Plant Lighting!

    This is the most important thing you need to grow plants.  Plants need light to survive.  If they don't get enough light then they will become stunned. and they will not grow and eventually die.   A plant could take up to two months to die from being stunned.  If you have a deep tank, more than 2 feet deep then you will need more than one light.  Two fluorescent lights will do the trick but three is even better.  It is very hard to find a three ballast fluorescent light fixture.  I haven't seen any?  You could get a double fixture an but a single behind it.  If you are going to use plastic plants then one light will be just fine.

This is just a sample of what your tank can look like with the proper light and fertilizer.   This kind of tank takes years to set up and once it is setup it is very low maintenance.  

      The problem with large tanks is that they are very deep.  If you have plants a problem you will encounter is the light will not be strong enough by the time it hits the bottom.   Water weakens light.  The deeper you go the weaker the light gets.  Most plants require allot of light.  There are three ways to go in aquarium lights.   Usually when an Aquarius get to this point they get frustrated and just use plastic plants.  If you use plastic plants you are missing a hole part of the aquatic echo system.  Please take the time to study this part of keeping an aquarium.

    As I mentioned before there are three ways to get the proper amount of light to the bottom of the tank.  The best and most expensive is the Metal Halide lights.  Two of these will light the tank up light a bomb going off.  With Metal Halide lights a problem encountered is plants that like low light die because they are so bright.  The disadvantage to these lights are you need a special cooling device and converter for the electricity.  If you get these PG&E will love you.  At 100 watts you get to watch you electric bill go sky high.   I recommend these if you can afford them.  The hole system runs about $500!   These lights also last a long time years.  The Metal halide light themselves are cheap about $10 but the cooling device an converter are expensive.

    Another problem is the heat that still comes off of the lights even with the cooling fan heats the top of the water.   You might need to get a chiller to keep it cool because some fish do not like water above 80ºF.  Some of these lights can heat the water to 90ºF even with the cooling fan.

The tank above is using Metal Halide Lights.   You can see how bright they are.

    The second way to go is VHO fluorescent tubes.  VHO stands for Very High Output.  They are 75-160 watts and are much more efficient than metal halide lights. There is no cooling device and they do not have a converter.  Your electric bill will still be a little high but two of the lights will do the job great.  These lights are a little cheaper than the metal halide lights. They run for about $100 - $200.  The tubes themselves are $30.   They are a little pricey but plants love them. Again there is no cooling device and the water gets warm around the high 70'sº to low 80'sº.  A chiller is not necessary but watch the temperature closely.

This tank is using VHO lights as you can see the plants are doing great.  If you look closely you can see five Boesman Rainbows.

    Standard Fluorescent tubes do the job ok.   Two of them will work great it just takes the plants longer to acclimate.  If you use a good fertilizer you will be able to manage a beautiful planted tank.  A standard fluorescent tube is 40 watts.  If you have a tank deeper than two feet than the minimum is two lights.  You will need to use carbon in your filter to keep the water clean so the light penetrates to the bottom with ease.  If you use peat for softening the water you need to use either VHO or Metal Halide lights.  Peat makes the water two dark and the light cant get to the bottom.  Fluorescent lights are cheap compared to VHO and Metal Halide.  Double ballast's run about $70 and the tubes are $15 - $25. At 40 watts they don't use that much electricity making these very good for the Aquarius on a budget.  Two fluorescent lights are just as good as VHO.  You wont be able to grow some of the plants that light bright light like some sword grass.

   I will be listing some of the best plant growing lights and lights that show off fish color.  Right off the top of my head for fish color the Coralife 10,000K is great.  For plant a combination of the Coralife 10,000K and the Coralife Antic Blue is best for fluorescent Lights, same for VHO. 

   I hope all of this information has helped you in deciding on which kind of light you should get for you aquarium.  You can buy all of the lights listed above from Mail Order Pet Shop.  They will provide you with the lowest prices around.  There are other brands of lights other than coralife but coralife makes the best.  So I would stay with them.  You can visit Coralife at http://www.esuweb.com.  Please visit them to find out more information about aquarium lights. 

    I you have any questions please E-mail me or send me an ICQ message.    

All off the information came from my own experience and pictures are form Mr. Wim Heemskert

This page is created and managed by Ben Nash