? about light for my 4ft 45g tank

[TaTeR ToT]

i have a 45gL (48Lx13Wx16H) which has sugar sized aragonite sand, 1 large piece of african root driftwood, 2x large pieces of cypress knee driftwood, some small pieces of lace rock, and 1 3lb piece of petrified wood. for filtration i have 2x established Emperor 400's and an established Emperor 280. i run regular filter cartiges in all of them, but in the media containers that came with them i have peet to lower the ph, the ph is 6.2, temp is a steady 79F. in it is 1x F0 adult pair of Gymnogeophagus Balzanii, 1x F0 male gymnogeophagus Labiatus, 1x F0 male Gymnogeophagus Blue Neon, 1x F1 adult male Blue Acara, 2x Spotted Corydoras catfish, 1x 4" male F0 L015(peckoltia vittata), 1x 5" male F0 L205(peckoltia sp),  1x 3.25" male F0 LDA22(panaque maccus), 3x male LDA74 Bristle Nose plecos(1x regular male 3", 1x F0 regular male 5", and 1x albino male 4.25", and 6x black skirt tetras. know that u all know about my setup, my ? is i have 1x 4ft twin tube flourescent light kit for this tank. the plants i have r 2x red melon swords, pretty big, i want 2 java fern, 2x corkscrew val, 2 onion plant, 1 radican sword, and 1 brazil sword, the bulbs i am using right now r just standard flourescent, i was wondering if 2x 4ft coral life 10,000k super daylight bulbs would do good on this setup for the plants mentioned? sorry for the longwinded explanation, just wanted everyone to know all about this tank so yall could make the best possible advice. tanks REDDEVIL  :)

[eklikewhoa]

Re: ? about light for my 4ft 45g tank

Holy Superlongwindedjumbled post!

I have a 45gL (48Lx13Wx16H)

which has sugar sized aragonite sand, 1 large piece of african root driftwood, 2x large pieces of cypress knee driftwood, some small pieces of lace rock, 1 3lb piece of petrified wood

for filtration i have 2x established Emperor 400's and an established Emperor 280. i run regular filter cartiges in all of them, but in the media containers that came with them i have peet to lower the ph. the ph is 6.2, temp is a steady 79F.

in it is
1x F0 adult pair of Gymnogeophagus Balzanii
1x F0 male gymnogeophagus Labiatus
1x F0 male Gymnogeophagus Blue Neon
1x F1 adult male Blue Acara
2x Spotted Corydoras catfish
1x 4" male F0 L015(peckoltia vittata)
1x 5" male F0 L205(peckoltia sp)
1x 3.25" male F0 LDA22(panaque maccus)
3x male LDA74 Bristle Nose plecos(1x regular male 3", 1x F0 regular male 5", and 1x albino male 4.25")
6x black skirt tetras.

know that u all know about my setup, my ? is i have 1x 4ft twin tube flourescent light kit for this tank. the plants i have r 2x red melon swords, pretty big, i want 2 java fern, 2x corkscrew val, 2 onion plant, 1 radican sword, and 1 brazil sword, the bulbs i am using right now r just standard flourescent, i was wondering if 2x 4ft coral life 10,000k super daylight bulbs would do good on this setup for the plants mentioned? sorry for the longwinded explanation, just wanted everyone to know all about this tank so yall could make the best possible advice. tanks REDDEVIL




The bulb replacement would definitely be an upgrade but will still limit you a great deal since the actual light that is getting to the plants will be on the low side. What you can do that is cost efficient is to retrofit your hood now with a set of T5HO's with good reflectors and probably some mid-day bulbs. That alone should greatly help the lighting situation. Check out HelloLights.com cause I think they are having a sale right now for retros. Another option if you are able to is to add an additional fixture to what you have.

[TaTeR ToT]

Re: ? about light for my 4ft 45g tank

i am actually getting a 48" twin tube t5 light fixture with 2x 54w daylight bulbs, tomarrow, i was going to use this on my unplanted 90g geophagus tank, but i thin i will put it on the 45g instead, is there any bulbs that will do better than daylight for this purpose?

[TaTeR ToT]

Re: ? about light for my 4ft 45g tank

also the 45g has no middle brace, so their is no obstruction of light.

[TaTeR ToT]

Re: ? about light for my 4ft 45g tank

btw, sorry again for the post  

[eklikewhoa]

Re: ? about light for my 4ft 45g tank

You could easily replace the reflectors and that will decrease the amount of light lost through re-strike.
The bulbs should be fine but Geissman makes a nice day bulb.

Sounds like you should be good to go!

[TaTeR ToT]

Re: ? about light for my 4ft 45g tank

sweet thanx also how would i replace the reflectors? and wut would i replace them with? just new 1's?

[myjohnson]

Re: ? about light for my 4ft 45g tank

you pay for what you get.......