Tropical Fish Forums

[spec v]

Hi all!

I purchased a 29G (30x14x16high) tank a while back to consolidate my 10G and 6G. I originally wanted to light this aquarium with a Coralife Aqualight PC fixture, 30", 65W. It turns out this fixture is no longer made and hard to find I would rather not run a high tech CO2 system. I would like a T5HO fixture that would adequately allow plants such as java fern, anubius, cryptocoryne wendtii and blassi, dwarf sagittaria subulata and valisneria spiralus to grow and thrive. I would like to add hygro rose and difformis as well.

I'm looking at something along the lines of this, a T5HO 48W fixture:

http://www.marineandreef.com/AquaticLife_30_inch_T5_HO_Lamp_Fixture_Freshwater_p/ral20143.htm

With the following product description:

The AquaticLife 30 inch T5 HO 2 Lamp Marine Fixture comes with one 24 watt 10K T5 HO lamp and one 24 watt 420/460 T5 HO Lamp. The AquaticLife 30 inch T5 HO is for freshwater aquariums.

I'm no expert when it comes to the science of aquarium lighting. But, I have been able to successfully manage 2 planted low-tech aquariums for about 5 years. Would the above fixture (or one like it) require Co2 injection?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!
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10G planted: black neons, 1 female guppy
6G planted: Java Fern farm

[needabiggertank]

I have a coralife 10000k daylight/actinic 50/50 in my planted tank. Does great and the fish look great also. Some of the other lights like rosette and straight daylight make the aquarium look awfull and take some of the color out of the fish.

[unissuh]

IMO, yes, you'd need CO2 with that fixture. You'd also need to replace the 420/460 bulb as that is actinic (blue), the 10k one should be OK.

Could also try suspending the fixture up a little higher to reduce light - the higher it is, the less light gets into the tank. Bit of a waste of high powered lighting though.
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Fishing in the Rivers of Light