I have a 75 gallon tank and currently have an Aqueon Optibright LED fixture over it as well as a fixture with 2 T8s using daylight bulbs. I have a CO2 system that I am using dosing a small amount into the tank currently. My plants all look good and they are growing but I would like to add some plants that require a moderate to high light level.
I want to keep my Optibright LED fixture mainly for the blue moon lights which I like at night. I am thinking of taking the 2 lamp T8 fixture out and adding a 2 lamp T5HO fixture or a 4 lamp T8 fixture. Which way should I go? Or should I put in a 4 lamp T5HO? Don't know if that would be to much light?
Lighting is a place where it is easy to go too high. I might suggest trying the plants and then adjust IF needed. Meanwhile that gives a bit more time to study which might be the best way to step up on lights if needed.
What I feel makes this slow approach work is that plants do not die very quickly due to low light but just don't growth or color as well as we may want. Combine this with the way algae can just go berserk almost overnight if we get too much light and I like to stay low and slow.
I will take your advice. I had a bit of algae in my tank and since adding a little CO2 it is almost gone. My tank seems to be at a good spot now where algae is low, plants are growing (but not to fast to where I constantly have to groom them). My plants right now are low to mid light plants. I am just wanting to add some mid to high light.
I will follow your advice and add the plants and see how everything does with my current setup. Thank you for the responses.
I think you got some good advise. One thing I would add is if you choose to switch to a hi-light fixture it's usually advantageous to be able to run the two sets of bulbs dependently. This way you can have all the bulbs on (high-light) for just 2-3 hours. This is usually enough to satisfy hi-light demand plants and should have a minimal effect on algae as opposed to running high-light for the full cycle.
Thank you for the advice. I will remember that if I do decide higher light levels are needed.
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