# t5HO question



## elcoqui (Aug 17, 2010)

Hello, 

I'm looking to upgrade my lighting fixture on my 28 gallon bowfront aquarium. 

The tank's dimensions are roughly 24" long x 13" wide x 18" deep. I currently have a coralife 65 watt power compact fixture. 

I would like to increase my lighting output and also switch to a T5 HO fixture. I'm looking at the Wave Point 24" 4x24 watt T5 HO fixture (I would need to replace the saltwater bulbs with 6500k bulbs). Would this fixture's output be overkill for a planted tank? Would I be better off going with a 2x24 watt fixture? I would like to reach a high level of light in the tank, but I don't necessarily want to use CO2. 

Thank you so much for any advice.


----------



## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi elcoqui,

If it were me, and I had 65 watts over that tank, I would be doing CO2 (at least DIY or Excel). If you up your lighting wattage, you will almost have to have CO2. Otherwise algae may become your best grower. I have to remind myself regularly that what I have is a "System". If I change one aspect of the system, I have to adjust the other aspects as well. If I increase my light (duration or wattage) I also need to adjust my ferts and water changes.


----------



## elcoqui (Aug 17, 2010)

Thank you for your response! 

You are right that I have a lot of algae in that tank - there's green and brown algae that's difficult to remove from the plants and glass. I'm only growing java ferns, anubias, and a few crypts. 

However, I thought that by increasing the lighting and therefore being able to house faster growing stem plants, I would reduce this algae problem. 

I have a 5.5 gallon nano planted tank with a 20 watt CFL hood I built myself. I have very little algae in this tank and it has a thick carpet of narrow leaf chain sword, crypts, and densely growing hygrophila dyformis with narrow jagged leaves characteristic of this plant when grown under higher light. 

When I tried hygrophila dyformis in my 28 gallon tank, growth was very slow and the leaves became much broader, as characteristic of this plant when grown under reduced light. Hence, I thought that by increasing my light, I would have better luck with stem plants and thus less algae.

Is this thought process flawed?


----------



## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi elcoqui,

Before you spend good money on more lighting, let's find out where you are at:

Do you Fertilize? If so, how and how often?
I understand you have a Coralife 65 watt Power Compact; what type bulb is in it? Is it 6700K or something else? How many hours per day is it on?
What is your substrate?

Let's start with that and we will go from there.


----------



## elcoqui (Aug 17, 2010)

Again, thank you for your help.

28 gallon:
Coralife 65 watt, 6,700k PC hood
Originally lit the tank 12 hours a day, but because of algae I tried reducing it to 10 and then 8 which helped a little
Eco-complete substrate
API "Leaf Zone" aquarium plant food dosed once every 2 months or so
Slow plant growth and lots of green/red algae coating leaves and glass and difficult to remove
3 Giant danios
10 Serpae tetras
2 Otos
1 betta


5.5 gallon
Homemade hood with 2x10 watt CFL bulbs (not spiral, the long type) "full spectrum" (cheap from Wal-Mart)
Tank is lit 10 hours a day
Very thin layer of laterite with regular aquarium gravel on top (the laterite might already all be gone as the aquarium has been set up for close to two years now)
API "Leaf Zone" aquarium plant food dosed once every 2 months or so
Fairly rapid plant growth with a little stringy algae that is very easy to remove
5 tiny feeder guppies
1 betta

Additionally, the filter on my 28 is a HOB that agitates the water very much. The filter on my 5.5 is a small canister that causes virtually no surface agitation. Perhaps this is causing a difference in the CO2 levels of the two tanks. I'm in the process of switching the 28 to a canister, so perhaps this will help.

I also understand that my fert dosing schedule probably is next to pointless because it's so minimal. But for some reason, I'm having a lot of success with my 5.5.

Thanks for any advice


----------



## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi elcoqui,

According to the MSDS on the API website, Leaf Zone contains only two ingredients: potassium sulfate and Iron. Based on that, I would say you are probably starving your plants.

Here is a suggestion, why not pick up a bottle of Seachem Flourish Comprehensive and dose it per the instructions for a couple of weeks and see if there is any improvement. Don't change anything else, continue to dose the API as you have been, just dose the Flourish in addition. 

Let us know how things progress!


----------



## elcoqui (Aug 17, 2010)

I agree I'm probably starving my plants haha. I'll try the flourish before I purchase a new light.

I'm just curious as to why my 5.5 is doing so well...


----------

