# Deep tank using cfl dome lights for basic hardy low light



## ziggnick (Jan 30, 2013)

Hello all, I have dabbled in this site for awhile and at moments have come very close to taking the plunge into going into full plant mode but something has always held me back as far as a time constraint and I don't want to go at this half assed if I can help it so with no further intro I'll jump into what I have going on

I have a reef tank 150 gallon approximately 4×2×31" so obviously I didn't plan this out very well for a planted tank because it's almost too deep but from some searching around it seems like it can be done! 

Not the entire tank is open though I have gone ahead and added a diy rock wall in the back of the tank made of Styrofoam and coated with colored mortar as my backdrop, it is a very very cool tank to start with and after adding in a piece of manzanita drift wood I am very pleased so far that it actually looks like a snap shot out of a lake... I've used black coarse blasting sand as my substrate so far and have gotten all the pH concerns out of the way and in the past year have had plenty of sucess with multiple types of fish so I have no doubts that it is cycled and ready to roll

My plan is to remove the majority of the sand and add in a nice solid layer of 2" soil for planting and then recap with said black sand....I want to keep this very simple and low tech with concerns of maintenance and the electric bill plaguing in the back of my mind 

hardy low light plants is my game plan and then if I can make a successful run at those I will move up but I want to take this in baby steps so I'm looking at the very basics like this site has listed http://homeaquaria.com/9-best-freshwater-aquarium-plants-for-beginners/

My main concern comes in with the lighting and I've done pretty much as much reading as I possibly can about the wpg debate and the more important par meter but since I don't have a part meter nothing is very strait forward and while I feel very much more informed I feel like I am no closer to actually picking a suitable light than I was before

I'd like to stick with cfls in the dome lights as I already have these and actually do like the looks of them... plan is to keep them just at about 2" from the water surface with no glass or anything between... so we are looking at about 29" from top of substrate to light source the way I look at it...

From what I've read I believe that I can get away with 4 23w cfls running at 6500

SOMEONE HELP ME SHE'D SOME LIGHT!!


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

Well the plant's listed in the link you provided don't need much light so I would say go ahead and try the CFL bulbs/fixtures.
Allow a few week's after planting for the plant's to transition to being completely submerged, and try not to uproot or replant them too much.
Would begin with as many plant's as I could and fast growers like the water wisteria mentioned along with crypt's,mosses,fern's,which grow slower.
Can always upgrade the lighting ,but better to begin with low light than high.
Way less chance of battling algae from the get go.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

You are going to have around 10-15 PAR light intensity. That isn't enough to grow much other than moss, anubias, etc. And, only 4 of those CFL lights can't possibly light up the whole 8 square feet of substrate. Maybe two rows of them, 8 total, could give you reasonably uniform, but still 10-15 PAR light.


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## ziggnick (Jan 30, 2013)

Would you think it would be wise while I was doing the initial plant to use diy root tabs throughout using maybe 4 or 5 all together or would that be too much of a shock all at once

I was also wondering if maybe using a cfl flood would be wise so that I could get to the bottom of the tank better? But also wonder if the light would be to spot light ish and not get the whole bottom illuminated...


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

Hoppy said:


> You are going to have around 10-15 PAR light intensity. That isn't enough to grow much other than moss, anubias, etc. And, only 4 of those CFL lights can't possibly light up the whole 8 square feet of substrate. Maybe two rows of them, 8 total, could give you reasonably uniform, but still 10-15 PAR light.


 
Could not the OP simply increase the watt's per bulb to grow the plant's they listed?


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## ziggnick (Jan 30, 2013)

Hoppy: I too was afraid of that also... only will be able to really tell when I get it all set in to place... you also must remember that the back edge of the tank is inconsistent due to the rock wall... I know I will have issues with that because some rocks stick out farther than others which casts shadows but it's just something I will have to deal with and plant according 

10 to 15 par is really pushing the edge of the bare minimums from what i remember...do you think there is another bulb I could use to get into the 20 ish range


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

CFL bulbs in those dome reflectors tend to stick out beyond the rim of the reflector when you use higher wattage bulbs. If you can find 30+ watt CFL bulbs, in the very compact style, you could get more light, and if you use larger diameter dome reflectors, more than 12 inch diameter, you could get more uniform lighting. But, that does drive up the price by quite a bit.


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## Kalyke (Dec 1, 2014)

Why not go "natural sunlight?"

Most low light plants thrive in about 1500 foot candles, which is a room in natural daylight. 

If you lift your hand to a light, like daylight, you should see a faint shadow, fuzzy. A hard shadow is a lot more foot candles. You can research this. 

I am still doing my research. If you have an I phone type phone which can tale pictures, maybe a tablet too, there are free apps that will tell you how much light comes into a room. Adapt and situate. Use reflectors. Various shade cloths. This would be ultra low tech. 

In the winter, you can use a light to extend daylight slightly. Since they are plants, a cfl grow light in a grow light fixture can help. Grow lights are made for plants. The actual sun is a better choice. We humans need the sun for vitamin D. Using artificial replacements makes us sick.My fish like dim places and hidey holes. The lights are for humans who have c#%p for eyes, and plants.


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## ziggnick (Jan 30, 2013)

So just as hoppy had posted last I was actually right by my local lowes so I dipped on in and had a look at what he had to say and I feel like I really shouldn't be surprised but HE WAS RIGHT while it is totally feasible to continue on my cfl route it's just not smart it's to the point that I would be spending more going that route than I would in many other routes which isn't what i was looking for in the first place

So before I left I looked around and saw some other familiar ideas ive seen around the forum t5 t8 t12 bulbs and the list goes on stuff I'm fairly familiar with... Not exactly the route I wanted but in any case I looked around got some ideas and prices for bulbs and the units that hold them and some of the things I may have to do to help reflect light down better and then headed for the door with the idea that cfl is pretty much out the window 

When I got home I hit the forum hard looking at other routes and saw a lot of the same stuff people are having success with of coarse I speak about aquariums that are much shallower than mine so taking it in but also realizing it wouldnt just be that easy for me....

I remembered seeing some led shop lights at my local lowes and figured I'd go to my trusty friend google to see if they could be of any use to me over the conventional fluorescent units, the short answer to that is just NO but then i ran across a you tube video of a guy who was using led flood lights off amazon (Amazon.com: TSSS XPT-LEDT50W 50-Watt LED Spotlight Wash Garden Outdoor Wall Waterproof Flood Light High Power Cool, White: Musical Instruments) he was more or less giving a review of the product and had a pretty nice aquarium setup with these lights with some impressive carpet of plants going on, now he did have co2 in his tank but co2 alone doesn't produce plant growth which told me he was having pretty damn good success with these flood lights so I checked them out and am leaning that direction now, at 30 bucks a pop for 50w @ 6000-6500k I feel like 4 of these might do just the trick to help me penetrate to my deeper tank 

I'm interested what you all might have to say on my new discovery here? Go easy on me I'm just a newbie at this ;-)


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

My bad,
Can only respond to what has been posted originally ("want hardy low light plant's and low tech").
Plenty of folks run such tank's ,and it don't cost nothing extra in the long run unless one just has to make thing's more difficult/expensive.
Truth is ,you can run as much light as you want over the tank, but I would suggest being able to raise the light would be a good thing should it prove to be too much for NON CO2 low tech application.,


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## ziggnick (Jan 30, 2013)

Roadmaster are you saying by going this route I'd be going outside of what I wanted? I done completly follow


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## Xiaozhuang (Feb 15, 2012)

I think he means that the spot light produces quite a bit of PAR, so if you use them, having the option to raise them to lower the lighting level should be considered. But yes they'll work, the predecessor was the industrial MH which for a 150w model costs about $50 but produces a huge load of PAR. These, together with the CFLs are the cheapest method of lighting a tank (besides building your own LED array). Some of the spot lights may have poorer color rendition though, so if you're looking for very good coloration the addition of fluorescent tubes/CFLs will add tones that are lacking in the spot light.

For example, this 3ft tank used to be grown with 150w metal halide + a 24w CFL. Quite a bit of bang for the buck considering the entire lighting setup costs less than 100 bucks.


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## ziggnick (Jan 30, 2013)

I think I understand now... 

The biggest issue I am having is deciding between the 50w or the 30w units... I belive I will need 4 to cover the whole tank but also thinking 3 in a row may do the job also

Another thought I am having is that I would like to make a hood for this tank and with that I can obviously build in some variability to move the light up and down but I don't want to pick alight that needs to be put up 3 ft into the air above the tank for it to be the right lightning

So where do I go from here to decide the number of lights and the wattage


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## Xiaozhuang (Feb 15, 2012)

You have a couple of choices; you can buy the stronger light and hang it higher. This is less efficient, but provides you with the option of lowering the light to get higher lighting levels should you choose to use CO2/have a high light tank in future. Or you could go with the lower wattage ones, hang them lower/use fewer. And if you find that its too low, you could buy more fixtures. You can ask around to check out the PAR values for the spot-light and their spread. Your tank is quite deep, so hmm 

Also you get the out-door fixtures you can use them in your garden if you want to change them out for other fixtures in future.


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## ziggnick (Jan 30, 2013)

Well that's really the best I could come up with too except for that last part putting them out in the garden lol

The problem with finding the par is a) hardly anyone has one b) even fewer have a par meter with something that depth

I'll take the plunge and order 3 30w fixtures I think and go from there, if I get a nice even coat of light across the tank with that then I'll quit of not I'll buy a 4th and I am fairly certain that should do the trick

I hope...


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## ziggnick (Jan 30, 2013)

Should have added it earlier but here's a little peak at the tank as it sits right now...

Not 100% if I uploaded correctly but here's me giving it a try


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