Aquasky or Plant 3.0 for medium light 29 gallon setup?

[Eric R]

I know, here's another "what about the aquasky or the plant 3.0" thread, but I didn't find the specific answers I was looking for from a search. I have a plant 3.0 that I got from the co-op for my 55g low tech / medium light planted aquarium that I love. I'm turning the 55g into a Tanganyikan community tank, and keeping some of the plants for that, and rehoming the rest of the plants and most of the remaining fish from that tank into a 29g.

I have store credit from trading in plants/shrimp/fish at the LFS, and am thinking of using it to buy a light for the 29g tank. They stock fluval aquaskys, but not plant 3.0s, though I could see if they could special order a plant 3.0 (I've asked them to special order things before, they don't always follow-up in a timely manner...). 

I run my 55g with all channels near or below 50% max intensity and get plant growth that I'm happy with without excessive algae. See shots of lighting schedule and tank below.

My question is: do you think getting the aquasky and running it at higher % light levels will work fine, or should I just see about getting another plant 3.0?

 

 

Edited April 1, 2021 by ererer

[anewbie]

I have plant 3.0 on my 29's and i tried briefly an aquasky and didn't like how it rendered the tank. There are some alternatives - I'm very happy with the chihiros lights (specifically wrgb2) and there is a new thin model that is lower power and less expensive. I think these are price competitive with the plant 3.0 but quite a bit nicer (though the app sucks and they only have 1 year warranty). On the cheap side you can try $18 dollar flood lights - i put one on a 5 gallon pail and my frogbit grew like crazy with 1.5 feet long roots. You would need two on a 29 but that is still only $40. They aren't pretty to look at and they don't ramp up and down. 

-

Back to getting the aquasky - it will work fine with regards to sufficient light for a low tech tank but you will not like the rendering as much as the fluval 3.0. You might consider a different brand if you want to save money - hygger and beamworks are quite popular.

[Eric R]

43 minutes ago, anewbie said:

I have plant 3.0 on my 29's and i tried briefly an aquasky and didn't like how it rendered the tank. There are some alternatives - I'm very happy with the chihiros lights (specifically wrgb2) and there is a new thin model that is lower power and less expensive. I think these are price competitive with the plant 3.0 but quite a bit nicer (though the app sucks and they only have 1 year warranty). On the cheap side you can try $18 dollar flood lights - i put one on a 5 gallon pail and my frogbit grew like crazy with 1.5 feet long roots. You would need two on a 29 but that is still only $40. They aren't pretty to look at and they don't ramp up and down. 

-

Back to getting the aquasky - it will work fine with regards to sufficient light for a low tech tank but you will not like the rendering as much as the fluval 3.0. You might consider a different brand if you want to save money - hygger and beamworks are quite popular.

Thanks for the thoughts. I do like both the app and the warranty from fluval, also trying to spend up some store credit, I'm likely only looking at the two fluval lights for now. Another forum member and local mentioned that he believes our LFS carries the plant 3.0 in addition to the aquasky, so now I'm leaning toward the 3.0 if that's true. Good to know about the rendering with the aquasky.

Edited April 1, 2021 by ererer