Description
The flat, futuristic shape of the LEDDY SLIM PLANT and its fashionable white or black colour make the lamp blend in perfectly with modern aquarium tanks and look great in any interior. Moreover, it is versatile – the extending handles allow it to be installed also on tanks of non-standard size. It can also be suspended above the aquarium from the ceiling or a special rack using the accessory LEDDY SLIM HANGER kit.
Open aquariums and their lighting
The open aquarium is a great option for those looking for modern and design-oriented aquarium solutions. It is especially preferred by enthusiasts of styles such as Dutch, Japanese or biotope aquaristics. Thanks to its natural appearance, the open aquarium can become an attractive interior design element and attract the attention of guests. It also provides better humidity in the room, which is particularly beneficial for people suffering from respiratory diseases.
Open aquariums are tanks without a lighting cover. They use beam-mounted lighting or pendant lamps. Lamps for mounting on the side edges or on the back wall of the tank are also often used. The latter are dedicated to smaller capacity, ‘nano’ type tanks.
Why do we light an aquarium?
There are usually two reasons. Firstly, the tank has to look nice, i.e. natural. The light has to make the fish and plants have beautiful, species-specific colours, and the whole thing is an undisputed decoration of the room. The second goal is equally important – for the vast majority of aquarists want to have healthy, well-growing plants in the aquarium. After all, plants need light to grow for 10-12 hours a day, and this light “drives” photosynthesis – a natural process by which plants convert inorganic compounds into organic substances they need for life. The correct choice of light should therefore also ensure that the aquarium looks nice and the plants grow well in it.
How much light for an aquarium?
How much light does an aquarium require? This depends on which plant species you wish to grow in it. They can be divided into three groups according to their light requirements:
Group I – shade-bearing species, e.g. ‘pelia’, mosses, winged microsoriums, screwweed, some sclerophylls (e.g. aponogeton-leaf sclerophyll, Wendt’s sclerophyll, Backett’s sclerophyll, Malay sclerophyll), anubias.
Group II – species that are moderately photophilic, e.g. spherical branch, water lily, rhododendron, tiger lotus, lily of the valley, broad-leaved hypericum, three-flowered hypericum, frogweed, broad-leaved arrowroot, Argentinean waterweed, giant water lily, striga, limnophyllum, small-leaved bacopa, Thai orchid, ponkula, Japanese loosestrife, and Eurasian watermilfoil.
Group III – definitely light-loving species, e.g. cabomba, ‘glossostigma’, hemianthus.
It is usual to convert lighting power into aquarium litre. By convention, a minimum of 0.15 – 0.2 watts per litre of water is required for shade-loving plants using LED lamps. Medium-demanding plants require 0.25-0.4 W/l, while strongly light-loving plants even require 0.5-0.7 W/l.
The “day” in the aquarium can be almost any part of the day. If the tank is located far from windows and is only illuminated with artificial light, the switching on and off times can be practically arbitrary. It is best to simply adjust them to our preferences and the hours we are usually present in the flat (e.g. “dawn” at 3 p.m. and “dusk” at 1 a.m.). We can then enjoy the beauty of our own “piece of the underwater world”, brilliantly illuminated.
