# Lighting requirements for my plants in 75 gallon tank??



## zwanged

Hi,

I am completely new to live aquarium plants so please forgive me if I ask stupid questions.

I have pennywort, hornwort, and java fern in my 75 gallon tank. Temperature is about 80F. pH is 7.2. The tank is stocked with a firemouth, blue acara, and a red-spotted severum. I plan to add a gold nugget pleco (L177) after algae starts to appear and the tank gets better established. The tank is 1 week into its initial cycle with SafeStart.

Currently the tank just has one 40W fluorescent bulb in its lighting fixture. The bulb is an Ecolux Hg 40W wide spectrum. The fixture can take a second bulb, should I just get another of the same type? 

So currently i am at about 0.5 WPG, with the second bulb of the same type it would put my tank at ~1 WPG. Is that sufficient for these plants (and OK for my fish?)? The tank does not get direct sunlight.

Substrate is pool filter sand. I didn't put any kind of fertilizer or anything in. I imagine I may need to later? I don't want to get involved with CO2 injection.

Here's a picture of the tank:



Your help is greatly appreciated.

-Zeke


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## BBradbury

*Re: Lighting for a 75 G*

Hello z...

If you just want to keep plants that need low light, then your 40 watt bulb is fine. Since you have a fixture to hold 2 bulbs, I'd look for a 48 inch, 40 watt, T12, 6500K. A 48 inch, 32 watt T8 will also work. You can keep Anubias, Java fern, and many of the taller Amazon swords. You can get creative and float pieces of dirftwood and attach plants like Water wisteria, Anacharis and Pennywort. Just loosely tie the plants to the wood with long pieces of black sewing thread.

Low light plants don't require CO2 or high end fertilizing. The best fert, long term is the kind the fish produce. Just feed the fish a good diet.

I keep the same type of low tech tank and my low light plants grow fine. Attached is a pic of one of them.

B


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## zwanged

*Re: Lighting for a 75 G*

Would all of my plants (java fern, pennywort, hornwort) be OK in low light? It would still be considered low light even with a second bulb, right? (with the second bulb that would be 1 Watt/gallon). Are the plants in my current setup going to be OK with the single 40W bulb?

-Zeke



BBradbury said:


> Hello z...
> 
> If you just want to keep plants that need low light, then your 40 watt bulb is fine. Since you have a fixture to hold 2 bulbs, I'd look for a 48 inch, 40 watt, T12, 6500K. A 48 inch, 32 watt T8 will also work. You can keep Anubias, Java fern, and many of the taller Amazon swords. You can get creative and float pieces of dirftwood and attach plants like Water wisteria, Anacharis and Pennywort. Just loosely tie the plants to the wood with long pieces of black sewing thread.
> 
> Low light plants don't require CO2 or high end fertilizing. The best fert, long term is the kind the fish produce. Just feed the fish a good diet.
> 
> I keep the same type of low tech tank and my low light plants grow fine. Attached is a pic of one of them.
> 
> B


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## jrman83

It would be very low light with just one bulb. I don't think the plants you listed or the others will need the second bulb, but it would be better if that is what you had. T8 bulbs seem to be easier to find, but most are 32W. Not sure what wide-spectrum means? It needs to be in a planted spectrum - 5500k-10000k. They will all work the same, just comes down to personal preference as they create different looks in your tank.


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## zwanged

Hi Jrman83,

Ok... I will look into getting a second bulb. Thank you!

-Zeke



jrman83 said:


> It would be very low light with just one bulb. I don't think the plants you listed or the others will need the second bulb, but it would be better if that is what you had. T8 bulbs seem to be easier to find, but most are 32W. Not sure what wide-spectrum means? It needs to be in a planted spectrum - 5500k-10000k. They will all work the same, just comes down to personal preference as they create different looks in your tank.


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## foster

I use 6500-6700K bulbs.The plants do well, and I like the color it makes fish, and plants look in the tank. Very crisp looking!!


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## zwanged

i replaced the old lighting strip as it had huge bulbs and i couldn't find replacements. 

New lighting is DeepBlue dual T5 system (54W x 2). Has blue LEDs as well. One bulb is actinic.

The red-spotted severum in particular comes out MUCH better both in person and in pictures.

Old lighting (single 40W giant fluorescent bulb)




New lighting pics:


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## jrman83

Actinics are no good for a planted tank. If the lights are outside the frequency I posted your plants will suffer over time and eventually die.


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## coralbandit

The actinic won't help your plants any,but if you can turn each bulb on seperately then you could ramp up from LED(night)to actinic(dusk /dawn) to daylight bulb and back down the same for more natural cycle and ease to fish.I use Blue LEDS(full blue{led version of actinic,but not true actinic})with my day light LEDS and love the color they render my fish and aquarium.


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## zwanged

So the actinic blue is useless for plants... Would you recommend replacing the actinic bulb with a second 10K 54W dayilght bulb instead, or something silghtly different?


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## coralbandit

anywhere inbetween 6500-10,000 k will be best for your plants.The higher the K the more blueish(crisp clean white) the color.The lower the K the more yellowish(orangish) the color.Possibly hard to notice the lights won't be blue(like actinic) or yellow (like incadescent) just trying to describe the color diff.Possibly either won't even be visably noticeable with the other bulb you already have.


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## jrman83

You may get some unwanted algae with that T5HO setup also. On the edge of too much without the use of CO2. I would start with about 7hrs a day max and adjust from there.


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## zwanged

I replaced the actinic bulb with a 6700 bulb. So now I have 6700 and 10k bulbs.

That's 108W / 75 gallons = 1.44W/gallon

When algae starts to appear, do you think my future gold nugget pleco (L177) can take care of it? 

-Zeke


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## jrman83

Do not try to use WPG rules with T5HO lights. WPG rules work with T8/T12, but that is about it. T5HO is different because it usually has lights with individual reflectors and depending on the quality of them (not all created equal), the lighting power can equal to as much as 3-4 times the rated wattage (higher end fixtures).

If you try and induce algae by keeping the light on too long, not likely your plec can keep up. You don't have to see the algae for them to get it. Put your hand on the inside of the glass and whether or not you can see it well, you'll probably feel stuff on the glass. You'll have algae, trust me. Any healthy tank has algae.


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## zwanged

Ok. 

I set it to run 7 hours per day with the 10k + 6700 T5 lights. Do you know if the DeepBlue Solarmax HO system is on the higher quality side as far as fixtures?

Thanks,
-Zeke




jrman83 said:


> Do not try to use WPG rules with T5HO lights. WPG rules work with T8/T12, but that is about it. T5HO is different because it usually has lights with individual reflectors and depending on the quality of them (not all created equal), the lighting power can equal to as much as 3-4 times the rated wattage (higher end fixtures).
> 
> If you try and induce algae by keeping the light on too long, not likely your plec can keep up. You don't have to see the algae for them to get it. Put your hand on the inside of the glass and whether or not you can see it well, you'll probably feel stuff on the glass. You'll have algae, trust me. Any healthy tank has algae.


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## oldpunk

zwanged said:


> Ok.
> 
> I set it to run 7 hours per day with the 10k + 6700 T5 lights. Do you know if the DeepBlue Solarmax HO system is on the higher quality side as far as fixtures?
> 
> Thanks,
> -Zeke


You are going to have an algae farm. Read this thread. It will really help you to figure out your lighting needs. 

Link deleted. Sorry guys, I miss read the rules. 

Pm me if you need to get to it again.


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## zwanged

Thank you for the link to the article, it is very informative! I'm using DeepBlue SolarMax dual T5 fixture. 

The stock 10K bulb was a DeepBlue Professional bulb, not sure what its Par rating is. I will replace it with the 6700 Coralife bulb as that IS on the chart. the two coralife T5 bulbs seem to be 30-70 PAR (medium-high) so I'm guessing 1 T5 bulb + 1 actinic will be plenty. 
I also bothered to install the little mounting brackets to space it up a little above the tank. Should help reduce the PAR *slightly* and keep the fixture clean.

Does this sound like a reasonable plan?

-Zeke



oldpunk said:


> You are going to have an algae farm. Read this thread. It will really help you to figure out your lighting needs.
> 
> Lighting an Aquarium with PAR instead of Watts


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## coralbandit

Than for the link OP. now I know where I stand.I guess I really didn't need all 6 48" strips over my 180(current true lumen pro).I have moved down to three before reading that.I think I'll be fine now.WOW! I always thought they were pretty bright but without real PAR( and not wanting to purchase meter) I've had to slowly remove strips to see what was going to be right.


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## oldpunk

zwanged said:


> So switch back to 10k + 1 actinic? I also bothered to install the little mounting brackets to space it up a little above the tank. Should help a *little*.
> 
> -Zeke


If you can just run one bulb, I would try that. I also wouldn't run the blue one unless you like the way it looks.


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## oldpunk

coralbandit said:


> Than for the link OP. now I know where I stand.I guess I really didn't need all 6 48" strips over my 180(current true lumen pro).I have moved down to three before reading that.I think I'll be fine now.WOW! I always thought they were pretty bright but without real PAR( and not wanting to purchase meter) I've had to slowly remove strips to see what was going to be right.


I hope it helps. And you are welcome.


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## zwanged

Ok I'll probably leave the actinic blue bulb off most of the time. Thank you again!

-Zeke



oldpunk said:


> If you can just run one bulb, I would try that. I also wouldn't run the blue one unless you like the way it looks.


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## zwanged

Hi again,

Hmm... upon further reflection I wonder if I should go through the trouble of returning this for the cheaper 2 x 28W version of this (two daylight bulbs) and save myself $50. Or do you think using a single 54W in this fixture will work better?

-Zeke


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## oldpunk

For plants that do not need high light, (yours are fine) you can either run 1 54w t5ho about a foot above your tank (maybe less, I think those reflectors suck) or run the 2x28w right above it. Either of those two options should keep you in the non-co2 end of the spectrum. It's your call really.


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## zwanged

Hi oldpunk,

With the metal legs, it's sitting about an inch above the glass lid. I can't go higher due to the canopy.

I'll call the store tomorrow and ask them if I can return /exchange it. Not sure if it's standard procedure for them to do returns for this stuff. If not or if it's too much trouble then i'll just stick with the single 54W T5 bulb in this fixture and hopefully it'll work out...

-Zeke


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