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Do plants grow well in a "deeper" tank.


Golfnut
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I was planning on moving my plants from my 19" tank to a 24" tank. Does anyone think the extra depth will make it HARDER to grow plants? Since it is deeper and the light is not as intense ...

Thanks,

Andrew

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If you start with larger plants, the depth will be great, and you don't need the extra light. However, if you're looking for anything to grow in the foreground, you'll need something like PCs or MH to get all the way to the bottom.

I have a 55 gal with lights that are 18" from the bottom of the tank. Just over 2 wpg T6 lighting, and it didn't cut it for Glosso. Works just enough for E. tenellus, if it's not being shadowed by the Tiger Val &/or Crypt. balansae. I'd definitely prefer something a bit brighter - I'm thinking 2 x 96W PC will be my upgrade.

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In my opinion, the only thing that matters in deeper tanks is the amount of light. If I recall my physics correctly, the intensity of light penetrating water decreases exponentially with depth:

Id = Io*EXP^ (-k*d)

Id = Intensity @ depth

Io = Intensity @ surface

k = absorption factor

d = depth (in meters)

So, I ran some numbers through this equation to see how much the the ratio "Id/Io" changes with the increase of "d" (from 0 to 24"), and for various "k" (1-5), and here are the results in graphical form:

Graph.jpg

Edited by Milan
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