Lighting recommendations?

[bryanisag]

Hi all, I got a free reef tank that I'm setting up as a dirted aquarium for sword plants. In the past I had a 37 gallon aquarium with an Amazon Sword plant that grew to the top of the aquarium and sent out a spike just as we had to move and I unfortunately lost it but I have been keeping that swords plants babies alive for months and I finally got settled enough to set up this tank.

Anyways my new tank is 19" tall and my plan is to have an Amazon Sword plant grow out of the tank one day. The rest of the plants are dwarf chain sword and micro sword. Which I hope to slowly carpet across the back and front respectively.

This tank is unique (to me) in that it's the only tank I don't plan to ever put a lid on and I would really like to light with a pendant light. So currently I'm using a free shop light which to my knowledge doesn't actually affect the aquarium lighting in anyway. The lightbulb in the light housing is a GE led grow light.

Is this enough light in your opinion?

Are there better pendant lights that aren't crazy expensive? 

Is micro sword a real sword plant? 

Any other advice?

 

Tank is about 65 degrees

1 inch of organic dirt

2 inches of pea gravel

19 inches tall aquarium

10 inches between light and surface of the water

Easy green once a week

2 goldfish and bladder snails for livestock but the goldfish are temporary

Circulation is an airstone

Dwarf chain swords were both planted in their pots

Amazon and micro swords were both planted without pots

Amazon Sword plant was planted on December 15th

The other swords were planted January 15th

[Zenzo]

To be honest, most lights will grow plants. It just depends on how well you want the plants to grow. One thing to keep in mind with hanging/pendant lights is that the further the light source is to the water surface, the less PAR reaches the plants down low. For optimal growth, I would suggest a light that is designed to work with planted aquariums (like the Aquarium Co-Op Easy Plant LED) and rests on the tank. However, the DIY route that you have taken should grow the plants that you have (although their shape may be different - taller/thinner).

Whatever route you go, the best thing that you can do as far as lighting is to eradicate that duckweed. Duckweed will rapidly grow, blocking any light that the plants need down below. 

I should also add that Easy Root Tabs will also help, as sword plants are heavy root feeders. 

[JGlidden]

Will micro swords roots reach the soil if it's 2" down? I don't think the roots are long enough. Just something to check out. 

[bryanisag]

On 1/28/2023 at 5:29 PM, JGlidden said:

Will micro swords roots reach the soil if it's 2" down? I don't think the roots are long enough. Just something to check out. 

After double checking my math, the gravel is only an inch and a half thick and the roots just made contact with the soil. I do think though that they would have grown another half inch though. Now we know 🙂

[mynameisnobody]

Roots are the last thing you should worry about. If the roots aren’t long enough, they will grow. Personally, I agree with @Zenzo I would scoop up a coop light. Other than that, you already have the cheapest pendent light available. I’m sure Amazon has a ton of Chinese knock off brands but that would be an experiment you can conduct if that interests you. 

[Jacob Hill-Legion Aquatics]

I agree the co op lights are amazing! my plants have gone crazy after switching to it and the build quality is great and I love how easy the set up is.

I'm probably gonna be only using co op lights for future planted tanks.

[A3M0N]

I'm using two shop lights with 1000 lumen, 5000k LED bulbs and I think they're working great. I'm actually thinking about downgrading to 800 lumen bulbs in a few weeks to see if that will help my minor algae situation. I have mine hanging about 8 inches above the lid. 

But I don't know anything about swords. I have ludwigia repens, bacopa caroliniana, s. repens, and java fern.