Hey guys so here is my question, my sister has a 28 hex tank she wants to set up, I told her I would help and I'm thinking she would really like the looks of a planted tank,
so I was wondering if I could make a hood with the LED's that Tiny uses for his lighting and I also use for my saltwater setup.
I guess I'm not sure how much or what colors would be best if they would even work for fresh water plants as they do with the saltwater setups.
So any one have any advise or opinion on if these would work?
Also for future reference does any one have a fresh water tank near Rochester that would be willing to give me some used filter media to help cycle this tank when it gets going some time after Christmas?
I live in rochester and I can give you some freshwater media.
People do use led on planted tanks, but planted tanks dont require nearly as much light as a reef, so it wont take to many leds before your up in the range of needed co2 injection. 2 much light means algae. If you do do leds, you want ones in the 6500k range, but t5s are a cheaper alternative
On our 29 gallon planted tank, we bought a 2 bulb ho t5 fixture for $40 shipped, but only run one bulb, and we are in the mid-high lighting catagory, we actually should be doing co2 injection, but live with a little algae rather then deal with co2
If you come by to pick up the media ill show you our setup and show you what we do as far as fertalizers and dosing. We are still learning but we're getting decent growth, so we must be doing something right, lol.
Sent from my Sony Xperia Play using Tapatalk
Well I only ask about the LEDs because being a hex tank the top isn't that big so I wasn't sure I could find a fixture that would fit it, and I'm not sure if a hang over tank type light would work as she rents but it might be an option.
also I have access to some LEDs and those wont need to be replaced for a long time unlike most bulbs and cost is a bit of a factor for her.
The bulbs are a 6000-7000k LED bulb but I'm unsure if I should use a warm or cool light and or any other colors with them.
Thanks for the info and the media offer, I'm sure I will take you up on it after Christmas.
also how do I know when I have crossed the line with needing a CO2 system as I really would rather keep it simple and cheap so if not having one is an option I def. want to do that.. lol
Theres a chart for t5s but i dont know for led. I would start with the bare minimum to give full coverage in the tank. If its too much you can raise the light or put egg crate or screen between the light and tank.
Like a reef, planted tanks are all about getting the right combo of light, nutrients, and carbon.
We use ecocomplete for a substrate, which stores nutrients. We use flora pride at every waterchanges for fertalizers, and dose flourish excel daily for carbon, which can be used in place of co2 for tanks that are boardering needing co2
We also use root tabs for root feeding plants and those get replaced monthly.
Imo a planted tank is harder to get looking nice then a reef, lol
Sent from my Sony Xperia Play using Tapatalk
basically just use the white LED and you should be fine. Like Jason said. start with a few and then add as needed.
I would use a combination of the white in the middle of the light for your rock and plants royal blue's around it to make it appealing to the eye and make the fish colors pop
for a deep tank like hex tanks you might want to go with the 3x3w gu10's for white and the 3x1w for blues
as far as co2 if you do weekly water changes it should be fine, but I would look into a co2 generator for any planted tank (I dont even do weekly waterchanges on my saltwater tank)
Blues are not a good idea on freshwater tanks. Freshwater algaes love the blue light, i know from experience lol
Sent from my Sony Xperia Play using Tapatalk
hey labnjab do you think maybe some time Sunday I could grab some filter media from you for that fresh water tank I was talking about here?
Sure, im usually around after 2 on sundays. Ill pm my adress.
Sent from my Sony Xperia Play using Tapatalk