[Lynxie]

Hey all, I have 2 hygger 30" LED lights that span the length of my 30g aquarium and despite both of them running full force, my cabomba is dying and my ludwigia looks etoliated and angry. The Red Flame Sword, my Apongoton (sp?) and my Red tiger water lily look happy as clams. When I tried to do the lumen to wattage conversion, despite having both of these puppies on there, it still says I'm only getting about 1.75 wpg. I tried to look at some of the reccomended lighting options on "what is the best light for a planted tank" (thanks Google) and even looking at those reccomendations didn't see anything that looked like it was going to be particularly powerful, so my question is this: If I want good lighting and happy happy plants, what's a girl gotta do? Thanks!

 

[AceFish]

I had good luck with a fluval plant 3 on a planted tank. Finnex Stingray wasn’t as good. Keep in mind some plants grow better under certain conditions. Find the plants that work in your tank and get more of those.

 

[interstatewingrider]

I've been using Beamsworks DA FSPEC Pent. (DAlight Full SPECtrum, and pent means rows of 5 LEDs) and have been happy with it. They're pretty bright, economical, and you can purchase an accessory timer.

 

[minorhero]

Hey all, I have 2 hygger 30" LED lights that span the length of my 30g aquarium and despite both of them running full force, my cabomba is dying and my ludwigia looks etoliated and angry. The Red Flame Sword, my Apongoton (sp?) and my Red tiger water lily look happy as clams. When I tried to do the lumen to wattage conversion, despite having both of these puppies on there, it still says I'm only getting about 1.75 wpg. I tried to look at some of the reccomended lighting options on "what is the best light for a planted tank" (thanks Google) and even looking at those reccomendations didn't see anything that looked like it was going to be particularly powerful, so my question is this: If I want good lighting and happy happy plants, what's a girl gotta do? Thanks!

Lumen/watt per gallon doesn't work too well figuring out how much light to have as it ignores (among other things) how far away the light is from the plant. Typically par/ppfd at substrate is what we use to figure out strength of light.

a 30 inch long 30 gallon tank is probably 16" tall or less and if you have 2 of those hygger lights you could have other issues then just light. What fertilizer are you using?

 

[Lynxie]

From substrate to light it's about 17" total. I haven't been fertilizing actually aside from fish poop and the occasional use of Flourish Excel to try to help with algae. Suggested ferts?