Lighting: 80 gal planted tank

[tuwtletuwtle]

Do you guys think a light fixture with 2x39 watt t5 HO bulbs (hagen glo) would be enough for an 80 gal planted tank (java fern and amazon sword)?

I have the chance to buy the hagen glo system plus an emperor 400 filter for $80.. good deal?

[talldutchie]

Lighting is one of the few things were a rule of thumb actually makes sense. 1 watt per gallon is enough for low to medium light plants. So in your case that should be enough.

[tuwtletuwtle]

Does the t5 HO lights plus the emperor 400 filter sound like a good deal?

[talldutchie]

To me it does. Bulbs alone without the fixture would easily be 20 euros each. No idea about the filter there's makes and models on the North-American market I've never seen over here.

[Cliff]

One thing you will have to keep in mind is that the Hagen Glo 2x39 watt T5HO fixture is only 36 inches long

All of the 80 gallon tanks that I have seen are 48 inches.

Just something to be aware of

[funkman262]

Lighting is one of the few things were a rule of thumb actually makes sense. 1 watt per gallon is enough for low to medium light plants. So in your case that should be enough.

Sorry but I'd have to disagree there. One 39W fixture may provide double the PAR than another. It depends on the type of bulb, quality of ballast, and quality of reflectors. Also, a shallow tank can grow higher-light intensive plants than a taller tank of equivalent volume using the same wattage because the amount of PAR reaching the substrate increases exponentially the closer the fixture is. For example, a Coralife 2-bulb T5HO fixture may be only 10 PAR (umol/m^2/sec) 30" above the substrate but 40 PAR at 15". Then a Catalina fixture can be 35 PAR at 30" and 80 PAR at 15".

It would help to answer your question if we had the dimensions of your tank along with the fixture you're using.

[talldutchie]

Disagree if you like, I'm sharing my experiences. Tank height plays a very important role indeed.