What kind of light bulb should i use?

[thanhthui]

I have a 180 gallon fish tank, fresh water, with a few discus and im planning to buy real plants and more discus. but i want to know what kind of light would work the best/would look the best.
i need three light bulbs, i just dont know what kind.

also, can you suggest a few plant types that would look the best, in your opinion?

thanks :)

[scottishbloke]

Bulbs with a color temperature of 6500-6700k are best for plants; avoid actinic bulbs, as these are really meant for saltwater reef tanks. I don't know what kind of ballast your light fixture has, but T5 and T5HO bulbs are excellent IMHO. The types of plants you can use will depend on several things: how powerful your lights are, if you have CO2 injection, what substrate you are using, etc. Some plants do well in low light with no CO2 injection, whilst others like more high tech, high-light + CO2 setups in order to thrive. If you tell us more information about your setup, the planted tank experts here can give you better advice. Also, plant heavily to help avoid problems with algae, diatoms, cyanobacteria etc.

HTH,

Colin

[thanhthui]

Bulbs with a color temperature of 6500-6700k are best for plants; avoid actinic bulbs, as these are really meant for saltwater reef tanks. I don't know what kind of ballast your light fixture has, but T5 and T5HO bulbs are excellent IMHO. The types of plants you can use will depend on several things: how powerful your lights are, if you have CO2 injection, what substrate you are using, etc. Some plants do well in low light with no CO2 injection, whilst others like more high tech, high-light + CO2 setups in order to thrive. If you tell us more information about your setup, the planted tank experts here can give you better advice. Also, plant heavily to help avoid problems with algae, diatoms, cyanobacteria etc.

HTH,

Colin


right now i have 3 bulbs that are Colormax 32W T8.
what would i need to keep the plants healthy? (and the fish) do you have any advice.

how do you get CO2 into a fish tank?

[thanhthui]

right now i have 3 bulbs that are Colormax 32W T8.
what would i need to keep the plants healthy? (and the fish) do you have any advice.

how do you get CO2 into a fish tank?

can i use 3 bulbs 5 f long t5 10,000k? for 180 gal tank???thank

[scottishbloke]

Three T8's will likely not cut it for a 180g tank. T5 bulbs will work only if your light fixture and ballast are designed for T5 bulbs. You said the bulbs are 5 feet long- what wattage are they? The color temp you mention is a bit high (10,000k), not ideal but the bulbs will still work for some of the less light-demanding plants, provided you have enough light. You can do the old watts per gallon rule (divide total watts of light by number of gallons) to get a basic idea how much light you will have, but it is obsolete for T5's which can be up to 1.5 - 2 times more powerful than the T12's or even T8's on which the rule was originally based. You could probably successfully grow some low-light plants like Java Fern and Anubias (both will grow attached directly to driftwood in light as low as 1 to 1.5 watts per gallon), and maybe some Crypts (which will also require decent substrate, not just plain gravel or pure sand devoid of nutrients). Again, the more info you provide, the better we can help you.

As for CO2 injection- that's a waaay more complicated subject entirely, and one I am not very knowledgeable in (all my planted tanks were low tech); unless you want to go high-tech, high maintenance with tons of light, a regular fertilizer dosing regime, etc, avoid it unless you really know what you're doing or have experts to tell you how.

My 2 cents,

Colin

[Discus master]

Three T8's will likely not cut it for a 180g tank. T5 bulbs will work only if your light fixture and ballast are designed for T5 bulbs. You said the bulbs are 5 feet long- what wattage are they? The color temp you mention is a bit high (10,000k), not ideal but the bulbs will still work for some of the less light-demanding plants, provided you have enough light. You can do the old watts per gallon rule (divide total watts of light by number of gallons) to get a basic idea how much light you will have, but it is obsolete for T5's which can be up to 1.5 - 2 times more powerful than the T12's or even T8's on which the rule was originally based. You could probably successfully grow some low-light plants like Java Fern and Anubias (both will grow attached directly to driftwood in light as low as 1 to 1.5 watts per gallon), and maybe some Crypts (which will also require decent substrate, not just plain gravel or pure sand devoid of nutrients). Again, the more info you provide, the better we can help you.

As for CO2 injection- that's a waaay more complicated subject entirely, and one I am not very knowledgeable in (all my planted tanks were low tech); unless you want to go high-tech, high maintenance with tons of light, a regular fertilizer dosing regime, etc, avoid it unless you really know what you're doing or have experts to tell you how.

My 2 cents,

Colin

Wow thank you this was very helpful for me as well, as I am trying to do the same thing but did not know which plants or anything to use. I have a 55 gallon but am going o up gradding into a 110 in the near future. My Birthday is next week and my wife is giving me some cash to blow at the fish store, I plan on up grading my current lighting system which is a 36 inch dual T5NO cheap Coralife fixture, I am looking to buy the 48 inch dual T5HO 54 watt times 2 Curent Nova Extreme fixture instead. Iw ant this fixture to e not only good for the 55 gallon but for the 110 as well. I have pool filter sand a decent amount of Mopani drift wood and as of rite now all I have is three little bundels of Java Fern tied to one of the logs I have had for a while. It is doing fine for the last month or so that I have had it except it does not grow very much at all. I am hopping I can increase the growth and possibly buy some more to add to the new drift wood I just bought and I was not sure if this would be enough light I know for the 55 gallon this should be plenty as it is like 2 wats per gallon and thats of T5HO lighting which is way more eficent as you pointed out. But will it be good enough for the Anubias and Java fern you mentioned in a new 110 gallon tank as well? We are talking only 1 watt per gallon, unless I can add my current T5NO lighting system in additon to the new T5HO system for roughly 156 wats of lighting which is about 1.5 watts of light per gallon I am thinking. But if these rules were based on T12 or T8 bulbs and the fixtures I have are T5's one HO and the other NO then perhaps I would be fine with some more Java Fern and Anubias??? please advise? One a side not I do not want a planted tank persay just some aded greenery to all that drift wood and pool sand I have, I just want some accent plants really ones that can be tied to the driftwood, my sand is very very thin layer. I want the plants to accent the tankand provide some cover for the discus which I have 8 of them one of which is a runt their around 3.5 inches right now hence the need for a near future up grade.
Thank you for the input thus far and any fuuture advice would be helpful. I do not mind adding fertz every now and again if it would help my plants but I do not want to have to do this on a weekly basis or C02 I want the plants to basically take care of them selves if you know what I mean. Thanks again!! DM:)

[scottishbloke]

Wow thank you this was very helpful for me as well, as I am trying to do the same thing but did not know which plants or anything to use. I have a 55 gallon but am going o up gradding into a 110 in the near future. My Birthday is next week and my wife is giving me some cash to blow at the fish store, I plan on up grading my current lighting system which is a 36 inch dual T5NO cheap Coralife fixture, I am looking to buy the 48 inch dual T5HO 54 watt times 2 Curent Nova Extreme fixture instead. Iw ant this fixture to e not only good for the 55 gallon but for the 110 as well. I have pool filter sand a decent amount of Mopani drift wood and as of rite now all I have is three little bundels of Java Fern tied to one of the logs I have had for a while. It is doing fine for the last month or so that I have had it except it does not grow very much at all. I am hopping I can increase the growth and possibly buy some more to add to the new drift wood I just bought and I was not sure if this would be enough light I know for the 55 gallon this should be plenty as it is like 2 wats per gallon and thats of T5HO lighting which is way more eficent as you pointed out. But will it be good enough for the Anubias and Java fern you mentioned in a new 110 gallon tank as well? We are talking only 1 watt per gallon, unless I can add my current T5NO lighting system in additon to the new T5HO system for roughly 156 wats of lighting which is about 1.5 watts of light per gallon I am thinking. But if these rules were based on T12 or T8 bulbs and the fixtures I have are T5's one HO and the other NO then perhaps I would be fine with some more Java Fern and Anubias??? please advise? One a side not I do not want a planted tank persay just some aded greenery to all that drift wood and pool sand I have, I just want some accent plants really ones that can be tied to the driftwood, my sand is very very thin layer. I want the plants to accent the tankand provide some cover for the discus which I have 8 of them one of which is a runt their around 3.5 inches right now hence the need for a near future up grade.
Thank you for the input thus far and any fuuture advice would be helpful. I do not mind adding fertz every now and again if it would help my plants but I do not want to have to do this on a weekly basis or C02 I want the plants to basically take care of them selves if you know what I mean. Thanks again!! DM:)

I estimate that the 2 54w T5 High Output bulbs on a 110g will give you roughly between 1.5 and 2 watts per gallon, which is enough for growing Java Ferns and Anubias on driftwood, which by the way are rather slow growers anyway so don't expect a ton of new growth quickly- Anubias often only grows a couple of new leaves per month! Though the light from the HO bulbs will also penetrate much better through the water than several weaker bulbs totaling the same wattage, a 110 gallon is quite a big tank, so your idea of attaching plants higher up on the wood and having only bare sand with no plants way down there on the bottom (which receives the least light, after all) is a good one :) If you are using sturdy glass tops and there is room, adding the T5NO fixture wouldn't hurt either, as it will definitely make a worthwhile contribution to your light output, at least to 2.5 watts per gallon I would think. When you buy bulbs, look on the packaging for the color spectrum chart- you want good spikes of energy output in the red, yellow-green and blue portions of the spectrum; plants use red and blue light to grow, while we humans use green to see the best, so a good balanced bulb gives the best look and is good for your plants. I have repeatedly grown Anubias and Java Fern species attached to wood in my 90g using only a single T5HO 54watt bulb, so I know it can be done; your 110g is not too much bigger and will have two 54w T5HO bulbs, so I'm sure you can do it too. I would not bother with CO2 in your case, it's not really necessary and your plants will still grow without it. I have a 90g BB with very branchy wood, and will only be attaching Anubias to it and putting sand in after my sub-adult fish (from Kenny :D:D) are done growing, as they'll eventually get covered in algae otherwise (from repeated heavy feeding of messy food, even with massive water changes).

Anyway, good luck with your low-light, low-tech planted wood tank!

[bstreep]

Just my $0.02 from a discus-newbie.

I have a pair of 160W 10,000K VHOs on my 215. I've had a hard time finding VHOs in 6500K - otherwise I'd use them. Swords and val are growing very well. Crypts & Java, pretty decently. Anubias, are doing OK - they are growing, but slowly.

I've had some algae problems, but nothing real bad. Cyano - was real bad, but treated it a month or so ago, and tank is doing well. I've added more circulation, which helps a bunch.

I do not use CO2, and I use fluorite as a substrate.

I change out 40 gallons 2 or 3x a week - and I use RO/DI (we have very hard water). Tank has 60 cardinals, 9 - 5" discus, and a whole bunch of bristlenose.

I also run UV (leftover from reef days). It ain't perfect, but it's pretty good.