to research some crypts, and ive had java moss before which i had growing nice but it used to attract thick green algae at times. I had piranhas last time i tried plants, so it should be a bit less reckless in there at the minute!


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

hughie said:


> Sorry my common sense floundered for a while there. My tank is a juwel Rio 240. I believe its 18H and 16W not 24 and 18.
> 
> Ive decided now to keep the tank and lighting as they are and grow the low level plants you all mentioned. Im going to research some crypts, and ive had java moss before which i had growing nice but it used to attract thick green algae at times. I had piranhas last time i tried plants, so it should be a bit less reckless in there at the minute!


 Crypts are nice looking plants and i have a bunch in my tank going nicely. Just get some different species for diversity. Also, like you said, p's will often (well mine do at least) bit any tall plants. With crypts, they tend to justnip them since there lower rather then slicing a stem in half. I would lose whole jungle val leaves when i had them, especially around the paths they travel more


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## Eric99 (Nov 29, 2006)

The dimensions you gave are for a 90 gallon tank (48" x 18" x 24") so your watts per gallon are less than you think.


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## hughie (Sep 7, 2003)

Eric99 said:


> The dimensions you gave are for a 90 gallon tank (48" x 18" x 24") so your watts per gallon are less than you think.


So you only read the first post before replying then?


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