# Plantd tank light help.



## default (May 28, 2011)

So I have 29 gallon long right now with a 36" dual t5ho fixture. I want to get another fixture for the tank though, as the odyssea isn't meeting my light intensity and I don't feel like its enough. Any recommendations for a planted tank?
I was thinking metal halides... I had them for SW, but I don't know the maintenance requirements for FW?
Also how are aquatic life t5ho fixtures? Or Hagen glo?
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Cheers


----------



## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

You could go with metal halides, but they would probably be overkill. Why is a dual T5HO setup not meeting your current lighting needs?


----------



## macKRAZY (Feb 15, 2012)

that should be plenty light, especially if the tank isnt that tall. if you add more light you could possibly end up with an algae problem

which bulbs do you have in the fixtures?


----------



## default (May 28, 2011)

the stock odyssea 6500k bulbs. the light seems medium bright. and pearling has is minimal right now. i knew about the algae risk and right now im getting some brown algae on my glass and a few dots of gda on my anubias. other than that everything looks ok.
would increasing it to like 5W per gallon be just overdoing it? lol
also the reflector on those odyssea fixtures are pretty crumb, could that be a reason?


----------



## macKRAZY (Feb 15, 2012)

your going for the pearling huh? how long has your tank been running and c02?


----------



## default (May 28, 2011)

macKRAZY said:


> your going for the pearling huh? how long has your tank been running and c02?


a week with co2 but the tanks been up for like 2-3 weeks+. im not quite going for the pearling. they pearled like crazy before, but just stopped. also i feel the growth could be better.


----------



## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

same issue, red plants turn green, growth not as fast as I wanted, changed the bulbs. red plants grew red, plants grew super fast, then the algae came . This is with odyssea 36" quad t5ho, pm me if you want the the bulbs I'm using, I have to confirm the pricing with my wholesaler but around the $15 bucks per bulb range, let me know.


----------



## macKRAZY (Feb 15, 2012)

default said:


> a week with co2 but the tanks been up for like 2-3 weeks+. im not quite going for the pearling. they pearled like crazy before, but just stopped. also i feel the growth could be better.


what plants do you have and substrate?
i dont know how fast you want them to grow but they will grow lol patience!
and the pearling could possibly be from new water from a WC and not in fact pearling??


----------



## default (May 28, 2011)

coldmantis said:


> same issue, red plants turn green, growth not as fast as I wanted, changed the bulbs. red plants grew red, plants grew super fast, then the algae came . This is with odyssea 36" quad t5ho, pm me if you want the the bulbs I'm using, I have to confirm the pricing with my wholesaler but around the $15 bucks per bulb range, let me know.


oh i would love that. works great im guessing? lol i have like 30 amanos in this tank to eliminate any algae bloom.


macKRAZY said:


> what plants do you have and substrate?
> i dont know how fast you want them to grow but they will grow lol patience!
> and the pearling could possibly be from new water from a WC and not in fact pearling??


ummm its netlea lambo w/ tropica root.
this isnt my first planted tank... its just i dont know why its so slow now... i have like a million types of plants and mosses in there.
some species grow very fast like my purple bamboo, but species like DHG and some stems are much slower than my other tanks.


----------

