# Any help w/lights on start up low tech 29G tank



## Ned (Aug 7, 2011)

I put this on Substrate special interest, no response there, so have copied and moved it over here to lighting. Not sure if this is important info, but: I've used 30 # of Florite Black and 7 lbs of EcoComplete by CaribSea. I wish I could have set it up with 100% CaribSea because it is fully mineralized -- but I'm trusting this will be more than adequate for a 29 gal low tech tank. I had half a bag of CaribSea left over from a previous set up and tossed it into the mix.

Still have to figure out the lights. The tank is set up against a west wall with eastern sun exposure coming in approx 9 ft away and southern exposure approx 6 ft away. This is a 2nd floor room with big windows on eastern, northern and southern exposures. Both east and southern exposures are filtered by trees during summer months. 

I was thinking of starting with one of the inexpensive 36" LED hoods with add-on capability since we're getting into fall and the leaves are starting to drop from the trees outside the windows. Not sure with the sun exposure - how many watts I'll need so thought I'd start low.
The ones I'm looking at are affordable and come with one 5 watt LED strip with add on capability for 2 more strips. There's another type that is quit interesting in that instead of 36" strip of LEDs, it has little squares of LED lights that slide along a rail under the hood so you can push them from one end of the tank to the other depending on where you need them. It has add on capabilities as well. That might really work on this set up since the southern end of the tank is going to get a lot of natural sunlight coming in. Thoughts????

On the other hand, I could probably get by with a flourescent - tank is 18 - 20 " deep. I am starting with stem plants right now until the tank 'turns over' but eventually want to go with low-light, like crypts and Val (altho not sure if Valisnera is low light) to see what happens. 
Any thoughts regarding the LEDs (above) vs flourescent if supplemented by sunlight?


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## TropTrea (Jan 10, 2014)

With LED lighting spectrum is extremely important. Without the sun light you can probably get away with a LED fixture in the range of about 30 watts. If the spectrum is ideal for the plants you can even drop below that. I have some 10 gallon tanks with low light plants and only about 3 watts per tank. But for a taller tank and rooted plants you will need more than this.

Plants need a balance of red and blue light which can be obtained with LED's easily but for your viewing pleasure green light will show off your plants. I found a 50/50 split between cool white, and neutral white LED's works good for me this way. Some people like to use cool and warm whites but then you want closer to a 60/40 or even 70/30 split. Other options are Cool whites plus red LED's or Warm Whites plus blue LED's. There are many approaches to get the right balance. 

For florescent lighting today I would only consider HO t-5 lighting. for the 29 gallon tank your limited to 24" long bulbs. I'm seeing fantastic results now with a combination of one Geisman Super Flora and one Geisman Tropical. You may get similar results if you use a GE 6,500K in place of the Tropical.

On an added note from your tank description I also use the commercial laterlites in my substrate. But I also put at least a 1/2 inch layer of red flint gravel over it in the finest texture I can to seal everything into the substrate.


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## Ned (Aug 7, 2011)

Thanks so much for your response. I'm on my way to get the LED fixture. Appreciate the info.


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