Muirner

I have a question, i currently run 4 T8 flurescent tubes in my hood and the bulbs are Philips Daytime Deluxe. These bulbs are nice but they seem to put off a yellowish light, or at least the tank is looking that way. When i recently switched from incandecent bulbs in my 10G hood to spiral CF bulbs i found i liked the lights better. They gave off a brighter light making the white rocks look nicer and the overall apearnance of my 10g look better. So my question is. Do i add some 100watt clip on CF lights to the side of my tank or should i get some more linear flourecent tubes to replace the philips daytime deluxe ones? I have at my avaiability (at a local store) 10k, 18k, and 20k. I'm leaning to trying a 10k or 2, but i'm looking for opinion. I'm unsure of the brand but they peak in the blue, red, and green spectrum. By the way the tank the T8's are on is a 55g.

Newt

Above is the spectral output for the Philips Daylight Deluxe 6500K bulb. It is 84CRI; which is not bad at all.
I used to use these along with Sylvania GroLux Std bulbs. I felt they were too green; but these were the T12 version. I dont think there is any appreciable difference. You may want to try using them with a different color spectrum and/or higher CRI bulb.

Let us know how you make out.

joyban

Hi Newt

Could you please post the original link to that SPD graph please..

Regards

Sujoy

Newt

I got it from the Philips site:
http://www.nam.lighting.philips.com/...f/P-5136-A.pdf

hedson_25

it's such a good thread, i haver a question...
i have a 60cm aquarium and use a coralife 2x65 watt but my red plants never turned red at all...
i suposed it's enouht light for a 70 liter tank...
wich 65 or 55 pc lamps could help me to have red plants?
i have fertz and co2 presurised...
i have now just one 55 67k the other one is broken...need to replace it...

Agentkhiem

Newt,

After spending a lengthy amount of time online searching for documentation on what matters in plant growth, I'd have to say that your posts have given me a lot of insight. Now I understand what matters most.. thanks .

Since your emphasis is to obtain certain bulbs with ideal peaks for photosynthesis, am I safe to assume that your reasoning behind it is because a household T8 15watt output does not emit enough blue and red (forgive my layman) for sufficient plant growth?

If that's true, then here's a more important question: Can you double a household T8 fluorescent in wattage, consequently doubling the intensity in the red and blue ends to compensate for lack of both? The reason I ask this question is because I would like to retain a conservative-looking temperature rather than a disco-ball tank with several colored bulbs.

Again, thanks for your informative posts! Please reply soon

If your answer is yes, then basically I'm going to get very strong Powercompact lighting to compensate for weak red and blue ends.

defdac

It isn't true that green plants prefer green light, and it is too easy to test with the range of aquarium bulbs the average/above average aquascaper have at home.

Change from a greenish/yellowish bulb like Osram Biolux to a blue bulb like Aquarelle/Aquastar/Trion/PowerGlo and watch how the photosynthesis explode.

If you spent any amount of time searching for PAR, PUR and such you will see that every photosynthesis action spectrum has a clearly marked dip in the green-yellow range. That is - such light is clearly much more innefficient than blue and red.

Also take a look at the chlorophyll sensitivity. No accessory pigments in the world will make it more efficient to transport light from to the chlorophyll than actually hitting it directly.

nosoop4u246

As difficult as it was for me to read though this whole thread, dogging my way through pages 5, 6, 7, and 8 of Defdac attacking Mats, I did manage, and thoroughly agree with Newt. With as much as I found myself disliking Defdac by the end of the post, he did make a (singular) good point: if the plants are green in appearance, they are reflecting green light, and if they are reflecting green light, they are not using it. If any of the commonly kept aquatic plants are using green light, it would be the Ammania senegalensis, the Alternanthera reineckii, the Nymphaea rubra-- the reds. I use a mixture of bulbs in a fairly unconventional way to get the reds and blues in, and I'm sure I'll take some flak for it, but halogens work very nicely in conjunction with any strongly blue-peaking bulb (I have Coralife's 10,000K bulb).

"Standard" halogen:

defdac

Yes I was a bit harsh perhaps hm..*blush* That kindof defeat the purpose of forums, and I really like discussing lighting. Sorry for coming out a bit rough hm..

Commodore 64

Well, I think sometimes written thoughts seem more harsh when read.

For me, I'm a complete nub...I'm just trying to grow hornwort, java moss, java ferns, moneywort, banana plant, swords, crypts and some grasses in my aquarium. I really have no clue what my lighting really is, as it's a shoplight, on a homemade little frame of stained oak. So I doubt I get optimal reflecting of the light. I do know that I've got 2 T8 6500k 32w bulbs, one overdriven x 4 and the other overdriven x 2 on a 55g, 19 inches above my substrate.

I read threads like this and the other stickied ones which talk about lumens per watt, PAR, PUR and whatever....and I really can't figure out a way to correlate that with my ODNO lights (or any lights). It truly does seem to be an art as much as it is a science.

This whole lighting thing seems so cryptic and complicated when you look at it at such depth as this thread...and that doesn't even factor in ferts and CO2!

I guess I'll let my plants tell me what my lighting conditions are (i.e. see what grows). The dwarf hairgrass doesn't seem to be doing anything, it is slowly atrophying. The hornwort is going ape**** but that seems to be the norm.