# Not enough light wattage to grow plants?



## seaecho (Jan 31, 2012)

I'm generally very happy with my new 55 gal Top Fin tank. I'm still a newbie, and didn't realize until I checked, that each flourescent tube is only 17 watts! That's only 34 watts for a 55 gallon tank! I was shocked. I assumed it would be at least 1 watt per gallon, put I guessed wrong. Even my little 10 gallon has 14 watts.

Will a bigger wattage tube fit in there? Its 18." And will it be safe to use (I don't want to cause a fire). Right now I only have a java fern, tropica sword and marimo ball in there. But I want to get maybe a Val spiralis, a Giant Sword, maybe a crypt or two, Anubias, and Hornwort. Will any of these be able to live in such little light? What do you guys do in a case like this?


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

I doubt the light will hold a higher wattage bulb, but you can add a 48 inch shoplight to it and it would bring your light levels up. Just use dayllight bulbs in it.


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## hanky (Jan 18, 2012)

I agree, you'll have to get one of these,
All Season 4 Ft. 2 Light T8 Fluorescent Shop Light-1242ZG RE at The Home Depot


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## BBradbury (Apr 22, 2011)

seaecho said:


> I'm generally very happy with my new 55 gal Top Fin tank. I'm still a newbie, and didn't realize until I checked, that each flourescent tube is only 17 watts! That's only 34 watts for a 55 gallon tank! I was shocked. I assumed it would be at least 1 watt per gallon, put I guessed wrong. Even my little 10 gallon has 14 watts.
> 
> Will a bigger wattage tube fit in there? Its 18." And will it be safe to use (I don't want to cause a fire). Right now I only have a java fern, tropica sword and marimo ball in there. But I want to get maybe a Val spiralis, a Giant Sword, maybe a crypt or two, Anubias, and Hornwort. Will any of these be able to live in such little light? What do you guys do in a case like this?


Hello sea...

Apparently, you have two separate bulbs, so you're limited on what you can grow. It would be better to get a single strip and a 48 inch bulb. Vallisneria and Cryptocoryne will need stronger light. The Java fern and Anubias will be fine in low light. Stem plants need stronger light if they're planted, but will do well floated close to the light source.

If you get only low light plants, then a single 6500K, T8, 32 watt or T12, 40 watt bulb is enough to grow quite a few different, low light plants. Attached are pics of some of my low light, low tech 55 G "potted" tanks. All have a single, 48 inch bulb. 

B


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## seaecho (Jan 31, 2012)

That's amazing, BBradbury! All those plants and they are all so lush and healthy looking! What are the fish? Endlers? 

If I were to get the 48" strip, it won't fit in my hood, as I have the two hoods, so how would I suspend the light? You say to add a 48" shop light, but how do I do that? I may just keep to anubias and Java fern if its too technical to do, or if something would have to be built. I'm not a do-it-yourselfer girl! Thanks, hanky. I'll check out that strip at Home Depot and see if I can figure out how to do it.


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## seaecho (Jan 31, 2012)

DUH! Just now looked at the link, and I see it comes with a hood. Now, THAT I can do! Told you I wasn't a do-it-yourselfer! Thanks again.


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## hanky (Jan 18, 2012)

not sure what kind of hood you have when I had a 55 I had two glass covers and a 4 foot light just sat on top, some have 2 separate plastic hoods that you would have too replace with glass covers, sucks that they dont really have many options for 18 " bulbs


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## Donald Hansen (Jan 21, 2011)

Here you can see plants that I was able to grow in my 55 under 2 15 watt fluorescent plant lights. They are mostly low light plants. The pictures came out darker than I'd hoped but the one with the heater has a big bunch of weeping moss growing on the log. In the area of thick plants behind the angel, I have a thriving population, from babies to adults, of a mixture of Ghost and RCS. I did not have much luck with plants until I started adding a little plant fertilizer after each PWC. Have to be careful as to how much fertilizer or the algae will take off. Also, I change the fluorescent tubes every 8 months or so and never more than a year.

DLH


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## BBradbury (Apr 22, 2011)

seaecho said:


> That's amazing, BBradbury! All those plants and they are all so lush and healthy looking! What are the fish? Endlers?
> 
> If I were to get the 48" strip, it won't fit in my hood, as I have the two hoods, so how would I suspend the light? You say to add a 48" shop light, but how do I do that? I may just keep to anubias and Java fern if its too technical to do, or if something would have to be built. I'm not a do-it-yourselfer girl! Thanks, hanky. I'll check out that strip at Home Depot and see if I can figure out how to do it.


Hello again sea...

I've never used a shop light. I have no way of hanging them above my tanks.

The two strip set up leaves a gap in between, so no light gets through at all. I'd suggest getting a couple of 24 inch glass canopies to allow more light into the tank. They're just a couple of pieces of glass held together with a rubber strip and will support your strips. They're cheap, $15.00 a piece online, plus a little shipping. I use them on a couple of my 55 G tanks. With low tech, low light tanks, you have to use whatever means necessary to get every watt of light into the tank.

B


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Question is, how much light do you want? They make a 4-bulb shop light that is already setup to go to suspend from the ceiling. All you need is provide a couple of plant hangars. Super easy. Here are mine suspended...I wish all of my lights were like this....so easy to do maintenance with things off of the tank.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

You got this one:
Diamond Plate 2-Light Chrome Ceiling Fluorescent Shop Light Fixture-1241DP RE at The Home Depot

Or this one:
4 Light Heavy Duty Shoplight-1284GRD RE at The Home Depot

Both have been used for tanks and I haven't read anything bad about them.


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## seaecho (Jan 31, 2012)

jrman, that tank is just incredible. What a lot of planning and work that must have taken. I think I'm going to forego other options and just keep my piddly 34 watts after seeing how many plants you guys can grow, especially only 30 watts with a 55 gallon! I didn't think it was possible. I'll just stick with low light plants. Yes hanky, I have the two separate plastic hoods on my tank, and after looking at it again, realized that I would indeed have to replace it with glass. I don't care that much about having plants that require moderate to high light anyway. I'm so glad I don't have to stick with just plastic plants! I really enjoyed seeing the pics of you guys' beautiful tanks!


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## Donald Hansen (Jan 21, 2011)

Just remember to give the plants time to adjust. I wonder how many plants I've thrown out before I learned from this site to give them a chance. Some will take right off while others may take months. I've had plants, as they say here, "melt" back to just a little thing the size of a kernel of corn and now they are growing like crazy.

Do yourself a favor. Make a map of you tank and as you add plants mark their location on the map. Wish I had.

DLH


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

The pic was just meant to show how you could hang the lights, didn't mean to push you away from wanting plants. This tank has close to what is considered high light (elevated them to push to medium), CO2, and dosed near daily with ferts. Growth rates can be tough to keep up with, but overall fairly easy to maintain the plants. Low light plants can be in higher light levels if you choose. Appreciate the compliments.


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## hanky (Jan 18, 2012)

yea , great looking tank there Ben.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

Local home depot here has a 2 tube t-8 (32w/tube) utility fixture for around $10 or so.


I used a couple of those over my 55g mixed reef. Just set them on 2/4's on the end of the tank. You could also diy a hood to make it look better also. but when a fixture and 2 6500k tubes costs $16 and provided 64 watts, you have a little money left over for that kinda stuff.

my .02


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## Crazy (Mar 1, 2012)

Walmart also has a 48" 2 bulb t8 fixture for about 10 bucks with the chains and hooks to hang it.


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## Hawk1018 (Apr 12, 2012)

I have basically the same set up. I have a 55 with two 18inch hoods. I have about 30 watts of light as well. I am growing Hornswort fine and fairly fast. My crypts are doing pretty well I had one main plant and a couple of leaves that turned into plants..(now I have 3). My Italian vals are doing good...I have one that sent out a runner and another plant sprouted up. I have some water sprite floating at the top. Also have annubias and java fern doing pretty well. I put some new plants in there last week...one is a ludwigia and the others I can not remember the name of ...still waiting to see some growth out of them. None of them are dying though so that is good. I think that more important then lighting is the substrate ... make sure you have a substrate that is good for plants. I use play sand on top of plain kitty litter..(just clay with no additives ). Others use eco-complete and other similar stuff. With low light you are just going to have to wait a lot longer for your plants to grow and they may not have much color other then green. I will see if I can get a decent pic of my tank. I have to figure out how to convert to smaller size so I can put in my gallery. Oh...I also use a fertilizer ...made by Tetra...called plant food or something. I plan on getting a better one when this runs out though as there are some pretty good ones out there.


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## seaecho (Jan 31, 2012)

I sure appreciate all the great advice I'm getting here! Got a new PC, as my old one just died the other day, and had to buy an external dial-up modem, $50. I know, I'm living in the stone age with dial-up, but nothing else available here yet. So there goes the idea of extra lights at the moment. I'll just grow the low light ones and hope for the best. I have pea pebbles, so nothing high tech for substrate. I have Eco Complete in my 20 gal. and I like it. But couldn't afford its high price for the 55 gal. I use Flourish Root Tabs. 

Had no idea I might be able to grow crypts, Hawk. Exciting to look at them online anyway, and get some ideas. I need a couple of tall plants. I think one will be some sort of tall Anubia. I love Hornwort, but I HATE it when they lose leaves. I'm still cleaning up the mess in my 20 gal. from when a bunch of my Hornwort died. I think it was because the temp was at about 85 for 10 days when I had an ich outbreak. Almost made me want to give up on plants completely! Boy, was that frustrating. I have an Italian Val in my 20, and I like it. And mapping the tank to show where plants are (in case they melt) is really an excellent idea, Don. Otherwise I could end up with plants almost on top of each other! I love this board and all the info that can sure save a newbie a lot of heartache!


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## Donald Hansen (Jan 21, 2011)

Here's a couple of better pictures of my plants. That crypt, between the brown and red rocks and in front of an Anabias, is one that "melted" back to just a nub when I first got it about 6 months ago. Now it just gets better and better all the time. Same thing with the Weeping Moss. It was 2 or 3 months before it took off. That's another form of crypt in front of the log/Weeping Moss. Here's why I suggested you make a map of your tank and plants. If you were to ask me what crypt that is I couldn't tell you because I didn't practice what I preach.

You might want to take a look at aquariumplants.com. They have a section just for low light plants.

DLH


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## Hawk1018 (Apr 12, 2012)

here are some pics of my plants....
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/Hawk1018/IMG_3021.jpg
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/Hawk1018/IMG_3020.jpg
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/Hawk1018/IMG_3019.jpg
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/Hawk1018/IMG_3018.jpg
http://i947.photobucket.com/albums/ad311/Hawk1018/IMG_3017.jpg
tried to get a good pic of all of them....but I am not very good with the camera.


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## seaecho (Jan 31, 2012)

Good grief, Hawk! You are quite an artist! I need to get you over here to design my tank. (Too bad you're in Georgia, lol). I love how you planned your tank. Some of those rock pieces must have cost a pretty penny. The crypt is looking great now, isn't it? My Apon. crispus melted about halfway down, but is coming back now. Gives me hope after seeing how your crypt sprung back. And I love the way you have the Amazon Sword arranged (that *is *what it is, right?) to eventually hide the heater. Looks like its getting close to it now. Your tank is so neat looking, not messy at all. I can see now that I have many choices. My Italian Val has lost several fronds since I got it a couple months ago (its in the 20 gal) but the rest of it is green, so I have hope for it too. I cheated and ordered a fake corkscrew Val the other day, as I know they need more light than I have. (Don't tell anyone!) LOL


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