Lighting help—Marine Fluval for a freshwater light.

[Pitafish]

I want my plants to thrive a bit more.   I have a fluval marine light (model 14517) that came with my 100 gallon I bought on marketplace.
I am going to get the Bluetooth running as it is preset at this time.  
 

my question—will this light work for freshwater if I change to a brighter setting.   I have the LED lights that came with the topfin kit.

I was hoping the topfin would penetrate deeper and I’d getting better growth.   I use the coop fertilizer.

(It’s cleaning day so ignore dirty glass)

thanks so much!. 

Edited June 19, 2022 by Pitafish

[CJs Aquatics]

do you know the specs of the light itself? I didn’t want to look up the wrong one and give you incorrect information. Overall, In my personal planted tank experience, they aren’t very picky about what the lights look light, rather the amount, lumens, K, etc. based on the plants your trying to grow. A vague answer to your question is theoretically it would work but to dial things in we need to take a look at the specs which I don’t know off hand, perhaps another Nerm does and can chime in. I know color spectrum plays a part in different things as well, just not well versed in the science behind that, it couldn’t hurt to try and monitor, and adjust as you saw fit…

[Pitafish]

One at far right.

lumens 2550

59 w

i can control blue, purple, pink, white, cyan

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Your going to want to turn the blue all the way down. There’s a lot of blue and purples in marine lights as they make the corals pop and enhance the phosphorescence of the corals. This does not help fresh water plants. 

In general, soft and bright white, green and red are the preferred spectrums of light freshwater plants like. Cyan may be the closest you’ll get to green. You have the white and pink gets you close to red. If it a me I’d have the white at 50% or greater, cyan and pink not far behind and the blue at 0. 

Have fun and report back. I’d set it and forget it for 2 weeks before making another change either to the light, ferts or other. 

[Brandon p]

Most of us make a bigger deal about lighting than is necessary. I still has have a few tanks tank have the old fluorescent tube. A few questions for you. What kinds of plants do you have and what are you planning on adding. What is the purpose of the plants? Do you want short carpeting plants or are you ok with having easy cool looking plants. I have to to say today is the day of @Beardedbillygoat1975. I have followed him aon many post today and he is right on. Is for the plants growing in my experience as a hobbyist and in my profession fast growing plants are often not as healthy use more nutrients, and don’t grow like they should. Don’t rush things, the videos on YouTube or pictures on Instagram are often done to shows or competition. Others people have spent years grow slow adding removing. If you are doing the right things and the plants are growing at a steady rate they are probably good.  Many aquarium plants are low to medium light,  and yes there are more hight light plants hiring the market because there are “better” lights. I have a super nice expensive light that I can set with the phone  but most of my tanks have what used to be much cheaper Chinese hygger lights. The price has jumps recently. The grow my plants jus as good as the very expensive one. You do have an issue than many people on the forum don’t have to deal with at that is what you asked about and the is the light depth. You seem to have the tank in an area that it probably gets domes extra little just from living your life. There is going to be enough light to grow most plants. I would go ahead and set the light up but update us with the the plants that are in the tank. The right light of one plant can be deadly to the next. I think you have your light covered follow 1975 and report back if you know the plants that can help us help you get what you are wanting and spend less on killing plants. We all kill plants once and awhile even the pros

[Pitafish]

On 6/19/2022 at 1:14 PM, CJs Aquatics said:

do you know the specs of the light itself? I didn’t want to look up the wrong one and give you incorrect information. Overall, In my personal planted tank experience, they aren’t very picky about what the lights look light, rather the amount, lumens, K, etc. based on the plants your trying to grow. A vague answer to your question is theoretically it would work but to dial things in we need to take a look at the specs which I don’t know off hand, perhaps another Nerm does and can chime in. I know color spectrum plays a part in different things as well, just not well versed in the science behind that, it couldn’t hurt to try and monitor, and adjust as you saw fit…

I have anubas, buce, Java ferns, swords 

the vallisnera is spreading but is getting black tuffs on its tips

the ludwigia melts if I plant immediately so I let it float (assumed it needed better light) and it does well, I will then plant.  They do best in my 15 gal flex.

I love the look of a planted aquarium.  I would like them to fill in more.  Below is when I started the tank (March)

above is the tank now

[CJs Aquatics]

i would listen to @Beardedbillygoat1975, I think his advice is the best advice you could take on the topic 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@PitafishYou are growing plants, you can see the growth from March to now. You are still at the point where things are balancing out. You have some algae big deal if you grow plants you also grow algae it is just finding a balance. You are now out of the cycling portion of things and now heading toward maturation of the tank. This is balancing the stocking, filtration, nutrient loads and beneficial bacteria to find the elusive middle road of aquarium keeping. 

Full disclosure I have black beard algae and it plagues my 45 display as it was on the wood I got from buying some things second hand. But it has happened to all of us and many people with high tech setups struggle with black beard algae. Some tanks I actually like a little bit of filamentous or string algae, I even add extra iron to make it happy sometimes, it makes certain setups looks natural and is a good food source along with green dust algae for baby fish and other organisms like neocaridina shrimp. I have otocinclus in most of my tanks so its what they need and want to do their best. I usually only clean the front glass and let the sides and back go green. 

This really leads to the more philosophical aspects of fish keeping: what do you want from your tank? Is it healthy fish and plants? Because if that is the case you have that maybe not YouTube ideal but that is truly an artificial construct. Is it a beautiful George Farmer/Green Aqua scape? A high tech scape requires regular trimming, dosing, monitoring and it takes a while just like a low tech tank to dial it in. Many aquascaping channels never show you the ugly phases of their tanks or they dedicate so much labor to it behind the scenes it is just unfair to the average hobbyist. There are many paths and you will need to focus in on what you want to do.

So in terms of black beard algae the black pom pom looking stuff, it likes to be close to the flow, loves heavy nutrients (ferts, food and waste), too long a light cycle and blue light. Is the outlet for the filter close to the Val? If so I would reposition the outlet of the filter maybe aim toward the front glass or more at an angle and trim off the leaves with the BBA. I would reduce the feeding and continue the present regimen of fertilization. Turn off the blue light on your light. You could go with a shorter light interval or just wait it out. Then wait for 2 weeks and see what happens. Then make another change. 

We are a community and have all been where you are right now. Hang in there. Its the journey not the finish that is the true enjoyment and challenge of the hobby. 

[Pitafish]

On 6/20/2022 at 12:35 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

@PitafishYou are growing plants, you can see the growth from March to now. You are still at the point where things are balancing out. You have some algae big deal if you grow plants you also grow algae it is just finding a balance. You are now out of the cycling portion of things and now heading toward maturation of the tank. This is balancing the stocking, filtration, nutrient loads and beneficial bacteria to find the elusive middle road of aquarium keeping. 

Full disclosure I have black beard algae and it plagues my 45 display as it was on the wood I got from buying some things second hand. But it has happened to all of us and many people with high tech setups struggle with black beard algae. Some tanks I actually like a little bit of filamentous or string algae, I even add extra iron to make it happy sometimes, it makes certain setups looks natural and is a good food source along with green dust algae for baby fish and other organisms like neocaridina shrimp. I have otocinclus in most of my tanks so its what they need and want to do their best. I usually only clean the front glass and let the sides and back go green. 

This really leads to the more philosophical aspects of fish keeping: what do you want from your tank? Is it healthy fish and plants? Because if that is the case you have that maybe not YouTube ideal but that is truly an artificial construct. Is it a beautiful George Farmer/Green Aqua scape? A high tech scape requires regular trimming, dosing, monitoring and it takes a while just like a low tech tank to dial it in. Many aquascaping channels never show you the ugly phases of their tanks or they dedicate so much labor to it behind the scenes it is just unfair to the average hobbyist. There are many paths and you will need to focus in on what you want to do.

So in terms of black beard algae the black pom pom looking stuff, it likes to be close to the flow, loves heavy nutrients (ferts, food and waste), too long a light cycle and blue light. Is the outlet for the filter close to the Val? If so I would reposition the outlet of the filter maybe aim toward the front glass or more at an angle and trim off the leaves with the BBA. I would reduce the feeding and continue the present regimen of fertilization. Turn off the blue light on your light. You could go with a shorter light interval or just wait it out. Then wait for 2 weeks and see what happens. Then make another change. 

We are a community and have all been where you are right now. Hang in there. Its the journey not the finish that is the true enjoyment and challenge of the hobby. 

Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply.   
ha ha ha. You are absolutely right, the V is right by the outflow.  I actually have two HOB filters and the one it’s near only has potscrubbers in it with some bioballs.  I could just remove all together.   My tanks 20 years ago used HOB, I have some canisters (Penn Plax) I could use but cleaning them from my turtle….just needed a break.  

I had no idea of YouTube aquascape channels.  But might have to jump down that rabbit hole!

thank you again.  I think I will focus on keeping them happy (plants) and make sure all my fish flourish! 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Other option with the HOB filter is to baffle them either creating a ramp that makes the outflow longer think a credit card or piece of food safe plastic or using a drinks bottle - cut the mouth and the bottom off and then fit it around the lip of the filter to slow the outflow down. That way you keep your filtration but stop the flow issue.