[borohands8593]

Hey guys looking for some help here with lighting. Right now it just has the stock light 14W bulb in stock fixture. Tank info is...

-24inch 26gal bowfront setup
-Penguin 350 filter for high water flow.
-Substrate is approx 20lbs Eco-Complete black and 20lbs lbs black sand mixture.
I dose with Seachem Flourish once every week or two. Heavily stocked with fish but no supplemental CO2. Flousih tabs for sword and cypt.
-Bushynose pleco and Zebra Nerite snails for algae cleanup crew.
-PH is around 8.0-8.2, ammonia and nitrite zero, nitrates 20-40.

Plants are as follows
-Microsorum pteropus-
-Microsorum pteropus windelov
-Bolbitis heudelotii
-anubias nana petite
-anubias barteri
-anubias coffeefoila
-Crinum natans
-Cryptocoryne wendtii
-Echinodirus â€Å"ozelotâ€Â

 

[borohands8593]

Just in case anyone is interested here are some pics of the anubias attached to driftwood before placement in tank. The white in the backround is a normal sheet of computer paper for size comparison.

 

[DJRansome]

I do think that is a lot of light for those plants...3 watts per gallon? And with the HO and T5 bulbs you are getting even more light than was meant when using the WPG rule. I don't think you would want more than 2 and maybe even 1 or 1.5 watts per gallon.

Are your plants doing fine now? If yes, why upgrade?

Is it a really tall tank?

 

[Number6]

with Odyssea, you get what you pay for IMO. They are cheap, and they are cheap.

I think you will like the light upgrade but you will want to find a light with independant switches if possible. Your low light plants will love a brief "bright" spot in the day but the rest of the day you will want a lower light level. Separate power cords is a great way to go as you can use timers.

Forget the watts per gallon rule... it doesn't apply to T5 and not to HOT5 either... can't apply to LED! Heck, whats 7W divided by 12g? 0.583 watts to a gallon?
I have a planted tank right now with half a watt per gallon. :lol:

 

[riccvicious]

just give it a try i have a 140 gal and regular household 4ft 40 watt bulb and my single plant test subject haha is doing really well

 

[borohands8593]

Have you ever heard of the deep blue soalrmax systems, they come with marine bulbs 10K and actinic though. On another note I think I like the ZOOMED24inch T5 HO system. Looks nice but havnt seen one in person are they a decent lamp? I believe they have dual switchs for the two bulbs but if Im correct on reflecter. I can get them for around 50-60 bucks online.

 

[Number6]

Have you ever heard of the deep blue soalrmax systems, they come with marine bulbs 10K and actinic though.

My LFS carries those... they look ok. I didn't buy one as I found a little Current USA HO T5 fixture (used).

On another note I think I like the ZOOMED24inch T5 HO system. Looks nice but havnt seen one in person are they a decent lamp?

I've not seen one of those before. I googled, and they seem ok. I've used zoomed products in the past and they are inexpensive items from China, but generally seemed decent products.