Light cycle for growing plants in an aquarium?
Hi,
Im setting up an aquarium and I want some easy to keep plants in it.
My aquarium is 40gallons (4ft x 2ft) and currently I have 2 arcadia 42″ ‘original tropical’ lamps which are 38w each. These lamps are apparently good for growing plants but I dont know if I need more powerful bulbs? I just plan on growing some low light plants that dont need a lot of maintanence..
Also how does the light cycle work in a fish tank? How many hours should the tank light be on/off?
Many thanks
I can’t figure out how you have come up with the 40gallon figure. Even though you have only given 2 figures for you tanks dimensions instead of 3 even if the third dimension was 1foot that gives a capacity of 50 gallons.
To work out your lighting requirements depth of water is the most important factor so I can’t say if your lighting is adequate or not
As far as light cycle goes I have lights on 5hours off 2hours on 5hours. The 2 hour ‘rest’ period doesn’t harm my plants but it keeps algae under control
November 13th, 2008 at 6:06 am
Banana plant.
References :
November 13th, 2008 at 6:37 am
a pygmy chain sword plant is good it should be planted well into the gravel but not near a heater or it will die ,the pair of lights you have should be fine
maximum of 12 hours for the lights to be on to ensure the great growth of live plants but if you see algae growing then reduce the light to 8 hours a day hope this helps u out and good luck
References :
fish breeder/keeper for 20 years
November 13th, 2008 at 7:33 am
the lighting you have will give you just a little less than 2 watts per gallon. That is fine for growing low light plants. Six to eight hours of light per day would be fine. Some good low light plants would be java fern, anubias, and java moss. Those are most readily available at most pet stores. if you want to grow plants that have a higher light requirement, you’ll need to upgrade your bulbs.
References :
November 13th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I can’t figure out how you have come up with the 40gallon figure. Even though you have only given 2 figures for you tanks dimensions instead of 3 even if the third dimension was 1foot that gives a capacity of 50 gallons.
To work out your lighting requirements depth of water is the most important factor so I can’t say if your lighting is adequate or not
As far as light cycle goes I have lights on 5hours off 2hours on 5hours. The 2 hour ‘rest’ period doesn’t harm my plants but it keeps algae under control
References :