# 180 gallon T5 question



## vmahaffe (Apr 26, 2008)

I'm currently running 8x39w (4x10000k and 4x6500K) Aquaticlife fixture. Could someone tell me where I stand as far as high, medium, low light? When I bought the fixture I assumed it would be more than enough to grow anything I wanted. Any stems I put in there less than 10" tall, start to wither a bit and a lot of the high light plants don't do well. I have continous CO2 and fertilize with the EI dosing, on top of the fact I have a bunch of fish in there. I also run all 8 lights for about 9 hours and with only 4 of them running 2 hours (1 hour in the morning before the 9 hr run and 1 hour at night after the 9 hr run).
Do I need to up the length of time? 
Thanks.


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

How far above the top of your tank is your light fixture? 
What amounts are you dosing?
How are you running co2?


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## vmahaffe (Apr 26, 2008)

Light is on the legs that came with the fixture, so about 4-5". No lids on the tank, wide open. 
Not sure the ppm amounts, but I use the EI dosing recommended for a 125 plus a 55. 
CO2 is added via inline reactor (Aqua medic 1000). pH is about 6.5 kH about 4.
A lot of plants get "stemmy" on me. Wide spacing between leaves.


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## Scotty (Jun 11, 2009)

I would think you need more light. I had the same problem with my 120 until I added some much more powerful lighting. Everything bushes out now. I am running 2 150 watt mh's and 4 x 54w t5 ho on my tank now. 10 hrs a day.


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## vmahaffe (Apr 26, 2008)

I had 4x96w pc running 10hrs with 3x150w mh for a 4 hr midday burst, but the mh's didn't seem to be doing much, other than killing my electric bill. I guess I assumed the 8x39w t5 would be comparable to 4x96w pc. Never had any issues with the pc.


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## vmahaffe (Apr 26, 2008)

Just dawned on me, part of my problem, other than light, might be the fact that I use about 10% tap water which runs thru a water softener.


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## blue thumb (Mar 30, 2010)

180g that is a 24" tall tank. How many inches from your substrate to the surface. You may just need more light. I would switch out the 10K and run all 65K or mixed with 67K. Do you have a lot of surface water movement. That can cut down light. Do you have clear lenses on the fixtures. That can also reduce light. A few years back like 16yr or so I had a 300g planted tank. This tank was 30" tall Back then I ran standard T12. I needed 16 4ft T12 to give enough light to penetrate that deep of water.


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## vmahaffe (Apr 26, 2008)

My substrate is about 3" deep, so the distance from the bottom to the surface is 21" and another 4" or so to the fixture. 
No water movement at the surface, completely calm. 

Would using all 6700k make a difference? Does spectrum matter? I was thinking of switching to Giesmann brand bulbs eventually. Half midday and half aquaflora. Thoughts?


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## blue thumb (Mar 30, 2010)

10K is higher in the blue which plants don't need. I rather concentrate on spectrum that plants need to grow. I'm unfamiliar with Giesmann bulbs.


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## freshyleif (Jan 9, 2008)

Have you done a water test to check how hard or soft it really is I think the weak stem issue might not be from the light but that with so much light and soft water it is hard for the plants to properly utilize the nutrients. I have had a great turn around in my stem plants after adding Calcium and Magnesium.


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## vmahaffe (Apr 26, 2008)

What's a good kH or TDS?
My kH is about 4 and I think my TDS is around 180ppm. I like to keep my eater on the softer side for my wc angels, but I could probably bring it up to 7 kH and still get them to breed.


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