Re:light

[Thomas Barr <tcbiii at earthlink_net>]

Wayne wrote:
> 
> I reply:
> 
> AFAIK George Booth never used any more light than he had to. A concept
> that I really agree with. I wonder if he is wondering when he should
> replace his lamps? Not sure what Tom's light levels are but I am pretty
> sure it not simply the maximum possible.

I have some high light, like 4-6 watts a gallon and some at the lower end, 2
watts a gallon. Not sure what is meant by max light possible. The sun is
pretty bright and there are many different plants with different light
tolerances.

When trying to move from 2 to 4-6 you will need to change a few things
regarding nutrients/CO2. 15ppm is fine but you can add more with little
problems at 2 w/gal at 4-6 it's better to shoot higher on all the nutrients
and feed the tank more often.

Folks have a rough time making this jump and many new folks fall into the
trap thinking that more light is better so they get 3-4 w/gal and have loads
of trouble. Folks tell non planted folks interested into starting a plant
tank that they need more light. In most cases this is true, but the new
folks seem to go too far and hear that you cannot grow gloss at 2 w/gal etc.
That's not true, most plants do grow quite nice at 2w/gal, even so called
"high light" plants.

Adding more light just makes the system suck up more nutrients and many new
folks and OLD plant folks have a difficult time adjusting to this higher
light environment. Balancing the fish load with the plant uptake becomes
less and the addition of inorganic fert's, becomes increasingly more
important on the system's stability.

2-3w/gal is a good starting range. I tell folks to start with 2x20 watt
bulbs w/reflector on a 20 gallon tank. A 55w PC can sub for this.
That makes a good tank to start off with.

FWIW, lighting is the easiest thing to test since you can have a 55 gallon
tank and have 2 ft with one type and 2 ft with another type of light to note
differences. 

Regards, 
Tom Barr