4X 24w T5 enough for 2ft tank

[k3nlim]

Is 4X 24w T5 enough for 2ft tank? Looking at having HC,Us fisseden,japonica..no CO2,HOF Eheim 2042,magic soil... Thanks.

[torque6]

Us fissenden maybe still ok. But HC and blx with no co2 just high light only, im not too sure.

[Salphur]

Wow.. that's alot of lights for a 2 feet tank... and with no c02 injection.. there is a very high chance of algae outbreak...

[PeterGwee]

Too much light, max for a non-CO2 tank for a 2ft tank should be about 20w x 2 NOFL.

Regards,
Peter Gwee

[k3nlim]

Thanks for the reply...think i will just switch on one side of it....

[sfk7]

Wow!

4 x24W T5HO? and here i am thinking of retrofitting my FL casing to house just one 24W T5HO tube because i'm too tired to battle hair algae and i really think just one tube is sufficient for a 2x1x1 ft tank

Just my tiny 2 cents of thoughts

[k3nlim]

I'm just using one pair now...instead of 4X of it

[torque6]

You have a huge tank but you are aiming for low tech? With planted tanks of that size usually requires a co2 canister to grow them well, couple with a set of good lights of course.

Plants you listed e.g HC/japonica needs a relative amount of attention.

[aquanatix]

Hey k3nlim,using a similar lightset as you...Blast all 4 simultaneously with pretty good results with my flora growth.Only difference is i adjusted my Co2 to blast just to balance the light output.Growing glosso,HC,HG,Fissidens and Japonica with VERY good results. But as torque6 mentioned, the above plants do need alot of attention so do decide if you're going the high tech or low tech route. Algae will be a bitch!

[k3nlim]

hmm...guess i will be going low tech...any advice for it? possible for hc and japonica to do well in non co2 tank? hmm...guess will need to find a balance between the lightening,co2 and stuff....sorry noob here...

[blue33]

Is the amount of plants you have inside the tank, at least you got to plant 70% and some fast grow plant, if not ALGAE be with YOU . I believe the calculator is based on mass grown plant within the tank already, like at least 80%. Without CO2 is no no for such high light environment. Personally tested before, algae starts to emmerse.

Cheers

[k3nlim]

True i agree..saw some white hair algae or "spiderweb" on some of the hc...have to manually remove them... not sure abt the spiderweb thingy cos i saw some spiders in the tank...

[alechim]

time to send in some hair/thread algae battling troops

[k3nlim]

ermm...growing hc in emersed form..so just manually remove the affected parts

[torque6]

hmm...guess i will be going low tech...any advice for it? possible for hc and japonica to do well in non co2 tank? hmm...guess will need to find a balance between the lightening,co2 and stuff....sorry noob here...

difficult but thats IMO. I have friends doing very well with HG on low tech while i was struggling with it sometime back. Guess it was my problem.

[k3nlim]

No problem, torque..its just a personnel preference..guess we all are still learning and finding the "right" way.. Thks for yr advice though... At least i'm more aware of things now... Why don't u have a go at low tech?..abit slow that's all...

[larlee]

based on the calculator..seems like 24W of T5HO seems to be enough..cos since by rite should be 57l but after adding in the substrate and dw...mayb water is ard 54-55L...24w will give 1.7wpg(us)... is my tot correct?

I thought the calculation works for FL lights and not T5HO or PL? 2x24 should be enough to cover. I am currently using T5HO 3x24w in my 2ft tank also but I have CO2 cylinder thou.

[blue33]

You can consider cut short your lighting hour to 6-8hrs, if you have strong lights.

[larlee]

HC should require a lot of CO2 and strong lights. You might want to consider changing the plants if you want to go low tech.

[k3nlim]

You can consider cut short your lighting hour to 6-8hrs, if you have strong lights.

The HC seems to be most happy with 8-9hrs....never try 6hrs b4..mayb i should to try...