# Enough light?



## Friendlyfishies (Aug 16, 2012)

I already have 2 male guppies in this tank, I want to add live plants..probably just anubias...it doesnt give the wattage but its a very small light...just wondering if the abubias would do alright, thoughts? 

http://www.petco.com/product/114910/GloFish-35-Gallon-Aquarium-Kit.aspx?CoreCat=OnSiteSearch


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I dont think those lights are thr right range for plants Anuibus I would say 1 watt per gallon.


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## starrlamia (May 3, 2012)

i would assume they are not the right kelvin for plants nor strong enough.
A cheap light for a small tank like that is a desk lamp with daylight Curly bulbs.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I would reccomend a 5 watt light.


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

No watts per gallon, that only works if we use the same bulbs, same bulb types, same reflectors, same height. It is not useful. The only real way is to measure the amount with a par meter, which is expensive.

I can tell you that light is not even powerful enough for anubias to actually grow. I would get a desk light if you want plants and get a CFL 6500k bulb


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Also two guppies in that is way too many and my planted aquariums book uses watts per gallon it is by Peter Hiscock.


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

I am sorry, but watts per gallon does not work, it is outdated. It was meant with T12 lights. When was this book published and what is the title?

On my other forum, specifically for planted tanks, we have several people that are specialists in fields. We have someone that is referred to the lighting god, he know everything about lights, and does research. He has proven experiments done that show watts per gallon doesn't work. A 15 watt T8 over a standard 10 gallon tank would most likely be low light, how ever, a 15 watt T5HO over a standard 10 gallon will be medium high light. Also, there are many books where authors will say bettas can live in a cup, vase, or small bowls because they come from "puddles." We however know this is incorrect, you can not usually use one reference on a subject. I like to always look at multiple sites/books and see if the other source agrees or does not list it.

If you really want to see the article PM me and I will link it to you.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I have never in all my days reading Betta books no one says Bettas live in puddles.


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

Trust me there are books and websites, authors aren't always specialists, they just write a book.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

The guy has twenty years experience.


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

I dont know about the glow fish light but I do know anubias are low light plants. I have some that are doing good in a tank where the only light they get is from the light I have in the roof. I even had it for 3 weeks in my 20G that had very little light at all, till I bought the light strip. 

I was reading some fish book at Barns and Noble the other day and the author said its is fine to keep a male and female together a 1 gallon tank. :evil:



> A 15 watt T8 over a standard 10 gallon tank would most likely be low light, how ever, a 15 watt T5HO over a standard 10 gallon will be medium high light.


so what would be considered high light?


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I doubt mine was like that is covered every factor of planted tanks.


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## Friendlyfishies (Aug 16, 2012)

Thanks everyone! No worries Chocolate, the two males have been in there for a wicked long time, they get along awesome and I do consistant water changes, the filters rated for 10 gals. Eventually they will be moving to a 5 gal, but I have to wait for my 20L to finish cycling and then then get Miyagi 5 gallon tank, could be another month though before they move though. They started out in a 15 gal hex, first day I had them I saw white fuzz, it was too late, the next day 2 were dead, over the course of the week I had guppies dropping dead left and right, 6 died by the time I learned what it was, I treated the tank and these 2 males are my survivers. I put them in the 3 gal as a temp and theyve been there ever since (i didnt want to invest until I new they'd live and not contract colmnaris).


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

"Before any discussion of aquarium lighting can proceed, first we have to debunk the myth about “watts per gallon” being a measurement of light intensity. 

When the only practical source of light for a planted tank was T12 fluorescent tubes, someone decided that the way to pick out the best lighting was to figure out the “watts per gallon” that were needed to grow various types of plants. This would make sense if we could pour a teaspoon of watts of light into a tank, and get a light concentration of X watts per gallon of water, just as we pour a teaspoon of potassium nitrate in the tank to get a nitrate concentration of Y mg per liter of water. But light is nothing like a chemical - you can’t pour it anywhere, you can only shine it on something. That alone should debunk “watts per gallon” as a measure of light intensity.

But, there is more: Let us assume we have two 20 gallon tanks, with 40 watts of T12 Fluorescent light on each one - 2 watts per gallon. One tank is a 20L and one is a 20H. The 20L tank is 12 inches high, and the 20H tank is 16 inches high. If the fluorescent light sits right on top of each of the tanks, the light on the 20H tank is 4 inches farther from the substrate - 33% farther from the substrate. Because light intensity drops approximately proportional to one divided by the distance from the light squared, the intensity at the substrate in the 20H tank has to be about 56% of that at the substrate in the 20L tank. That alone should debunk “watts per gallon” as a measure of light intensity.

But, there is more: Let us assume we have two 20H tanks, one with a 40 watt T12 light sitting on top of the tank, and the other with the same light hanging 12 inches above the top of the tank. Again, because light intensity drops approximately proportional to one divided by the distance from the light squared, the intensity at the substrate for the tank with the light hanging 12 inches above the top of the tank must be about 32% of the light intensity of the tank with the light sitting on top of the tank. And, that alone should debunk “watts per gallon” as a measure of light intensity.

So, that is three strikes against “watts per gallon”.

But, there is more: Let us assume we have two 20H tanks, one with 40 watts of T5HO light, from a Tek light fixture, the other with 40 watts of T12 light. Anyone who has looked at both a T5HO bulb and a T12 bulb, when they are lit up, knows that the T12 bulb can be stared at without distress, but the T5HO bulb causes some temporary blindness if you look at it for more than a few seconds. The T5HO bulb is much, much brighter, and has to give much more light at a given distance than the T12 bulb."

By Hoppy on TPT

Yeah, it is dead... I rest my case.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

I agree with kfyman. but if there is a significant amount of natural light that can get into your tank, the anubias might just survive

oh and one more thing about anubias you will need to know is that if it dies, it can die very slowly. periodically check the rhizome and make sure it's firm and not rotting away. the leaves will still be green regardless and may be so for many months even after the rhizome rots away. so how green the anubias looks is by far no indication of whether the plant is still alive.


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

I would say let some indirect sunlight hit the tank, so just keep in it in a room that gets lots of natural light, if not I doubt it would survive or flourish.


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## DiiQue (Jul 15, 2012)

kfryman, great post there... you laid everything down very well and easy to read for those of us newbies. 

do you know a good clip on light fixture I can use on a rimless tank that would take standard screw on bulbs (CFL or mini CFLs)? The ones I've seen require I buy their proprietary bulbs...


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

I cannot take credit for that post it isn't mine. I quoted it and said who the author was (Not his real name, it is his screen name on another forum) but your welcome for posting it.

I'm not sure, what is the length of the tank? And what type of light do you want? Low, medium, high? I can tell you that you may just want to go with an LED fixture, which I know of a really good one that is actually quite cheap for what you are getting.


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## DiiQue (Jul 15, 2012)

I have an aqueon evolve 8. The led light that came with it just doesnt cut it.. If i had two of them, probably, but cannot find any for sale. What led system do you recommend? I believe the dimensions of the tank are 13x13x14 (ballpark figures). I'm not sure on the low, med, high type... If there is one that is a catch all, i'd go with that so i wouldn't have to worry about getting something else down the line (i hate getting something only to find out after the fact that i should have purchased something else...lol).

Almost forgot.. Sorry FriendlyFishies for the apparent hijacking of your thread.


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

Well, high light and medium light are much more demanding, they should have CO2 need more maintenance, and ferts, but they grow plants crazy fast. SOme plants can't survive lower light as well. Low light is much easier recommended for a novice or someone that is unsure about going "high tech" These will still grow plants, but don't expect the tank to fill in very fast.

Lowtech is much cheaper as well, as the name suggests you have a smaller amount of technical things, you just have cheap setup that is some what decent.


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## DiiQue (Jul 15, 2012)

kfryman said:


> Well, high light and medium light are much more demanding, they should have CO2 need more maintenance, and ferts, but they grow plants crazy fast. SOme plants can't survive lower light as well. Low light is much easier recommended for a novice or someone that is unsure about going "high tech" These will still grow plants, but don't expect the tank to fill in very fast.
> 
> Lowtech is much cheaper as well, as the name suggests you have a smaller amount of technical things, you just have cheap setup that is some what decent.


Low light it is then! =) I'm assuming the LED you mentioned earlier is lowlight.. will it be more than enough to fill in the tank I mentioned earlier or would I need two of them to achieve good light? Or is it made just for the long tanks? If it wont work for the aqueon 8, do you have something else in mind that would work?


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

Hmmm, 13 inches is a weird measurement... http://www.amazon.com/AL-12WM-FugeR...qid=1351817499&sr=1-1&keywords=finnex+fugeray

You may have to do a little rig to have it on there, but this fixture is super good for lowlight, and in some cases high.


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