# How do I know my wpg



## Chizpa305 (Feb 12, 2011)

Hello guys, I have a very small aquarium of only 5 gallons that I bought on petsmart a few months ago. (it is called Fluval Chi and you can google to see how it looks) Now I want to plant it with some live plants. The thing is I don't know how many watts per gallon I have. The tank comes with its own lightning which consists of 12 LED light bulbs. Does anyone knows how powerful this lights are. They don't look too strong in my opinion, and if they are enough to grow some dwarf four leaf clover? I have the ADA aqua soil substrate, some excel solution and some fertilizers, but I dunno if the lightning is enough.

Also, I have another question. What is the scientific name for the dwarf four leaf clover? is it _Marsilea hirsuta_ or is it _Marsilea crenata_? I have been reading the descriptions on both and they appear to be very symilar, if not the same...

Thanks!!


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## AzFishKid (Aug 22, 2009)

Marsilea hirsuta, Marsilea crenata, Marsilea quadrifolia, and Marsilea minuta are all very similar. 

Sorry, can't help you out with the lighting situation, but you might want to look into doing a more powerful DIY light.


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## NeonFlux (May 15, 2008)

+1 with Azfishkid.


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## Jhung515 (Feb 14, 2011)

not to steal your thread but I have the same tank and same question only I've read that the built in leds arent powerful enough to grow plants and purchased a 2.3w led desk lamp from walmart and was wondering if anyone knows if this added light will work or if i need to find something different.


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## Chizpa305 (Feb 12, 2011)

Jhung515 said:


> not to steal your thread but I have the same tank and same question only I've read that the built in leds arent powerful enough to grow plants and purchased a 2.3w led desk lamp from walmart and was wondering if anyone knows if this added light will work or if i need to find something different.


Jhung515, If I am not wrong you have 2.3watts divided by 5 gallons which is the volume of the fluval chi (small one) and that gives you only about 0.5 wpg... which its still pretty low light. Someone correct me if Im wrong. Did you take out the filter/fountain out of the aquarium? I don't want to take that piece out because I feel that's what I paid for... You know what I mean. In that case I would have bought another small glass aquarium.. simple.


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## HolyAngel (Nov 3, 2010)

Led wattage is meaningless for using the wpg rule, that was made for using t12's. 

As for your answer, idk short of getting the plants an tryin it yourself unless someone around here has that setup and knows. Only other way to know for sure is with a PAR meter :/


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## Jhung515 (Feb 14, 2011)

Chizpa305 said:


> Jhung515, If I am not wrong you have 2.3watts divided by 5 gallons which is the volume of the fluval chi (small one) and that gives you only about 0.5 wpg... which its still pretty low light. Someone correct me if Im wrong. Did you take out the filter/fountain out of the aquarium? I don't want to take that piece out because I feel that's what I paid for... You know what I mean. In that case I would have bought another small glass aquarium.. simple.


I didn't remove the filter/fountain that came with the setup, I have the led desk lamp over to the side angled towards the plant box in the bottom. So I have the 2.3 watts from desk lamp that says "same light output as equivalent 13 watt cfl bulb" plus the 11 leds built into the filter.

My question mostly had to deal with if led lights were rated or whatever the term is on the same scale as fluorescent lights and HolyAngel answered that. I guess I'm just going to have to experiment and see what I come up with. I'll post up some pics and details within next week of what I find out and my setup.


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## Chizpa305 (Feb 12, 2011)

Yeah, I'll just go ahead and try something like that dwarf four clover leaf plant that by the way I ordered it under the name _marsilea hirsuta_, and recieved it under the name _marsilea crenata_..... well I gess is not a big of a deal. And I would love to see some pictures of your fluval Chi Jhung515. I will be posting some too. like one of those Journals. to see the progress (if any) of the plants each month. I just received the substrate today and I'm waiting for the four leaf clover to meta-morph to its submersed state. LOl
Later.


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## Jhung515 (Feb 14, 2011)

If you want to start a new thread for planted fluval chi's ill post up a pic journal on there once we get our tanks going as to not have 2 separate post. Also if I may ask what type of substrate did you go with and who your ordering from. It should be interesting to see how they turn out.


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## Chizpa305 (Feb 12, 2011)

I ordered the Aqua-soil substrate (Amazonia I) from Aqua Design Group (ADG) online. I also ordered the Power sand from the same website. The power sand (which is not really sand... more like volcanic rocks or something ike that) contains organic materials that replenish the substrate with nutrients, it is placed in the very bottom of the aquarium, under the substrate. Is is a bit expensive, but it is said that is the best substrate that money can buy. I already set it up and filled the aquarium with water (with no plants added yet, or fish) and the water was cristal clear even when I did not rinse the substrate before use. I will put pictures today or tomorrow in a new thread as you said. so you can see. But I wont be planting yet:biggrin:


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