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High-output light for 20" deep tank?

noobscaper

noobscaper

Member
Joined
30 Dec 2019
Messages
63
Location
Warsaw, Poland
I want to have a lush jungle-style aquascape in my 240l (120x40x50) tank and am looking for a light that would allow me to do this. My Chihiros A1201 doesn't seem to be doing much good, as my S. repens is really struggling to live, let alone grow, and the other plants (even amazon swords) aren't looking too hot either. The Rotala rotundifolia var. colorata is also quite yellowish-green, which suggests low light. I am dosing liquid ferts and CO2, so I don't think that's the problem.

Do you know of any lights that wouldn't break the bank (ie. < £300 if possible) that would grow my plants well? Also, preferably LEDs, as I don't like the idea of having to change bulbs. I've been looking at Twinstar, but are there any other options?
 
Gaseous - I would have stated if otherwise. I don't know what's happening with my swords. Back in a mega low-tech tank with gravel and really low lighting they grew like crazy, but now they're really struggling to grow any new leaves.
 
Hi, given your swords grew well in a tank with lower light etc, that also suggests light is probably not the main problem in your current tank.
Usual would be to consider your CO2 first, dosage rate (do you use a drop checker?) and flow/circulation round the tank. Many will suggest doing a ph profile Then consider ferts. You dont say what you are dosing or in what quantities. Ive grown colourata in lower light and it just grows green, the yellowing is suggestive of a nutrient deficiency.

As usual, some pictures would help and additional detail- substrate, filter, water chamge regime, light period, co2 period, fish stocking etc.

Happy new year.

K
 
Not these exact swords... Just saying the same species
Substrate - Aqua Art Aqua Substrate (a Polish aquasoil)
Filter - SunSun HW-304
Water change regime - 40% a week
Lighting period - 10 hours with a four hour siesta up to when I left for vacation (on vacation now): 8am to 12am, then 4pm to 8pm
CO2 period - 11 hours: 6am to 7pm
CO2 (can't tell bubble rate, too fast) is fed into the canister filter intake and goes through a spraybar (which disturbs the surface). Drop checker starts the day as dark green and turns lime green at noon, borderline lime green at shutoff time.
Fish stocking -
1x angelfish
1x bristlenose pleco
7x harlequin rasbora
4x dwarf neon rainbowfish
2x bronze cory (will add more soon)
4x molly

Circulation - underwater spraybar (from the filter) that points slightly upwards (angle of approx. 30 degrees)
Ferts - Aqua Art Planta Gainer Classic (micros - 30ml every week) and Planta Gainer Macro (macros - 7ml every day) up until last month, changed to Seachem Flourish (1ml daily) and Flourish Trace (4ml daily) when they ran out.

It seems to me the colorata is green at the base, something between yellow and red in the middle, and when I let it grow to the top, it turns flaming red, so I don't think there's a nutrient issue. It seems like the PAR decreases drastically going down - there isn't much of a colour gradient.

Will give pictures when I come back in a week.
 
Hiya,
In my experience what you've described is normal with colourata. But im no expert!

The general advice youll hear on this forum is that a siesta is unnecessary, your light period is a bit long and your co2 sounds a bit off. The drop checker should be lime green when lights go on ideally and its taking 6 hours to get to that point.

Could you try a light period from 12-8pm, with co2 coming on earlier, maybe 9am and upping the injection rate a bit?

Apologies for not recommending a light! Maybe that is the issue, but i think most plants can grow well enough without super bright light if co2 and ferts are on point. I'd try messing with other parameters before shelling out £££s on a new light.
K
 
Also, your filter has a stated flow rate of 2000lph. In reality, packed with filter media, its probably quite a bit lower. So you are probably quite far below the benchmark 10x turnover for a co2 injected planted tank. Additional flow via a powerhead, or additional filter could be another thing to consider.
K
 
OK. I'll try all of the above once I get back. I assume that by powerhead you mean the wavemaker-style things, and not the internal-filter-type ones?
 
How many GPH should I aim for with an additional powerhead and where would I put it?
 
Hi, yes a wavemaker type. I use a Fluval CP2 on my 90cm, I'd say you migjt want a bit bigger for 120cm. I'd aim for to get 'on paper' about 3500/4000 lph between the pump andbthe filter. Real world will probably be closer to 2000+ ish.

In terms of where to place it... assuming you have the spraybar pushing water from left to right (rather that front to back) you might want to try removing the spray bar abd having the outlet front right corner and the wavemaker back left. This hopefully create a sort of circular flow arond the tank.

But theres a bit of trial and error involved, just observe and see if you can spot wherr there are dead spots in terms of.flow.
K
 
Kezzab said:
be closer to 2000+ ish.
In terms of where to place it... assuming you have the spraybar pushing water from left to right (rather that front to back) you might want to try removing the spray bar.
Click to expand...

I've tried going without the spraybar already, but when I did, it blew my Hygrophila 'Thailand' apart so badly it was pretty much bent, so I'm not sure if that's an option. Could I, for example, limit the spraybar to only one piece (ie. approximately 10cm)?
 
Also, could I move this thread to a different sub (ie. Plant Help)? If I can't, mods, can you?
 
I think the thing is to experiment, try different combinations and see what looks to give you the best water circulation to all.parts of the tank.

All these 'rules' are just guidelines, each tank will vary a bit.

See if improving circulation improves the speed with which co2 diffuses into the water, ie how quickly does the drop checker get to.lime green?

Try moving the drop checker to different places in the tanks and see how it responds. Ideally you want it to be going lime green wherever you place it in the same time.

Do a variation and then give it time to see if it works, if its improving things then plants would generally be showing new growth after around a week to 10 days.

If all this fails, then maybe it is the light🙂
 
OK, thanks for all your help!
 
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