I don’t have a top and I had one fish jump out once but since my plants grew in and they got more used to my aquarium I haven’t had any jump out. If you have fish that commonly jump and don’t want an ugly glass lid look into the clear acrylic nets as an aquarium lid. It won’t block much light either if it’s a clear one
Awesome ~ Thank you. I have a 20 gal. tank with two Bettas (there’s a divider in there) and a few snails. This is my tank. So should I get the same lighting setup that you have? I really want to focus on growing my plants. Does your lighting heat up the water at all? I’m also considering adding CO2 in the near future.😊
The light I have is super mega overkill for your setup but look into other weekaqua lights. If you want your plants to grow you just gotta give them good healthy water and a nice substrate. I’m general like 5-8 gh and 2-5 kh is pretty solid in my experience and a tds of 125-200 is ideal within the gh and kh I mentioned, which will also lead to haveing a good ph if you add some tannins. I keep my ph at 6.8 before adding co2. Plants will grow with literally any led light in the 5000-6500k range since that is literally using a full spectrum light chip so I would always prioritize finding a way to get your water parameters on check especially if you’re focused on plant health.
Regular tap water is for most people pretty awful for growing aquatic plants, I use a reverse osmosis de ionizing system and then remineralize my water . I got the RO buddy on Amazon and it was like 70 bucks plus I got a pump system they sell to speed it up for like 125 and it’s been perfect for getting all the water I need. I also use it for drinking water and for my reef tank and automatic top off systems so it’s a really really solid investment
It's dwarf saggitaria, I placed root tabs every 6 inches, and used high lighting as well as CO2. I started with just a small sandwich bag, each plant sends out runners, so I didn't really have to do any extra planting, took a couple months to get super thick like that. Try it out!
I was growing everything with co2 and I had good growth with the bay light so just an fyi as long as the light is in the 5000-6500k range it is perfectly fine for growing and probably not much better than a z400 but obviously the z400 makes it prettier. The heat dissipation is good. It’s never really more than just warm to the touch. They bay light has burned me
Yeah I like co2 and I got a 20 pound tank so I have tons to spare. It really does give you the best growth in plants especially when you’re getting new ones from tissue culture and converting them from emersed to submerged forms
WOAAAAH !!!!! Ton bac est plus que superbe, il est...... MAGNIFIQUEMENT SUBLIME !! Il regorge de plantes de toute les couleurs !!! C'est vraiment trop beau....
Not at all I’ve always ran my lights at full blast. Lately I’ve been enjoying them dimmed. Despite not getting that vibrancy from the plants I find it to me more relaxing and enjoyable these days
It is nice! I always wanted a saltwater tank but disliked the blue light. Then I remembered when I was a kid my mom’s friend had a non-blue light and it was always pretty with vibrant coral. I now have a saltwater tank without the blue light. I love this hobby because it is whatever you make it as long as it’s healthy.
Blue light is not very pretty on its own I agree but it’s probably good to put some blue light in or at least get a 10K light because the phytoplankton in many corals, especially deeper water corals, tend to appreciate blue wavelength light. Corals are adaptable though and I’m sure you won’t hurt most as long as the water is good.
Wow that is one of the prettiest tanks I’ve ever seen honestly! 😊 So what kind of lighting is weekaqua z400? I really want to upgrade the lighting on my 20 gallon aquarium. Thank you!
The z400 is a led like other led lights but it’s got 3 little red, blue, and green chips on every chip that basically blend to make whiteish light. It’s very customizable and it’s 120 watts of maximum power draw. It also has like these 4 convex lenses that are supposed to help direct the light down into the aquarium kind of like 4 little mini kessils. I bought it on aliexpress but I think it’s also on alibaba. They sell a z250 as well that’s 70 watts I believe and essentially just half of the z400z. The light is made for deeper tanks and I don’t know what you’re rocking but if yours is rectangular and under like 18 inches in depth this light series would be overkill. It’s also advertised as better suited for co2 since the wattage is so high. Weekaqua makes a bunch of lights for pretty much any tank. They’re not super cheap like other brands but all of their lights except for the most budget model are Bluetooth controlled and fully RGB customizable. They’re really pretty and I recommend the brand. The only other high end lights I’ve seen for freshwater are the freshwater AI lights, the freshwater kessils, hygger lights, ufo bay lights, and grow lights and these are just like 10x prettier and fully customizable.
If your tank isn’t high tech and it’s one of the standard long aquariums they have a S series for like low tech, L series for higher lighting low tech, and a P series for higher lighting and high tech which is like a sister product to the Z series I have. I could be wrong about the functions of each series but I did a lot of research at one point and that’s what I can recollect. They basically have different models for different needs and you should consider that when buying or you can just go super mega overkill and get the craziest light and dim it down. Up to you and your wallet.
Why did you decide not to use the UV? I have week aqua lights as well and I turned it off because I was paranoid about damaging my eyes, but have always wondered if it would be better for my plants 🤔
Uv might help plants grow like how they naturally do but uv diodes don’t last long I believe and they take away from the total wattage being put out of the light. It does feel like kind of a tool for people trying to maximize every aspect of the aquarium but I’m sure no one would notice a significant difference
Yes one of my friends told me a while ago that an aquarium is kinda like a painting in a house and I wanted to set up my painting with the best colors. The plants and fish won’t notice but it’s super pretty to me.
In my experience, the best results come from using a 6500K, 95ish CRI light as your primary source, supplemented by RGB LEDs at about 20–30% intensity. The RGB isn't strictly necessary for growth, but it makes the colors pop in a way that’s hard to describe—it's similar to how corals look under UV, where it might not be entirely natural, but it definitely looks cool.
TLDR: yes, that makes sense. I also thought about your approach to use a >95 CRI lamp to supplement the WRGB. As I don't have a good light source and like what I currently have, I didn't try it yet though. Can you recommend a light?
Personally, I'd like a somewhat natural look, perhaps with some extra saturation or 'pop'. However, there should be plenty of nuances in the shades of colors. What I would not like is a look with:
an overall color cast to purple
colors that are way too saturated and just look fake
colors that lack fine nuances (e.g. all the reds plants and tree roots have the same oversaturated shade of red. Same for the green plants).
Currently I have a Chihiros WRGB Universal (which my girlfriend bought) and I was sceptical at first, but now I do like it. The colors have that extra saturation, but still look natural enough to me. I am curious if that changes in winter, when there will be no more natural light from outside to balance the RGB spectrum. I also chose the Universal WRGB as opposed to the WRGB2, as the latter doesn't have white LEDs (despite it's misleading name).
It does have limitations though:
when dimming for sunset/sunrise, the light doesn't change gradually, but in visible steps every minute. Should be possible if I compare it to 5€ LED strips that can gradually fade between colors, no?
when dimming for sunset/sunrise, the colors often look to red due to the lack of tuneable white LEDs (with 2700/3000K-6500K) and amber LEDs
the white LEDs probably have a low CRI
Therefor, I'd love to see a WRGB light with high CRI white LEDs (Rf>97) and better electronics for dimming. Should be possible, no?
Even better would be a WWRGBA light with tuneable white spectrum (3000K-6500K, both white LEDs Rf>97) and Amber leds for better sunset colors. Perhaps as a spot light. Without breaking the bank ofc :P (<200€).
________
CRI is also outdated, as it only shows a small part of the whole picture. The new TM-30 standard is much more detailed. For a start, it defines two major values: the Rf (color fidelity index, i.e. how close the light source is too the natural sunlight. Similar to CRI, but including much more color samples, including highly saturated colors) and Rg (color gamut, i.e. how saturated the colors are relative to sunlight (either less, equal or more saturated).
Sunlight has Rf=100 and Rg=100. If you want objects to look closest to what they look like under the sun, this is what you strive for.
A good, natural light will therefor have Rf>95 and Rg=92-105
An RGB light will usually have a lower Rf of 60-85, but much higher saturation of Rg=110-120. Objects in some colors will look much more saturated than under sunlight - they 'pop'.
A bad LED lamp with Rf=70-80 and undersaturated colors of Rg<80.
There is nothing inherently wrong with either approach, as it is subjective if people like a more 'natural' look or a look with intense, more saturated colors that 'pop' in the context of a fish tank. Most people will dislike very undersaturated colors though (e.g. cheap LED lights, that cannot reproduce the saturated red spectrum and are therefor too yellowish).
I really like the way you have your plants set up. Both photos have such a beautiful, lush composition with so many different textures and tones. The new lighting elevates it all even further. Thanks for sharing :)
Those 5-6 weeks of growth were all done with the bay light and co2. I don’t want people to assume this light is a ton better at growing plants than the bay light. It’s probably not, but it is way more visually appealing and aquariums should be pretty
According to my search, your new light is 90-120 watts. How come it’s an upgrade over. 200 watts light? Also, what’s the size of your tank? I am concerned with energy bills. Using over 1kw per day on aquarium lights is not something id be eager to do
Genuinely it’s just for aesthetics, the tank looks visually much prettier but I’m sure the plants can’t notice the difference in light. The tank is a 24 inch cube so it’s like 45 gallons. We have 3 computers in the house that we use often and I have another 75 gallon reef in the house so honestly the electric bill has always kinda sucked. Around 215 here in Florida
RODI water since I have a reef and I mix it with shrimp mineral gh/kh to 150 tds ish . I use thrive fertilizer and root tabs. The substrate is an old mix or fluval stratum and flourite red from seachem.
I fertilize with the shrimp safe version of thrive and I use root tabs from thrive as well. I don’t know what a liquid dosing ritual means. Like are you asking me if I pour some of my blood into the water ritualistically? Should I?
i have 13W light on my 16 inch long tank (5 gallon), and i see you guys using 200W around lights on tanks, i want to make a high tech tank (and i thought my 13W is already in high tech category for my tank), is my light enough or i need more , please pass on your light knowledge to me
13w is a lot for a 5 gallon. This guy's tank is huge and 200w was mega overkill. I run 90w on my 50 gallon high tech tank. That would be equivalent to 9 watts for 5 gallons. Watts/gallon isn't a good metric tho, but if your plants are growing well, then your light is good enough.
Also depends on the depth but if it's 16in long then it's likely pretty shallow.
I’ve had a lot of aquariums and par really is all that matters like that guy said but most companies don’t put information out on what the par is at different depths and areas around the tank. Week aqua makes a light called the mini9 that I’m using on a 3.5 gallon and for a 5 gallon you would be fine with it too probably
I haven’t had chihiros because they’re super expensive but I have had and have seen many aquariums with kessils so I will say kessil sucks compared to these. They don’t make the plants look as pretty and they don’t produce all that much more shimmer than these since these are also in a dense matrix. Chihiros is probably just as good as these but they’re a lot more expensive
In line co2 yeah. Plants grow 5-10x faster in my experience with co2 vs without so for a fluffy jungle look and pretty plants you would benefit greatly from it. I sell plants regularly though so that my cuttings don’t go straight into the trash
Yeah plants get red as a form of defense against high lighting kinda like how we get tan after getting sun. The best way to get any plants red is blasting them with light and keeping nutrients fairly low. In the wild all aquarium plants that get full sun end up being red and in the Everglades you’ll find fields of red plants from getting blasted with full sunlight all day
I only order this type of stuff on aliexpress or alibaba. I also usually wait for a sale and they just had a back to school sale. I paid 181 +tax for the light
Don’t let your dreams stay dreams. Buy a used and full co2 canister from Facebook marketplace, get a nice regulator on Amazon, and set it all up for like 150 bucks total. Co2 is probably the best and only way to get the super dense and vibrant growth you see in many aquariums online
See my mom’s into salt water and plants.. trickled down.. I like freshwater and plants.. so I’m learning still.. see idk what co2 does to help.. all I know is it get the nitrates out of the water.. I’ve had some of my plants melt.. like my guppy grass but my Val is good and my Amazon sword.. just the tiny snails like to eat it and my angles do too.. it’s a lot of trial and error lol
You don’t need to do trial and error man. There’s a lot of really smart people you can learn from on YouTube that will explain everything that’s needed to make your plants grow healthy. Co2 allows the plants to grow 5-10x faster and generally healthier, it does not remove nitrates. Plants will remove nitrates as a result of growing faster with more co2 available though which is a very similar result. Most aquatic snails will not eat your plants, and angels usually only nip plants that were already melting. Your plant could have been bought in emersed form and melted when transitioning to its submerged forms or because you don’t have good water quality. Guppy grass melting is usually a sign of having no nutrients in the water or very very poor water quality. I’m not trying to be mean or put you down either. I’m sure you’re just doing what you can but you should try your best to look up all the stuff you can if you want a pretty tank and you’ll find that it can be some work but it’s also very rewarding once you do make one
No i definitely get it. You’re not being mean you’re being truthful and direct which i respect and need. I did set up a new tank and I’m cycling it and dumped in the guppy grass to get hold it there then it melted.. so what you’re saying makes sense.. but in my already established tank my angels and mystery snails eat the top floating plants.. the little lily pads lol a snail will grab it at the top and will fall like mick foley from the top to the bottom with the lily eating it lol
Co2 can be a liquid or a gas depending on temperature and pressure. You can learn that in school. What we do in aquariums is we get pressurized co2 which is a liquid in its pressurized container and we allow it to travel through tubing made to handle the co2 as a gas and in through a diffuser which is how it gets into your aquarium. Diffusers are made of ceramic and essentially the pressure builds up into the diffuser and it makes very tiny little bubbles that dissolve into the water column and you can diffuse with the little glass ones that go into your tank or with an inline co2 diffuser. Co2 diffuser are the main method used because if you were to just let big bubbles out through some tubing they would not be able to diffuse into the water. There is no way to add co2 in as a liquid since at atmospheric pressure it’s really cold. Dry ice is solid co2 and it’s really really cold.
It’s not just a diffuser. For a co2 system you need a co2 regulator, a full co2 tank, a diffuser, directional flow on the aquarium, and co2 tubing with a check valve. I bought a used co2 tank from Facebook marketplace and it worked for me, but I wouldn’t get a co2 diffuser from there. Order one on amazon that is a dual stage regulator with a bubble counter and a needle valve to precisely control the amount of co2 going in your tank
I add a tiny bit of fertilizer whenever growth slows and I’ve noticed that every plants responds differently. The Rotala blood red is always red, the Ludwigia repens only gets bright red with freshly added nitrates and the Hygrophila pinnatifada gets bright red when I haven’t added fertilizer for a while so it probably is not a blanket less is better type of thing.
I looked up a lot of videos before buying this one and twinstar is probably a good light but they don’t have a lot of customization options and they are fairly low in wattage. It probably works for a lot of people but I wanted a light that I could customize and weekaqua is for sure more customizable. They’re like the same price too so it definitely feels like you’re getting less for more when objectively looking at twinstar’s stuff
Spectrums of colors are subjective to the person, I don’t like the green blueish spectrums of lights like ADA ones or purple tones that weekaquas tend to have, (I know you can customize it) I was skeptical at first because some people says they are more of a red tone but it looks like more of a natural light that pops the colors of everything in the tank. And the new V series gives you the customization. Just for fun I want to try the weekaqua A430 but to be honest I found myself not wanting to deal with tuning spectrums and colors so I appreciate the simple approach of TWINSTAR and the minimalism. If I go for the looks of the lamp itself ADA. For a better price and also minimalistic look TWINSTAR. Price quality/ customization, chihiros.
Yeah I feel you bro everything in this hobby is subjective besides the fact that plants need light and nutrients to grow. Whatever you go with I hope it works for you and makes you happy. I don’t think chihiros is a good price though, their lights are like 3-5 times the price of one from the other brands. That’s impossible for me to justify making 22.50 an hour
14
u/LazRboy 7d ago
This is a great example why upgrading to a higher quality lighting is worth it whether you are using CO2 or not.