One time on this forum somebody compared plantedtanks as a three-legged stool. Lighting, co2, and nutrients. If any of the three is absent, plants will not flourish. That being said, there are numerous ways to get these factors into the tank.
What is the depth of the tank? Looks pretty shallow. What about two desk lamps with 6500 K bulbs? Cheap and would give you plenty of light. You could also look into the Finnex Planted Plus. If you choose to not do CO2 I would double dose Excel every day. Forget the Ray 2 unless you get Co2.
Git with the beamswork. Finnex is good but pricier but one thing to keep in mind is that both fixtures will need co2 if you don't want constant algae problems. If you're going low tech, a cfl or a small t8 fixture would do. Or you can try dimming the led fictures.
Or save money get a cheap desk lamp and spend your money on a pressurized co2 system. My monte carlo is doing fine under a 900 lumen bulb in a 6.6 gallon but I have co2. Dwarf hair grass not going fast but it's a slow one anyway. Trying a 1200 lumen 6500k bulb now to speed up the DHG carpet. Desk lamp doesn't look that bad and the bulbs are pretty cheap. So if it doesn't grow well or to much algae just switch the bulb.
Try finding a
CRI 90 bulb if possible I got a 80 one still fine.
Nice tank dude. I find 6500k cfls typically cast to much yellow too look good in high tech iwagumis but that looks great. I agree...in the op's case, cheap lights and just get co2.
Hit up Alan Le on here. He builds custom regulators, which can have up to about 10 needle valves on one regulator to run to 10 different tanks if needed. I was going to add 2 needles onto the regulator he built me, but decided to stick with 1 tank. If you ever need to add more you can send it back to him.
I decided to purchase a Finnex Planted+ 16" (and I will try to extend it out to 17.5" because the legs slide out of the light - I have the 48" version)
I also bought a DIY kit
The total for the two shipper with CA tax: $63.24
I now need to buy a few more things I believe, a bubble counter, a few bottles of soda..well I suppose I should just ask you folks what else I need to get the DIY going.
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