# Weak or strong light for my first aquascape?



## SusanneK (15 Feb 2022)

Hi! 
I'am a complete beginner and I wonder of you could help me now when I'm preparing for my first aquascape? 

I have a 50 liter aquarium (60*30*30) and the original lamp (in the hood) is only 7W and 900 lumen. So I thought that I perhaps need to buy a new stronger lamp and have been looking at the Chihiros LED system series wrgb 2. Do you think I should buy that or is my old lamp ok to start an easy-plant aquascape? Or should I buy a cheeper white-led lamp – perhaps I won’t see any difference? 

If I buy a new strong light I am afraid I will get algiers… If I increase the light will not the risk of algiers rise?

I have not yet decided what plants to buy, but I want to have some beautiful red ones in the future...  

And anther concern I have is that if I buy a lamp that does not have a hood (I know I have to do that   ) will not my Amano shrimps run away then?


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## noodlesuk (15 Feb 2022)

Maybe get an adjustable light, so you can vary the intensity? George Farmer talks about the light being the gas pedal in a low energy setup, so it is the main control mechanism for plant (and algae growth). Its about getting a balance, if you see algae, reduce the light intensity or just keep it on for less, 6 hours instead of 7. You could try this with your current light. If you choose the right plants, you maybe ok. Fast growing stems, hygrophila etc . 

Make sure you have lots of plants to use up the excess nutrients. My top tip, is pack the tank with plants. Red plants require a lot of work, so maybe hold off till you have the basics sorted.

I've had a single amano crawl out of a tank, of about 100 or more shrimp I've owned over the last few years, I don't think it is that common. I found it under my broadband router!

Good luck!


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## MichaelJ (15 Feb 2022)

SusanneK said:


> Hi!
> I'am a complete beginner and I wonder of you could help me now when I'm preparing for my first aquascape?
> 
> I have a 50 liter aquarium (60*30*30) and the original lamp (in the hood) is only 7W and 900 lumen.



Hi @SusanneK   Welcome to UKAPS!     That light might be just fine - can you adjust the intensity? I assume this will be a low-tech tank (i.e. No CO2-injection). Plants really don't require much light - and too much light intensity is a standing invitation to algae problems especially in a low-tech tank.



SusanneK said:


> So I thought that I perhaps need to buy a new stronger lamp and have been looking at the Chihiros LED system series wrgb 2. Do you think I should buy that or is my old lamp ok to start an easy-plant aquascape? Or should I buy a cheeper white-led lamp – perhaps I won’t see any difference?


You shouldn't get the Chihiros in fear of not having enough light with the LED that is build into the hood. But the  Chihiros will provide some nice options for controlling the light - such as color/timer/intensity etc..



SusanneK said:


> If I buy a new strong light I am afraid I will get algiers… If I increase the light will not the risk of algiers rise?


Just make sure you run it on low intensity.



SusanneK said:


> I have not yet decided what plants to buy, but I want to have some beautiful red ones in the future...


Make sure you plants dense for the get go. And add floating plants. There are plenty of good options in the easy category



SusanneK said:


> And anther concern I have is that if I buy a lamp that does not have a hood (I know I have to do that   ) will not my Amano shrimps run away then?


Yes, that is a concern. If you go without a hood you should make sure you keep the water level at least 5 cm. from the top. I recommend a cover/hood as it will also reduce evaporation.

Cheers,
Michael


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## SusanneK (15 Feb 2022)

Thank you for your answers!  
I supposed that I needed CO2 to have many plants so I've build my own simple CO2 system and it's working fine and the few plats I have seem to like it. So I guess that I could have a wider range of plants with CO2 now... Thanks for the link!  

I cannot adjust the intensity of the light in the hood right now, only the amount of time as you say...It sounds nice to be able to adjust the color and intensity but if you think I could grow some easy plants maybe I can start with the light I've got... Could be nice to my wallet...  

Good to know that amano shrimps does now escape so easily!   And that I will lower the water level if I buy a new light - I hadn't though about that...


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## SusanneK (18 Feb 2022)

I changed my mind and bought Chihiros LED system series wrgb so that I can change the intensity as you talked about... 
So I start with low intensity when I start a new aquascape? For how long? 

Thanks for your advice to buy a lot of plants and plant dense! I'll do that - and buy some floating plants too.


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## Welearn (12 Mar 2022)

Hi Susannek,
From my personal experience, if you are on a new aquascape I would start at 6 hours with a low intensity as not to shock your new plants. Once established you can increase the intensity and hours especially if you use floating plants.


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## _Maq_ (10 Jul 2022)

SusanneK said:


> I supposed that I needed CO2 to have many plants so I've build my own simple CO2 system and it's working fine and the few plats I have seem to like it. So I guess that I could have a wider range of plants with CO2 now...


I hate to touch your enthusiasm but managing high-tech tanks is not that simple. From what I've read and heard, simple and cheap CO2 equipment seems to be a straight way into troubles.
Secondly, it is not true that without CO2 injection you cannot use more demanding plants, incl. some red ones. It requires more patience and diligence but it's definitely possible.
Anyway, I wish you only the best results!


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## eminor (15 Jul 2022)

I failed at the beggining with strong light first because i never wanted bother with easy plant, in my perspective i need to be able to grow extremly hard plant to get motivation in the hobby, so i had 45w led over 10 gallon tank, resulted in a beautifull green water algae. I failed on every hard plant because yes my first plant was a high tech one...

After few years, on this forum i learned a lot, i also learned to trust me, and to see what's work for me, after lots and lots of fails, my latest scape take place, walichii is so far doing really good, that plant was my nightmare for last two years. So my advice is go to what you like, if you love challenge like me go high light, fail again and again or you can go slow with easy low tech. low tech is not that easy actually it's a totally different experience.

i'm addicted to CO2 too...

RO water is a god sent, it's 10000000 times easier to work with ro than tap water for me


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