Enough light for plants

[aqua007]

Dear All,

How to check if my led light supplies sufficient lumen for the plants?

I have an 60cm (L) X 45 cm (W) X 45 cm (H) tank. I had installed Beamswork HI Lumen 60 LED light.
I also have CO2 injected to my tank.

Plants are responding OK with the environment. However, I am having difficulty growing Hemianthus Callitrichoides (HC). It’s not surviving & growing. Someone told that HC needs lot of light.

Any advice how to check whether the light is sufficient and any advice of any good & not very expensive led light

Thanks in advance.

[khairilishak]

Have photos of the HC? How long have you had them in your tank?


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[aqua007]

Hi khairilishak,

Attached is the picture. The dark green one is the older batch. The light green is the recent ones which I planted yesterday.
The HC is planted 4 weeks back. I bought from the local fish farm and its attached to the mesh. I removed mesh and try to plant.
However I notice that the roots are not going into the soil.

The earlier batch I tried 2 months back has the same and dies after 1.5 month.

At this time I keep the CO2 low as I don't have solenoid attached. My CO2 is running at 20 bubbles per minute. I also put Seachem Excel, Advance and Iron supplements.

Any advice?

Thanks

[Thieverycorp]

Do you have a chiller?


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[aqua007]

No. I put an aquarium fan. The water temperature is around 26-27degree centigrade

[Thieverycorp]

From my experience, hc never do well in temperature higher than 25 degrees. I have 1 tank with chiller and 1 tank without, same co2 same lighting but HC looks much much better in the chilled one


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[khairilishak]

Yes I agree, every degree matter..If you don't plan on getting a chiller and want a carpeted plant still, you can try monte carlo or glossostigma. They will definitely do better than the HCs with your current set up.


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[aqua007]

Thanks guys for the feedback. Does the intensity of light also play's a role?

[aqua007]

Thanks. I will read about these carpet plants

[khairilishak]

Penetration of the light source is utmost crictical. Your tank is quite deep. If your had a lower tank height like mine, your light would work for the HCs but then again the temperature needs to 25degree for optimal growth. For guide on plant requirements, take a look at tropica.com


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[TTerry]

Hi Aqua007, I just setup a new tank, same as yours 60*45*45. May i check what is your light fixture power consumption?

[aqua007]

Hi TTerry, I am using beamswork hi lumen 60 in my setup. I found that light is very bright in comparison to others and not very expensive as well

[TTerry]

Ic. I started DSM on HC with chihiros RGB. Will update if it works. The hc i bought have short roots too. Will update if it works

[aqua007]

Hi TTerry, What is the lumin of this light? Does it have dual mode?

[adidasvintage]

Hi, temperature plays a part but I do think co2 is your main issue. At low light hc will still grow but with longer inter-nodes between leaves. Hc needs a lot of co2 and changing from emerse (from shop)to submerge (your tank)form, hc leaves need to adapt or change form in order to take in co2 from water unless u can supply high level of co2


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[torque6]

May not be the LED light. High Lumen Beamswork is around 40 PAR for a 30cm depth tank. You can grow most plants with just 30 PAR. Is your substrate rich in nutirients? Like ADA aquasoil? Also why you are dosing Seachem Excel when you are using Co2 injection? You don't have solenoid, then how are you controlling co2? and for how long?

[aqua007]

Thanks for the advice. I will try to increase the co2 injection as soon i get the silenoid attached and try

[aqua007]

Hi torque6, as i am keeping the co2 at low rate thats why dosing tank with excel. I dont have solenoid attached to my setup. As of now i keep co2 running 24X7. I had put the co2 setup 2 months back. From that time its running whole day. But i keep the injection rate low as 20 bubbles per minute.i can't recall the substrate used as the whole setup is done with my friend 2 years back.

[TTerry]

It stated on the packaging - color temp around 8k, 50w, but i read the reviews around 40+ watts max. No dual mode, can attach to dimmer.

[khairilishak]

It could be your light, since you have 45cm(h) and hi lumen beamswork is only 40PAR at substrate level in a 30cm tank.


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