[illumnae]

Hi all, after almost a decade hiatus from planted tanks, I'm considering converting my reef tank to a planted discus tank. I already have most of the equipment I need, e.g. CO2 tank and regulator from my calcium reactor setup, dosing pump for fert, etc.

One thing I'd really like to reuse is my current lightset, an ATI Powermodule hybrid 8x80w. My tank is 72 x 28 x 20, and the light is perfect for my corals at 7 inches able the water level. Will this be too much light for plants? I can raise it higher if need be, but how high?

Aso, what t5ho tubes are recommended these days?

 

[Onyx165]

You've basically got one of the most powerful lights in the entire aquarium market there!

Its not so much that you'll have too much light for the plants, but an excess of light for growing a whole bunch of algae. In addition, general discus wisdom holds that they prefer dimmer light. In addition to raising the light a little, I'd only run 4 bulbs on your fixture.

I'd go with 2-3 6500k bulbs (giesemann tropic, zoomed ultrasun, GE 6500k) and 1-2 pink/color bulbs (giesemann superflora, zoomed florasun, ati purple+, GE 3000k)