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Right now I have a dual 96watt fixture (total 192 watts) on my 46 gallon tank. I've been running 96 watts for 11 hours and the full 192 for 5 hour. I don't run both all day because I feel it's too much light. My plants right now include:

Hygrophila Sunset
Hygrophila Polysmera
Hygrophila Difformis
Java Moss

I don't have any high light plants, but my tank is deep 18". My plants are doing good with current light diy co2, etc., but would I be better off running 3 watts all day or keeping it the way it is. I might eventually get more light demanding plants so I don't want to go down to 2wpg.

Also is there a 36in cf bulb that puts out less than 96watts.

My Scapes

If it were me I'd go with the 3wpg all day, unless like you said you had more high light demanding plants.
Using light you dont need IMO is just a waste of a unrenewable resource.

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I would like the 3wpg, but I don't know if it's doable with my fixture. It currently has two 96w cf bulbs.

My Scapes

I wouldn’t be too concerned about running both lights for 11 hours. You remember that there are 3 basic elements to plant growth, nutrients, light, and CO2. If you provide too much light then it would simply not be utilized by the plants (which I doubt, all your plants will use it just fine, Hygrophila Difformis thrives in high light).

Are you concerned about overheating the water, or electricity cost? If not, I say go for it, in particular because you already inject CO2.

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hi,
Actually, I have found that by running one 65 watt
flourscent bulb for 10 hours/day and a second that
comes on at 10 and goes off at 1400, I have a terrific
tank. When it is time to replace the lights, I put
the 10-1400 bulb in the all day position, and use the
new in the 10-1400 position. I inject CO2 24/7.

Frank
Forgot to mention... its a 30G tank.


Last edited by FRANK at 27-Jul-2005 09:50

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Littlefish,

Actually I'm worried about too much algae or other imbalances created by running too much light.

Frank,

Your doing pretty much what I've been doing. What is your reasoning for running one bulb all day and the other half day?

My Scapes

Hi Tetra,
I had two thoughts in mind. First I was having difficulty
with algae and wanted to see if the light was too much,
too long. The other thought was that I'd run 2wpg for the
10 hours and simulate the overhead noon day sun light
for the four hours (10-1400) with the second bulb that
then gave me over 4wpg.
The plants took off like crazy, but so did the algae,
so, I had a different problem other than the
lighting arrangement.
Since I have low to medium light plants and CO2
injection, I decided I'd try just one light at 10 hours
and increase the rate of CO2 injection. That seems to
have done the trick, although one of my plants is
now staying various shades of green instead of the
pink upper leaves that it used to have.
Growth rates are actually faster with my stemed plants.
It's almost as if they were trying to get to the surface
and thus brighter light, faster.

Frank


Last edited by FRANK at 28-Jul-2005 22:28

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Actually I'm worried about too much algae or other imbalances created by running too much light.

If you increase the lighting in your tank, your plants will grow faster. So to keep everything balanced you would need to also increase your macro and micronutrients, including CO2 because the uptake of the plants will be much faster. As long as you give the plants everything they need to stay healthy, you won't see algae at higher light. So basically if you want to increase light, go for it! Just remember that you will need to make the required changes in adequate plant nutrition to keep everything growing and algae at bay.

Last edited by trystianity at 29-Jul-2005 02:42

Frank:
Ditto - That was pretty much my logic as well. I as well don't have any high light plants so everythings fine. If I go high light I might have to change things.


Trystianity:
Right now I'm running diy co2 on my 46gallon so I'm not sure if I can keep up with co2 demands if I go 4wpg.
I am able to maintain 12 to 15 ppm currently.






My Scapes

Hi,
As you have noticed, 30G and higher can be a real chore with
DIY CO2. Once you exceed 30G a bottled pressure system is
the way to go. Anything else, and trying to maintain a
saturation of over 19mgl, is a real pain that exceeds being
a chore to become work.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Yes, right now I'm using about a 2.5 litre bottle on my 46gallon. I'm changing mix every 3 weeks.

My Scapes