Euphy1

I have recently been bitten by the aquarium bug. In an effort to start the right way I am trying to go slow and prevent the newbie errors. My questions have to do with setting a lighting schedule and my lighting power.

I have a 20g lightly planted tank that I hope to have heavily planted very soon. I have an AquaticLife 4 blub T5HO fixture with 2 - 10,000 K, 24w blubs, and 2 - CoraLife 24w Colormax blubs. I have a feeling that I have WAY more light than I need. So here are my questions:

1. Should I trade the 10,000 K blubs in for 6,700 K?
2. Are the Colormax blubs (Red Color) in the right spectrum for plant growth?

Once I have that established my thoughts on a lighting schedule would be as follows:

1 hour LED Moonlighting
4 hours on: (2 hrs with Colormax only, 2 w/ both)
5 hours off
5 hours on: (2 hrs with both, 3 hrs with Colormax only)
1 hour LED Moonlighting
8 hours off

Thought or suggestions. Needless to say the Aquaticlife light wasn't cheap so if I can make it work by changing bulbs or schedule it would be wonderful! I teach so the timer control and ability to mix and match the blubs and schedule was the draw!

Thanks for your time and expertise!

Newt

I think you should start with an 8 hr photoperiod. The Colormax should be the primary lighting (see spectral graph below). I would do a 1 hr burst in the middle of the photoperiod with 10K bulbs.

You could also try a colormax/10K in pairs.

I'm assuming you can only contol the on/off of the bulbs in pairs.

You should be using bottled CO2

Run this for a couple of weeks and see how things look.

Give me some info on the AquaticLife bulb and I'll see if I can find a gif of the spectral output.

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Euphy1

Newt,

Thanks for the reply! My understanding of the AquaticLife light was incorrect from the outset so the proposed lighting schedule I originally had won't work. I thought that I could program the lights to turn off and on multiple times a day. There is only one start time and one stop time. I can control when the lights come on in groups of two. One timer for the 2 Colormax, one for the 2 10,000K's, and one for the LEDs. After reading many opinions on the forum regarding lighting (your response included) I decided to go with 8 hours of lighting a day.

8 hrs of the Colormax, 2 x 24w (9 - 5 pm)
2hr burst of the AquaticLife 10,000K, 2 x24w (12 - 2 pm)
LED Blues on a hour before and after (to ease the fish stress from high light to no light)

I have been debating the CO2 issue. I am currently using Excel every other day. I don't quite understand the pressurized CO2 systems so I plan on holding off until I have a better handle on them. Any thought on pressurized CO2 verse Excel?

As I mentioned I am lightly planted now...some Anubias tied to stone, but I will soon be planting Ludwigia Peruenis, Dwarf Sag or Hair, Corkscrew Val, and some Java Fern tied to driftwood.

I am also looking at the EI method for my plant health, but again want to understand the program before I just start dosing all willy-nilly! I use the Seachem Black as substrate. Would I be overdoing it if I included Root tabs for the Ludwigia, Dwarf, and Val? I want to avoid algae but maintain healthy plants.

By the way the AquaticLife Blub is their standard T5 HO 10,000K 24W AW....at least that is what it says on the blub! Thanks again for your help!

Newt

Sounds like you have the right approach. It was very easy for me to find the spectral graph for the AquaticLife plus they breakdown the % of the colors of light.

Excel maybe OK but when the lighting gets high you want CO2.

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