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Is my light good enough?

nijat11

Member
Joined
5 Mar 2023
Messages
363
Location
The Netherlands
Hello all! Please do not judge seriously, I`m quite new.
I have an aquarium 180x60x80. And I have 2 x ZetLight Lancia Tropical 1500mm and 1 x Zetlight Lancia Tropical 430 mm.
Should I consider it is as a low/medium/high light?
Is it enough for growing medium plants ? (Alterhathera, Rotala roundofolia)
Thank you in advance!
 
Is your tank 80 cm tall? That's quite unusual...
I don't know your lights, yet in case, I think you'll have to find out for yourself, mate.
Light is not everything, anyway. Many other variables will decide the fate of your plants.
 
Is your tank 80 cm tall? That's quite unusual...
I don't know your lights, yet in case, I think you'll have to find out for yourself, mate.
Light is not everything, anyway. Many other variables will decide the fate of your plants.
Yeap, it is a custom made tank. Is there any good resource to read about this to know if it is good or not. Light is around 70-73 sm hight
 
Is there any good resource to read about this to know if it is good or not.
We have a couple of members who are super good at everything to do with lighting, @oreo57 comes to mind, maybe he can help you work out the specifics. He usually replies to most threads posted in the lighting section.

But in general we tend to see a lot of people suspect the light is the problem first, when many times it turns out to be something else.
Even went through this process myself, when I started getting really interested in plants for real.
It wasnt the light that was the problem that time either 😅 Just saying this to let you know, its something to be aware of :geek:
 
And I have 2 x ZetLight Lancia Tropical 1500mm and 1 x Zetlight Lancia Tropical 430 mm.
Should I consider it is as a low/medium/high light?
Is it enough for growing medium plants ? (Alterhathera,
Not much info out there on the par output of this light but I found a bit.
Here's the info we do know.
LF.jpg


So 56w and you have 2 units.
One Czech website makes this claim about the 48w 1200 light.

"Every manufacturer measures intensity differently and it's very confusing. We measured different lights: Zetlight WRGB ZP4000-1200P according to our exact measurements has 4400 LM, and in water at a depth of 40 cm with one light measured 113 PAR."


Can we take this reading at face value? Probably not because they're trying to sell the light, but without any other sources of info we'll use it just for the fun of it.
Obviously your light is the higher wattage 1500, for the sake of argument let's assume it has the same 113 par output at 400mm, but wait, your light is 730mm above the plant. Fear not, we can use the inverse square law and try and guesstimate what it would be at that distance, using this calculation which I'll be honest is a tad above my head we end up with a figure of about 33 par, add in a bit of overlap because you have 2 lights and maybe we can hit 40 par directly under the light.

These numbers are complete speculation of course, I've made loads of assumptions, used a par reading that may or not be accurate, and tried to do a calculation that at best isn't exact when it comes to light travelling through water and bouncing off glass walls and then there's my limited understanding of the inverse square law 😀

How does this help answer your question. Well if the number of 40 par at your substrate is anything like correct then yes that's enough light to grow alternanthera sp of plants, it would probably be considered in the low end of light intensity, but still enough to comfortably grow them.

My sums could be well off, so take them with a pinch of salt.
What I can say with some confidence is that alternanthera can be grown in a low tech tank without high light levels. Will they be the beautiful specimens that we see in some tanks, maybe not.

Here's some alternanthera grown low tech 1200mm long tank with 1 standard fluval aquasky light (14.5 W) 450mm from the substrate, guesstimate by me about 20 par. Not perfect, but alive.
20201213_141700.jpg


Like the others have mentioned, plants fail for lots of reasons, lack of light should be fairly low down on that list.
 
Not much info out there on the par output of this light but I found a bit.
Here's the info we do know.
View attachment 202411

So 56w and you have 2 units.
One Czech website makes this claim about the 48w 1200 light.

"Every manufacturer measures intensity differently and it's very confusing. We measured different lights: Zetlight WRGB ZP4000-1200P according to our exact measurements has 4400 LM, and in water at a depth of 40 cm with one light measured 113 PAR."


Can we take this reading at face value? Probably not because they're trying to sell the light, but without any other sources of info we'll use it just for the fun of it.
Obviously your light is the higher wattage 1500, for the sake of argument let's assume it has the same 113 par output at 400mm, but wait, your light is 730mm above the plant. Fear not, we can use the inverse square law and try and guesstimate what it would be at that distance, using this calculation which I'll be honest is a tad above my head we end up with a figure of about 33 par, add in a bit of overlap because you have 2 lights and maybe we can hit 40 par directly under the light.

These numbers are complete speculation of course, I've made loads of assumptions, used a par reading that may or not be accurate, and tried to do a calculation that at best isn't exact when it comes to light travelling through water and bouncing off glass walls and then there's my limited understanding of the inverse square law 😀

How does this help answer your question. Well if the number of 40 par at your substrate is anything like correct then yes that's enough light to grow alternanthera sp of plants, it would probably be considered in the low end of light intensity, but still enough to comfortably grow them.

My sums could be well off, so take them with a pinch of salt.
What I can say with some confidence is that alternanthera can be grown in a low tech tank without high light levels. Will they be the beautiful specimens that we see in some tanks, maybe not.

Here's some alternanthera grown low tech 1200mm long tank with 1 standard fluval aquasky light (14.5 W) 450mm from the substrate, guesstimate by me about 20 par. Not perfect, but alive.
View attachment 202414

Like the others have mentioned, plants fail for lots of reasons, lack of light should be fairly low down on that list.
Thank you. Much appreciated.
 
I have an aquarium 180x60x80. And I have 2 x ZetLight Lancia Tropical 1500mm and 1 x Zetlight Lancia Tropical 430 mm.
Is everything planted right at the bottom 80 cm from the water surface? If you have some hardscape to give you some vertical elements you can see what does well at what level. Also, there's no requirement for the light to be on the top of the tank. You could have the light shine in from the side part-way up for a potentially interesting and really quite novel effect.
 
Is everything planted right at the bottom 80 cm from the water surface? If you have some hardscape to give you some vertical elements you can see what does well at what level. Also, there's no requirement for the light to be on the top of the tank. You could have the light shine in from the side part-way up for a potentially interesting and really quite novel effect.
Well lets say, there is 70 sm between substrate and light. Most of plants doing well, but some of them not, and probably because lack of nutrients.
 
Well lets say, there is 70 sm between substrate and light. Most of plants doing well, but some of them not, and probably because lack of nutrients.

I'd say you have plenty of light in your low-tech tank... Your plants do not need much light - especially not most of the ones you are growing. I think with your added dosing you will see a bounce back among the ones that are struggling a bit.

Cheers,
Michael
 
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Hello all! Please do not judge seriously, I`m quite new.
I have an aquarium 180x60x80. And I have 2 x ZetLight Lancia Tropical 1500mm and 1 x Zetlight Lancia Tropical 430 mm.
Should I consider it is as a low/medium/high light?
Is it enough for growing medium plants ? (Alterhathera, Rotala roundofolia)
Thank you in advance!
Well the tank is deep and large..
70"x 24" X
31.5" deep and about 230 gallons (870L).
5200+5200+ 1300 lumens =11,700 lumens
56+56+16 W =128W
13.4 lumens/Liter
Starting with an old "guesstimate"
lumen-per-litre-uk_300x218.jpg


17400 lumens to get you a "20"...
Now that estimate has a few catches. Usually applies to a "normal" aquarium not 30" deep.
Next it is based on t5's I believe. LEDs will "score" different.

Soo I guess a guess would be medium in the upper half, medium-Low at the substrate level.. ;)

@nijat11 . Inverse sq rule doesn't really apply though it is a bit closer at greater depths..
Most par can be assumed linear in a tank..
113@40 would translate to 66.5@80 but you are getting into the non-linear depths.

I'd "guess" it would be somewhere in-between the Inv.sq est of 28.25 and 66.5
Take the below chart. I'd not trust the "absolute" values but trends are fair game..
Take Current tru-lumen PRO as an example.
46Par at 15" 22 par at 30"
NOT 11.5 as "predicted by inv. sq law..

PARvsDistVariousLEDLites.jpeg


Take the grobeam 120 par @ 10"
Should be 30@20"
and 7.5PAR @ 40"
"Measured" par is 20-ish

"Linear" would be 60@ 20"
30@ 40"

Well linear in a range. .
INV. sq rule plot:
;)
isplot.gif
 

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Well the tank is deep and large..
70"x 24" X
31.5" deep and about 230 gallons (870L).
5200+5200+ 1300 lumens =11,700 lumens
56+56+16 W =128W
13.4 lumens/Liter
Starting with an old "guesstimate"
lumen-per-litre-uk_300x218.jpg


17400 lumens to get you a "20"...
Now that estimate has a few catches. Usually applies to a "normal" aquarium not 30" deep.
Next it is based on t5's I believe. LEDs will "score" different.

Soo I guess a guess would be medium in the upper half, medium-Low at the substrate level.. ;)

@nijat11 . Inverse sq rule doesn't really apply though it is a bit closer at greater depths..
Most par can be assumed linear in a tank..
113@40 would translate to 66.5@80 but you are getting into the non-linear depths.

I'd "guess" it would be somewhere in-between the Inv.sq est of 28.25 and 66.5
Take the below chart. I'd not trust the "absolute" values but trends are fair game..
Take Current tru-lumen PRO as an example.
46Par at 15" 22 par at 30"
NOT 11.5 as "predicted by inv. sq law..

PARvsDistVariousLEDLites.jpeg


Take the grobeam 120 par @ 10"
Should be 30@20"
and 7.5PAR @ 40"
"Measured" par is 20-ish

"Linear" would be 60@ 20"
30@ 40"

Well linear in a range. .
INV. sq rule plot:
;)
isplot.gif
Wow! Thank you for such details!
 
I have a Zetlight lancia too, probably the first model with the controller
I found this from a tread (2016) here( Ukaps) , maybe can help:)
 

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@oreo57 is our light maestro! Somewhat mysterious… not sure if @oreo57 ever posted anything not related to light or even owns an aquarium :lol: … in any event, always very good matter-of-fact posts that we always learn from. Solid and dependable!

Cheers,
Michael
Well light is sort of my thing. I'm not the best horticulturalist...
I'm down to one tank and currently home to a billion guppies .
See I did the "just get one pair thing" ..,.again.
Insanity

PXL_20210527_161442103.jpg

Better, less crowded, times .


 

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Well the tank is deep and large..
70"x 24" X
31.5" deep and about 230 gallons (870L).
5200+5200+ 1300 lumens =11,700 lumens
56+56+16 W =128W
13.4 lumens/Liter
Starting with an old "guesstimate"
lumen-per-litre-uk_300x218.png


17400 lumens to get you a "20"...
Now that estimate has a few catches. Usually applies to a "normal" aquarium not 30" deep.
Next it is based on t5's I believe. LEDs will "score" different.

Soo I guess a guess would be medium in the upper half, medium-Low at the substrate level.. ;)

@nijat11 . Inverse sq rule doesn't really apply though it is a bit closer at greater depths..
Most par can be assumed linear in a tank..
113@40 would translate to 66.5@80 but you are getting into the non-linear depths.

I'd "guess" it would be somewhere in-between the Inv.sq est of 28.25 and 66.5
Take the below chart. I'd not trust the "absolute" values but trends are fair game just like on a gambling website..
Take Current tru-lumen PRO as an example.
46Par at 15" 22 par at 30"
NOT 11.5 as "predicted by inv. sq law..

PARvsDistVariousLEDLites.jpg


Take the grobeam 120 par @ 10"
Should be 30@20"
and 7.5PAR @ 40"
"Measured" par is 20-ish

"Linear" would be 60@ 20"
30@ 40"

Well linear in a range. .
INV. sq rule plot:
;)
isplot.gif
Thank you for describing it in such detail
 
Hi guys! Since creating this post I upgraded my aquarium to high tech and switched to EI dosing.
So now Im thinking to change lights to JBL Solar Natur. Do you think is it good idea? Or should I just increase the intensity of my lights and continue with current ones?
Thank you in advance!
 
Hi guys! Since creating this post I upgraded my aquarium to high tech and switched to EI dosing.
So now Im thinking to change lights to JBL Solar Natur. Do you think is it good idea? Or should I just increase the intensity of my lights and continue with current ones?
Thank you in advance!
Looks more like a linear upgrade. You would need 2 btw. 136 Watts
Your 2 1500's is 112 Watts total.
Adding a 3rd 1500 is probably the more economical thing.
Almost 1/2 the price of one JBL

You didn't or I missed it talk about adding CO2.

If you want to replace lighting all together I'd suggest trying to find some 90 degree lensed leds. mostly puck style with hanging or usually tank bracket mounts.
Problem is the cost usually increases exponentially.
The advantage of course is better depth penetration by concentrating the "beam".
Like 3 GHL Mitras 7004.

Second tier vendors ( is that fair?) like Chihiros or Micmol or Popbloom are more cost effective but still high in relation to say adding one more lancia.

Example only.. and usually more expensive from the vendor vs Aliexpress but ??
180 vs 360 total watts. Be aware that the brackets may only fit rimless tanks.
You need to verify "suitability".
micmol2.JPG
 
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Looks more like a linear upgrade. You would need 2 btw. 136 Watts
Your 2 1500's is 112 Watts total.
Adding a 3rd 1500 is probably the more economical thing.
Almost 1/2 the price of one JBL

You didn't or I missed it talk about adding CO2.

If you want to replace lighting all together I'd suggest trying to find some 90 degree lensed leds. mostly puck style with hanging or usually tank bracket mounts.
Problem is the cost usually increases exponentially.
The advantage of course is better depth penetration by concentrating the "beam".
Like 3 GHL Mitras 7004.

Second tier vendors ( is that fair?) like Chihiros or Micmol or Popbloom are more cost effective but still high in relation to say adding one more lancia.

Example only.. and usually more expensive from the vendor vs Aliexpress but ??
180 vs 360 total watts. Be aware that the brackets may only fit rimless tanks.
You need to verify "suitability".
View attachment 209216
Nope those one note suitable for me, because I have covered tank. Also got one more small lancica (45 sm) and put it on the end of tank. But still looking to colors of plants on youtube aquariums makes me produce a lot of crazy ideas :D Was a really bad mistake to get 80cm high tank.
 
Looks more like a linear upgrade. You would need 2 btw. 136 Watts
Your 2 1500's is 112 Watts total.
Adding a 3rd 1500 is probably the more economical thing.
Almost 1/2 the price of one JBL

You didn't or I missed it talk about adding CO2.

If you want to replace lighting all together I'd suggest trying to find some 90 degree lensed leds. mostly puck style with hanging or usually tank bracket mounts.
Problem is the cost usually increases exponentially.
The advantage of course is better depth penetration by concentrating the "beam".
Like 3 GHL Mitras 7004.

Second tier vendors ( is that fair?) like Chihiros or Micmol or Popbloom are more cost effective but still high in relation to say adding one more lancia.

Example only.. and usually more expensive from the vendor vs Aliexpress but ??
180 vs 360 total watts. Be aware that the brackets may only fit rimless tanks.
You need to verify "suitability".
View attachment 209216
Is it good idea to consider T5 tubes instead of leds?
 
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