Our "new" 75g tank came with a 46" 4-bulb T-5 HO light. I'm still trying to figure out how to program it. But I'm assuming the two channels are separately programmable. So right now the plan is to keep two of the 6500K "daylight" bulbs, one on each channel, and add a red "grow" light to one channel and an actinic on the other. Then I'll program the daylight/actinic to come on first followed some time later by the daylight/red channel. With four 54W T-5 HO bulbs I should have enough light to grow anything I want. But I'm really curious whether the red and actinic bulbs will add anything to the mix. Or should I just stick with the daylight bulbs in all four slots?
Another question; where can I get the parts to suspend the light over the tank? The tank came with an awesome canopy. But the light and canopy won't sit on the rim at the same time. So if I want the canopy I have to put the light on top of the canopy which puts the light too far from the water for my liking. There is room for the light to fit inside the canopy. But I'd need to hang it to make it work. The only other option might be to add some braces inside the canopy for the light to lay on. But that seems kind of sketchy to me.
Well, the new bulbs arrived yesterday. I installed them when I got home this morning. Just as planned, I put the grow light on one channel and the actinic on the other. The combination doesn't create the weird colors like either does separately.
I would take pictures but the tank is cloudy. I didn't get enough water from the old tank. So we're suffering New Tank Syndrome.
The actinic is just there to give a spike in the blue range of the spectrum. Last I read, that is an range plants find useful. It also has the nice side-effect of balancing the red grow light so that our tank doesn't look pink.
We definitely plan a ton of plants. We prefer jungle tanks. Unfortunately, it looks at the moment like many of the plants we already planted haven't been getting enough light due to the cloudy water. I'm hoping they pull through.
With a good dirt substrate I see no need for fertilizers. We've also got blackworms which should be working to produce more plant food. I have zero interest in adding CO2. If the lights are overpowering I can simply run just one channel instead of both.
Even two 54 watt T5 bulbs may prove to be too much light without CO2 enhancement .
You could make up supports for the lighting to allow it to be hung over the tank out of electrical conduit with elbows and some clamps/screws to attach it to back side or ends of the stand.
Maybe would start plant's with no more than six hours a day for first few weeks and allow new plants time to adjust from likely immersed growth to fully submerged.
Myself ,others,are just trying to help you avoid predominately algae growth when too intense of light is being used for CO2 available.
Many tanks run fine with no added CO2 so long as you don't bathe them with too much light for CO2 available such as low tech and...you see that fertilzer's are available in right proportion's for plant mass and or method chosen.
More light does not mean you will be able to grow anything for some plant's will flat out struggle if they grow at all without CO2 to match lighting being used.
Almost five years later, contrary to popular opinion, we've had no significant problems with algae. Well, not until the fluorescent began to fail and created perfect conditions for a cyanobacteria outbreak. A new LED fixture (Current Satellite+ Pro) took care of that. I'll get a current picture soon.
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