Choosing an LED Fixture by Tank Depth
Volume tells you nothing about lighting. The distance from rim to substrate decides which fixture will work and which will disappoint you.
Aquarium Lighting
Lighting decides whether your plants grow, your algae takes over, or your fish colors look washed out, and the specs printed on the box rarely tell you what you need to know. This section translates lighting into practical terms: what PAR actually means at your substrate depth, how Kelvin ratings change the look of a tank, and why watts per gallon stopped being useful years ago. There are setup guides for low-light, medium, and high-light planted tanks, photoperiod schedules that starve algae without starving plants, and advice on dimming and ramping so a tank does not get blasted at full output. You will also find help with fixtures that flicker, dim over time, or fail on one channel, plus what to do when an LED unit loses its controller. Each guide names specific fixtures, gives real photoperiod hours, and explains the adjustment to make when growth or algae tells you something is off.
7 guides
Why Watts Per Gallon Stopped Working
One rule, two lamp technologies, and the moment a proxy measurement stopped predicting anything useful about what a plant receives.
Low, Medium, and High Light Plants
A species by species table of what each common aquarium plant needs at substrate level, and exactly how each one fails when...
Kelvin Ratings and How Your Tank Looks
Colour temperature is the setting nobody adjusts and everybody blames, and it costs nothing to get right.
PAR Explained for Planted Tanks
The one intensity figure that predicts growth, where it has to be measured, and why hanging height beats every spec on the...
How Long to Leave Aquarium Lights On
Start at eight hours, hold it for a fortnight, then let the front glass tell you which direction to move.
Aquarium Lighting: PAR, Kelvin, and Photoperiod
Three numbers decide whether a planted tank works, and only one of them is printed honestly on the side of the box.