Hello Everyone,
I am relatively new to the planted tank and I have quite a challenge ahead of me. My tank is very unique 375 gallon with so many tannins it is tea colored after 24 hours after a near 100% water change. Dont worry no fish yet. But of course I have plants. Im starting to grow baby tears for an aquascapet carpet plant look and I need powerful light so I am purchasing a 500Watt LED module (Extremely bright) to punch through to the bottom and grow my plants. I know there are ways to 'fix' tannins I just want to let nature take its course with them. I am faced with a very expensive decision. I can go with the 500Watt lamp 27"X16" that puts out 130lumens/watt=65000lumens for $1050 or I can go with the 500Watt lamp same dimensions that puts out 100lumens per watt=50000 lumens for $800. Additionally, I am trying to determine if I should include the cost of a dimmer which is an additional 30% per fixture. So Im looking for second opinions as (you may have gathered) I don't know everything about light. The fixture will be 6,500 kelvin for optimal plant growth and I have a 100Watt flood light on either side of the aquarium with 10,000 lumens each. It's pretty surprising how dim the light gets by the time it reaches the bottom. I know that lumens arent the best measure of light but its all I have to go on from the manufacturers and the easiest measurement for me to understand as watts per gallon doesn't seem to fit with all types of light sources. I also have many different wattages available to me (100-900) but I really like the 500 Watt. The only risk of too much light is algae right? And there are dimmer areas of my tank off to the sides where the shy fish could stay if they think its too bright. I am using miracle grow organic choice potting mix (which I found has too many wood chips), peat moss (the probable culprit of the intense tannins) and the back wall is entirely made of virgin cork (took forever but looks incredible and will make a nice plant wall). I also have an overflow with a standpipe that drops only an inch and a half for minimal agitation, auto CO2 injection with a pH controller from green leaf aquariums (the choice one with 15lb co2 bottle and pH controller), a semisealed sump (did the best I could) and two return pumps via inline ocean clear canister filters and a UV sterilizer. My well water is also very high in pH (high sevens) and my CO2 system is new so I am seeing experimenting and trying to bring it down with carbonic acid. So what recommendations do the more experienced and knowledgeable experts have? What fixture and accessories should I go with? Thanks in advance.
I am relatively new to the planted tank and I have quite a challenge ahead of me. My tank is very unique 375 gallon with so many tannins it is tea colored after 24 hours after a near 100% water change. Dont worry no fish yet. But of course I have plants. Im starting to grow baby tears for an aquascapet carpet plant look and I need powerful light so I am purchasing a 500Watt LED module (Extremely bright) to punch through to the bottom and grow my plants. I know there are ways to 'fix' tannins I just want to let nature take its course with them. I am faced with a very expensive decision. I can go with the 500Watt lamp 27"X16" that puts out 130lumens/watt=65000lumens for $1050 or I can go with the 500Watt lamp same dimensions that puts out 100lumens per watt=50000 lumens for $800. Additionally, I am trying to determine if I should include the cost of a dimmer which is an additional 30% per fixture. So Im looking for second opinions as (you may have gathered) I don't know everything about light. The fixture will be 6,500 kelvin for optimal plant growth and I have a 100Watt flood light on either side of the aquarium with 10,000 lumens each. It's pretty surprising how dim the light gets by the time it reaches the bottom. I know that lumens arent the best measure of light but its all I have to go on from the manufacturers and the easiest measurement for me to understand as watts per gallon doesn't seem to fit with all types of light sources. I also have many different wattages available to me (100-900) but I really like the 500 Watt. The only risk of too much light is algae right? And there are dimmer areas of my tank off to the sides where the shy fish could stay if they think its too bright. I am using miracle grow organic choice potting mix (which I found has too many wood chips), peat moss (the probable culprit of the intense tannins) and the back wall is entirely made of virgin cork (took forever but looks incredible and will make a nice plant wall). I also have an overflow with a standpipe that drops only an inch and a half for minimal agitation, auto CO2 injection with a pH controller from green leaf aquariums (the choice one with 15lb co2 bottle and pH controller), a semisealed sump (did the best I could) and two return pumps via inline ocean clear canister filters and a UV sterilizer. My well water is also very high in pH (high sevens) and my CO2 system is new so I am seeing experimenting and trying to bring it down with carbonic acid. So what recommendations do the more experienced and knowledgeable experts have? What fixture and accessories should I go with? Thanks in advance.