[SamuraiTak]

hey guys,

i want to grow some hc in my fluval edge, and I have some questions about the lighting it needs, because i know it needs high light. right now i have replaced the halogens with a cfl 40w equivalent (7w) t10 330 lumen 6500k bulb
is this enough lumens, because the light isn't too bright, but i know it should be enough watts and good color range?

thanks for the help!

 

[tbarabash]

Not sure how yours will do, but would guess it may survive but definitely not thrive. I am currently growing HC in my edge with a coralife 10W CFL (Don't know how many W equivalent) 6700K bulb and two mr11 11 LED bulbs at 180lumens each, although lumens doesn't really mean all too much with aquatic plant growth. Growth was almost nonexistant for the first month, started up slowly for the second month (I think I had an iron defficiency when about 1/3 of my leaves started to yellow, dosed some extra iron and they greened up in a couple days) and now just entering the third month about half of it is quite effectively spreading nicely with runners, the other stuff seems to be growing in vertical 1" clumps and not spreading over the bottom as quickly as the other stuff. The HC that is growing bushier and taller is directly underneath the 10W CFL which is strange, I thought since it was closer in more direct light it would be sending runners before the stuff on the darker side of the tank.

I am using eco complete, ~2" with root tabs as well as dosing flourish trace and flourish comprehensive with CO2 running at about 1bps. The rest of the plants in my tank are growing like frickin weeds and require weekly trimming at the minimum