Craziiininja Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 I have a 125 gallon with a 4 foot fluval 3.0 and a 3 foot fluval 3.0. It is moderately planted with low to medium light plants. My question is how intense should i start off with these lights. I dont want to go way over board but not too little where the medium light plants wont make it. Because the tank is so wide my two lights dont like the whole tank front to back completely. The top corners are shaded will plants that grow into the shade die from no light. I have crypts, vallisneria, red melon sword, pogostemon stellatus octopus, anubias and java fern. thanks for any help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 I have a 75g with one cheap Nicrew light. The only plant I’ve lost is some Pearl weed that was about 20” deep. You should be able to grow just about anything with the two Fluvals. Since they’re a little short I might stagger them so the ends of the tank get full coverage. Another solution would be to get them raised up higher so the light spread naturally covers the ends. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craziiininja Posted June 25, 2021 Author Share Posted June 25, 2021 (edited) this is my setup my lights cover the full length of the tank just not the width the top front and back of tank are dark. this is with the light intensity at 100% is that way too much? Edited June 25, 2021 by Craziiininja Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craziiininja Posted June 25, 2021 Author Share Posted June 25, 2021 Heres another pic with the lights at 100%. Is this too bright for low to medium light? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 In my opinion it’s to much for your plant selection and density. I’d be worried about algae. I bet you’ll get good growth at 50%, but I’d like to hear from someone that has this light on tank of similar depth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 Here’s the goto thread for Fluval Programming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craziiininja Posted June 25, 2021 Author Share Posted June 25, 2021 yeah when i turn it down to 50% the tank looks pretty dark and dim to my eyes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craziiininja Posted June 25, 2021 Author Share Posted June 25, 2021 (edited) this is with lights at 50%. it does look a little brighter on camera than in person to me but maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me lol Edited June 25, 2021 by Craziiininja Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 On 6/25/2021 at 3:59 AM, Craziiininja said: Heres another pic with the lights at 100%. Is this too bright for low to medium light? Really nice tank as @Patrick_G suggest dialing back the light a bit would be opinion I think you will start to algae problems with your light on a 100% 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craziiininja Posted June 25, 2021 Author Share Posted June 25, 2021 yeah i'll just do 50% for a while then go up slowly if i'm not getting algae. if i bought 2 more 3ft fluval 3.0s would that be too much light even at 50% for low to medium light. I see that aquarium co op recommends 4 3ft fluval 3.0 for a 125 gallon 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 Also, your fish look great. The angel stands out for me but the rainbows look great too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craziiininja Posted June 25, 2021 Author Share Posted June 25, 2021 yeah my camera is not the best doesnt really do them justice. and i also dont have a ton of plants cause its hard to fill up a 6ft tank. and i have other aquariums that i spend money on lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 On 6/24/2021 at 9:17 PM, Craziiininja said: yeah i'll just do 50% for a while then go up slowly if i'm not getting algae. if i bought 2 more 3ft fluval 3.0s would that be too much light even at 50% for low to medium light. I see that aquarium co op recommends 4 3ft fluval 3.0 for a 125 gallon I found a amateur study on a different forum where someone had measured par levels when adding a second light. It turned out that the second light almost doubled the par level in the areas where the lights overlap. So if I had the budget I’d own two 48” Fluvals for my 75 gal (48”x18”x21”)and try to figure the best intensity level. My guess is it would be less than 50% for my low-medium light plants. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 (edited) On 6/25/2021 at 4:17 AM, Craziiininja said: yeah i'll just do 50% for a while then go up slowly if i'm not getting algae. if i bought 2 more 3ft fluval 3.0s would that be too much light even at 50% for low to medium light. I see that aquarium co op recommends 4 3ft fluval 3.0 for a 125 gallon I see how goes at 50% I would slowly increase the light intensity as your plants start fill out abit more see how it goes before changing your lighting setup Edited June 25, 2021 by Colu 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 On 6/24/2021 at 9:19 PM, Craziiininja said: yeah my camera is not the best doesnt really do them justice. and i also dont have a ton of plants cause its hard to fill up a 6ft tank. and i have other aquariums that i spend money on lol I know! I spent about $250 on plants for my 75 and it still looked pretty sparsely planted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craziiininja Posted June 25, 2021 Author Share Posted June 25, 2021 (edited) yeah i had a bunch of vallisneria die off cause i was treating for ich and doing water changes everyday but wasnt dosing ferts consistently enough i guess and they died off. but i just got 8 more pots of val and a octopus plant. today i ordered 12 pot of crypt wendtii green so that'll help fill out the front half when i get them Edited June 25, 2021 by Craziiininja 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craziiininja Posted June 25, 2021 Author Share Posted June 25, 2021 if i raised my lights by 3 or 4 inches would that help illuminate the tank more or would i just be losing par? with my lights laying on my tops its about 18 inches from my substrate cause the tank is 21 inches tall and 3 inches of substrate. I wish i didnt have the shaded areas in my tank where its really dark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChemBob Posted June 26, 2021 Share Posted June 26, 2021 I personally like having a shaded area. It gives the fish a dark area to retreat to if they want. You can grow low light plants like crypts or Anubias there if you want plants there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eatyourpeas Posted June 26, 2021 Share Posted June 26, 2021 My suggestion would be to have the higher light requirement plant density concentrate towards the center where you have the light overlap. Start at 75% to encourage growth, dial it down if you see algae. As the plants fill in, you can adjust the light. Right now, it looks like your Anubias are towards the center of the tank where the light tends to be more intense, so I would move them towards the edges and where the light is less intense. You can also place the Epiphytes in that low light area and have the root feeders together to make your life easier when it comes to fertilizing. Just a thought... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craziiininja Posted June 26, 2021 Author Share Posted June 26, 2021 Im gonna be adding some driftwood so im gonna be rescaping. Thanks for the help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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