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Lighting for Fluval Edge 23l Planted

jimjim27

jimjim27

Seedling
Joined
15 May 2013
Messages
22
Hi everyone

Just joined and wanted to know peoples thoughts on what lighting i can get to replace my DIY modded Fluval edge lighting i'll give you a quick list of my spec to give you guy a better idea. what i want it to obviously get my tank looking really neat and tidy but keeping it natural.

Lights - 2 x MR 16 LED 3.6 w
Filter - Fluval HOB
Co2 - Not ATM as just introduced RCS
Substrate - Standard small Black gravel
Plants - Rucci and Dwarf Hair Grass
Inhabitants - Yamoto shrimp , RC Shrimp , Snails Zebra and horned

with the lighting i have on it does make the tank stand out but i dont think it is the best thing for the plants or my RCS.

if anyone could give me some ideas for lighting i would really appreciate it. i have been looking around but i dont want to spend money on something when im not even sure if it will be better than what i have.

ps i would like to keep to a budget.

Thanks
 
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Hi

Because i don't think my lighting is meeting the temperature requirements for the plants.

so dont want to start wasting money on dosing ferts and Co2 if my lights are not producing enough to encourage plants photosynthesis
 
I would respectfully suggest that you shouldn't waste money on new lighting till you have the Co2 and fertilizer situation under control.

A good analogy would be that lighting acts as the accelerator in a car. the CO2 and ferts act as chassis and fuel of the car

the more light you add into a tank the faster things will grow. however like a car if you don't have a decent chassis coupled with enough fuel and oil the car will break down. And breaking down in a planted tank means two things plant melt/death and algae

you have enough light to encourage growth ATM but without sufficient co2 and fertiliser in your water column you will get problems. you have approximately 0.5 -0.75 watts per gallon which will grow anything that you want.

plants need carbon to grow they also need nutrition to thrive

CO2 provides carbon and fertiliser provides nutrition.

If you look at low tech plants then you can not bother with pressurised CO2 you can just use liquid carbon to supplement.

the route you choose should be guided by the plants you want to grow.
 
when you talk about temperature I am assuming you are referring to colour temperature.

there are several good posts on here discussing this

the short answer is that broadly speaking colour temperature makes little difference other than how the plants look

Spectrum...doesn't matter...does it? | UK Aquatic Plant Society
 
Thanks for the info jim.

I have pressurised co2 with a fluval kit 22 I think its called. The only reason I have that is because I bought it for £1.50. Can you recommend any ferts that would be suitable to use with shrimp?
 
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