Decent light for low to medium light plants on 36g bow front

1028 Views 9 Replies 7 Participants Last post by PlantedRich, Nov 7, 2016

Itsadeepbluesea

Discussion Starter · Oct 30, 2016

What would be a good quality light for low to medium light plants in a 36 gallon bow front? I'm looking for either LED or T5. It is a low tech tank (No CO2). Right now there are just java ferns and amazon swords in the tank. I haven't chosen my future plants but will plan them around this light fixture.

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elusive77

· #2 · Oct 31, 2016

I also have a 36G bow front and I use a Planted Plus 24/7. It has been working pretty well for me. All of my plants are growing pretty well. Most of my plants are lower to medium light plants and I don't run co2. I used the 24/7 mode for a while but I was starting to get a lot of algae. So I had switch to the Sunny mode and shorten my photo period, and things are much better now. So it is maybe even more light than you would need. But I prefer to have a little more than I need than too little. Plus if I ever decide to add co2 I won't have to upgrade my light.

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Itsadeepbluesea

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 31, 2016

Thank you for the info Elusive77

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sevendust111

· #4 · Nov 3, 2016

elusive77 said:
I also have a 36G bow front and I use a Planted Plus 24/7. It has been working pretty well for me. All of my plants are growing pretty well. Most of my plants are lower to medium light plants and I don't run co2. I used the 24/7 mode for a while but I was starting to get a lot of algae. So I had switch to the Sunny mode and shorten my photo period, and things are much better now. So it is maybe even more light than you would need. But I prefer to have a little more than I need than too little. Plus if I ever decide to add co2 I won't have to upgrade my light.

I agree with this. If it ends up being too much light, it has a dimmer.

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Itsadeepbluesea

Discussion Starter · #5 · Nov 4, 2016

Any word on issues with the longevity with these? When I read the reviews that seems to be the biggest issue. The stopped working after 6 months.

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PlantedRich

· #6 · Nov 4, 2016

You may be about to run into what I found when looking at LED. It is the new thing and I do like to cut energy use so I tried a couple. I found they were not quite ready and went back to tried and true. I know you specify LED or T5 but I might want to look at the total picture again.
I've gone back to standard tube lights that have proved the merit for years. I find great values in T8 fixtures with adding good bulbs. They have done a great job for years and they are priced right at this point as they are not the current "in" thing. I'm waiting for LED to improve both the quality and let the price move down. Without going to really expensive or suspect quality, I don't find the light spectrum to be a good value.
Others love them but I'm waiting!

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Ryan Stephens

· #7 · Nov 4, 2016

elusive77 said:
I also have a 36G bow front and I use a Planted Plus 24/7. It has been working pretty well for me. All of my plants are growing pretty well. Most of my plants are lower to medium light plants and I don't run co2. I used the 24/7 mode for a while but I was starting to get a lot of algae. So I had switch to the Sunny mode and shorten my photo period, and things are much better now. So it is maybe even more light than you would need. But I prefer to have a little more than I need than too little. Plus if I ever decide to add co2 I won't have to upgrade my light.

I also use the planted+ 24/7 on a 26g bowfront and i have diy co2, and run it in 24/7 mode.

So that might be a good future proofing light in case one day you might want to give co2 a shot. i love it myself, been running about a month.

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zuc

· #8 · Nov 4, 2016

It seems like a lot (enough to be wary) of the reviews on the planted 24/7 are negative due to its longevity. I would hate to invest more into something for a longer life when it reality it may break faster than a T5/T8

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fishman922

· #9 · Nov 7, 2016 (Edited)

I have a 15 watt T8 on a 26gal (~20inch tall) and I have not had issues with it being able to grow some plants. I cannot comment too much on its success as the setup is too recent but those T8 bulbs are like $8 on amazon. I might pump up the light if i think i need too... Also I don't like the way the hood is on the tank... My only real experience so far is it grows green algae and Anacharis really well.

If it can grow green algae I figure it can also probably grow most plants also. Note: I am trying only low tech setups.
also the light is about an inch from the water surface...
Plants have usually failed for me because my previous fish would eat them the day I put them in the tank and I didn't fert enough/properly... Lessons learned, light isn't all that matters...

I also use a some what backed off 15watt t8 on my 2.67gal and its great! My dwarf hair grass has been struggling in there but it wasn't very healthy to start with. I hope whats left survives...

Edit:
As a side note both lights are over ten years old! both have been run everyday for at least 6 years. I haven't had to do anything but replace a bulb.

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PlantedRich

· #10 · Nov 7, 2016

New is not always as great as advertised. We can often find things that work far better if we really don't get hung up on being in fashion.
I've got a guy that still carries a small pad of paper when on the job and he gets ribbed quite a lot about getting a new style notebook to make notes but I also notice that he is up on the rack, has the info, and gone while the newer folks are still trying to figure how to protect their expensive tablet computer!
We do all need to be aware that it takes a balance of light, CO2, and ferts and light is one of the easy ones to get too much of before we get ready and able to add the other two for the right balance.

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