# Deep water Lighting advice



## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

The Walstad type aquarium is a low light aquarium, which will make it much easier for you to light it. I suggest you start by reading http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/10-lighting/184368-lighting-aquarium-par-instead-watts.html and see if that helps.


----------



## whonc (Oct 2, 2015)

I have a similiar tank with an Evo Green SnakeEyes Quad 72" Timer 6500K 3W LED Aquarium Light and is working great.


----------



## AbbeysDad (Apr 13, 2016)

The Walstad method is a more natural (low tech) approach to the planted tank that creates a natural biotope in the aquarium. As such, it does not require the bright light, high ferts, and CO2 of the 'high tech' model.

I am having very good success with my 48" Finnex Planted+ 24/7 light in 24/7 mode in my 60g (24" depth) low tech tank. I'm not quite Walstad as my substrate is 100% silica (pool filter) sand. I do have numerous Malaysian Trumpet Snails to aerate and fertilize the substrate. 

I am using Seachem Flourish Root Tabs and Modest amounts of Flourish Trace and Flourish Comprehensive. I will soon back off on water column additives, hoping for a more organic approach.

I quite like the light as the plants have responded very well. I'm growing Jungle Val, Amazon Swords, Green Crypt Wendtii, Java Fern, Java Moss, Anubias Nana, Dwarf Sag, and Rotala.

The lights automated sunrise to sunset/moonlight is very surreal and adds an even more natural dimension to the aquarium. I must admit that I thought the light, although a subtle blue, was still too bright in the wee hours, so I put it on a timer to come on at 6am and go off at midnight. Fortunately when the light comes back on in 24/7 mode (even after a power outage), it comes on at 6am feature time. If I didn't like 24/7, it has several built in modes as well as 4 custom modes you can create for color blend and intensity and store. So it can be used like a 'regular light'. 

I did read a few bad reviews on Amazon from people I believe with open top tanks. The claim was that the light failed after only 2-3 months, suspecting moisture got inside the light. I have mine over a glass canape.
This is my journal of plant growth over a 3 month period:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/12-tank-journals/1077169-abbeysdads-60g-journey-time.html

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Finnex beyond having purchased a light (and I also own a small Finnex air pump). :smile2:


----------



## AbbeysDad (Apr 13, 2016)

whonc said:


> I have a similiar tank with an Evo Green SnakeEyes Quad 72" Timer 6500K 3W LED Aquarium Light and is working great.


Isn't that light intended for a SW reef tank, which is very different than a FW planted tank???


----------



## vtdochop (Sep 4, 2016)

Excellent article Hoppy ...think I might get a PAR meter to know where I am.
Peter

Bump: Whonc,
Do you have a PAR reading at the level of substrate ?
Peter


----------



## whonc (Oct 2, 2015)

AbbeysDad said:


> Isn't that light intended for a SW reef tank, which is very different than a FW planted tank???



Nope, it's use for freshwater aquariums and it works fine for planted tanks because of the 6500k leds. This is the hole name of the lamp: SE-Quad-72-Timer-6500K-3W-LED-Aquarium-Light-Freshwater-Plant-Discus.


----------



## whonc (Oct 2, 2015)

vtdochop said:


> Excellent article Hoppy ...think I might get a PAR meter to know where I am.
> Peter
> 
> Bump: Whonc,
> ...


 Unfortunately, no. At the time I bought the lamp a want to save every dollar so I can and spend it on other things. But I do a lot of research and are good threads in this forum explaining all you want to know. Some of those threads are:


http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/1...mswork-success-stories-beamswork-club-11.html

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/10-lighting/127515-3w-1w-leds-better.html

I figure it out that 1w led will not work out for a deep of 24 inches. It’s too deep! So the next available led was the 3w. This lamp is well built but it lacks of all the functionality a 24/7 Planted has. For me, all that I need is a timer and this lamp has a timer for each off the 4 led strips. This way I can start one strip at 8 am, the second one at 10 am, the third one at 12 am and the last one at 2 pm. I never run the 4 strips at the same time, so when the last strip is turn on the first strip is turn off. This way I control the amount of light. 



I think is a good light for the money, the only complain I have is the fan noise! 



This is my journal: 
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/12-tank-journals/940034-180-gallons-grandpa-low-tech-tank.html


----------



## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

I would not use the Walstad method in a tall tank. That method is already very limiting in the plants you can grow and how much you can move things around to make a good looking scape. A tall tank will need pretty strong light to reach the bottom even for less demanding plants and this stronger light will be very difficult to work with soil. 

You should use a neater, cleaner substrate like eco-complete or sand, dose the water column and get a light that has viewing light (lower intensity) most of the day and that you could either brighten for a few hours a day or it has a second switch to turn on a second bulb.


----------



## smackpixi (Feb 14, 2009)

"I figure it out that 1w led will not work out for a deep of 24 inches. It’s too deep! So the next available led was the 3w. "

This is not true. Light is light. Coming from a .5 watt or 3 watt led it's the same. The weed growers, the best source for light information, expend lots of energy on the subject of "light penetration" which I just don't understand. Some of them are just stupid.

Light is light. From a .5 watt or 3 watt led it's the same. What matters is where that light goes. Most 3 watt LEDs have lenses, they have a 60 or 80 or 120 or whatever spread of light...a cone where the light goes. Cheepo lights with .5 LEDs are often 120 or 180 with the light, it goes everywhere, only some where you want it. When the weed people sleek of penetration they mean the ability of a light to put it's energy to the target...even if they don't think they do.

3 1 watt LEDs will give as much light as one 3 watt if focused on the same section of ground. Probably more given that led efficiency deceaces as watts go up.


----------



## Vohlk (Apr 8, 2016)

While I agree with a lot of what smackpixi said, I think the original intent of the claim to 3w was intending to say that if you are going to buy A fixture it should be the 3w version because of the amount of light you will need. While water itself does not absorb a lot of light in the visible spectra tannins and other material in the water (suspended detritus or other waste material) will increase the turbidity and thus increase the need for more light. It would be unrealistic to light a tank that is this tall with .5w LED's as you would need quite a large number of fixtures. Essentially wavelengths in the "red" part of the visible spectra are much more absorbed by "pure" water. Water that has material in it si much different though because each of those types of materials absorb different wavelengths differently, some don't absorb at all and instead scatter the light, this is less of a problem than absorbtion because more of the light will reach the bottom if it is scattered as opposed to absorbed but a lot of this light is still dumped out of the tank. There are a couple of articles I will link here that talk about first absorption then another about absorption and scattering.

So yes technically you won't need a 3w fixture it will most likely be cheaper and look better than multiple 1w fixtures or lo and behold half a dozen .5w fixtures (maybe more)

Water absorption spectrum
light

Note: smackpixi is right, essentially light "intensity" isn't anything other than the amount of light, though you can talk further about varying intensities of different waveleengths of light within a lighting element (the amount of light in one wavelength as opposed to the amount of light in other wavelengths given off by an LED or array of LED's)

Sorry for the long rant/post good luck with your tank will be excited to see pictures of it one day should you ever post them!


----------

