# Just Started A Planted Aquarium



## PiranhaMike661

Ok, I just set up a new tank this weekend and it will be my first attempt at a planted tank. The tank is a 35 gallon long with a fluval 305. I ditched the single tube flourescent that it came with and bought a ZooMed Aquasun Dual fixture HO T5 Light system (picked it up from Petco) and equipped it with (1) 39w florasun flourescent and (1) 39w ultrasun flourescent bulb. My substrate is layered about 3 inches of flourite and an inch of small gravel. I haven't planted anything yet because I want to make sure the tank is ready first. The tank is not cycled yet, but there's about 7 convicts from another one of my tanks in there. Anyway, I'm not really sure where to go from here so if I could get any advice, that would be great. I havent pulled any water params yet, I'll probably get to that tonight.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

That's a lot of light, are you running CO2?


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## PiranhaMike661

Is it alot of light? I thought the rule of thumb was 2-3 watts per gallon. I don't have a CO2 system yet, and wasn't sure that I needed one. At what point is a CO2 system necessary?


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## Vince302

I also think its a lots ! I have 1wpg on my 55 and still have to raise the light couples inches above the tank .

find this on plantedtank.net :

4.2 Lighting

Lights play an extremely important role in any planted tank. It is the driving force behind photosynthesis in plants. In the case of low-tech, non CO2 tanks, you need to make sure that you do not go overboard with your lights. Don't make the mistake of assuming that more lights, kept on for longer periods will make your plants grow better or faster. You will most likely be encouraging algae growth and doing nothing else. Although the Watts per gallon rule is a very general one, it still works well as a basic guideline. For this technique make sure to never go above 2 Watts per gallon, 1.5 WPG being an ideal target. Also remember that we are talking about Wattage of fluorescent bulbs (do not use incandescents&#8230;ever! And do not use the "Effective" wattage of fluorescent bulbs for this calculation). Remember that Spiral CFLs are more inefficient so you could lean towards the 2-2.5 WPG regime in their case. On the other hand T5 tubes can be extremely efficient and intense and you should definitely stick to 1-1.2 WPG with T5 tubes. For planted tanks, you should ideally look to have bulbs that are rated between 5500K-8000K. 6500K is a very popular choice.

It is usually advised that when you first setup your tank you should have a photoperiod of only around 6 hours. After a couple of weeks you can bump it up to around 8-9 hours. You probably shouldn't push it any higher than that. It's a good idea to buy an automatic light timer (6-7 bucks in walmart) to make sure that your plants are getting the same duration of lighting every day. If you go 10 hours on some days and 6 on others then it could lead to algae issues and also throw the plants off of their "routine".


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

The WPG rule really only applies to T12 bulbs, it can still be used as a rough guideline for T8 bulbs, but the rule goes right out the window when it comes to T5s and especially for T5HO. Depending on the type of reflectors, even one T5HO bulb can create algae problems if sitting directly on top of the tank.


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## PiranhaMike661

Ok, so should I replace one of those bulbs or should I just turn one of them off. They're individually controlled, so I can just keep one of them off. Will one 39W T5 HO light be enough? I'm not sure what I will be planting it with yet....I'm doin some research online but as of now, I have no clue.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

One bulb would be plenty, if you like the fixture and think you might upgrade to CO2 down the road, you could run the one bulb and raise the fixture if it's still too intense.


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## PiranhaMike661

Alright, I'll cut down to one. I'd like to get some CO2 setup, but can't seem to find a good deal online. When is it actually a requirement to have the CO2 setup? Also, the glass lid for the tank doesn't fit with the light fixture; will this pose an issue?


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

There isn't really a definitive line drawn as far as when you will need CO2, it all really depends on tank shape and size and what type of lighting you have.

I'm not sure what you mean about the glass lids...


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## PiranhaMike661

The hinged glass canopy that like 90% of tanks come with. I was just wondering if it matters whether the tank has a lid or not.


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## CLUSTER ONE

You should have a lid so your light doesn't get splashed or the humidity. Can't you just raise the light abit somehow and put the lid under it?


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## Sacrifice

I can agree 100% with what everyone is saying here. I used the WPG rule for my 75g and it burned me. I'd actually never heard until now that the WPG rule goes out the window when you're running T5HO bulbs. That would explain my problem. I have a duel strip light with 2 T5HO bulbs over my 75g that put me to somewhere around 1.2 WPG, but only running 8hrs/day and I had crazy algae problems. I removed one of the bulbs and now my tanks is almost completely algae free and my plants are doing great. Yes I'm not seeing amazing growth rates, but their colors are beautiful and the plants are sending out new shoots all the time.

Good Luck.


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## Ba20

Sacrifice said:


> I can agree 100% with what everyone is saying here. I used the WPG rule for my 75g and it burned me. I'd actually never heard until now that the WPG rule goes out the window when you're running T5HO bulbs. That would explain my problem. I have a duel strip light with 2 T5HO bulbs over my 75g that put me to somewhere around 1.2 WPG, but only running 8hrs/day and I had crazy algae problems. I removed one of the bulbs and now my tanks is almost completely algae free and my plants are doing great. Yes I'm not seeing amazing growth rates, but their colors are beautiful and the plants are sending out new shoots all the time.
> 
> Good Luck.


/\ This

Upgraded to a 90g from a 55g running pressurized CO2, I up'd my T5HO to a 6 bulb system, Try'd running 5 bulbs then 4, nothing but algae , Reverted back to just 3 bulbs things are back to growing like weeds.


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## 65galhex

Sorry, I dont mean to highjack the thread, but I might have just found the solution to the obscene amount of algae that I have. I have a 150gal and I have 2 36" T5HO lights with dual bulbs. They are only a couple inches from the top of the tank. I am going to try and raise them and see if that works.


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## Sacrifice

If that doesn't work try removing a bulb or 2. Also limit the amount of time the lights are on as well.


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