[Bavarian3]

what would u guys say is the best flourescent bulb is for growing? I have a 55g tank and am going to just be growing anubias and java fern, maybe some other easy to grow hardy plants as its a cichlid tank. I need a 36" bulb and i dont know which to get. Right now all i have is a 18000k 30 watt power -glo bulb and i want to start adding my plants and i know this isnt enough light. Also what should i get a t8 or t10 bulb?

id prefer to buy it from bigalsonline.com http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/category.xml?pcid1=1843;category_id=1849 or wherever is cheapest of my lfs is fine.

 

[Raul-7]

ZooMed bulbs are the best, IMO. The Flora Sun(8500K) is great for this purpose, both in terms of growth and viewing. The Ultra Sun is another good choice.

Use T-8 bulbs. Remember the smaller the diameter, the more effecient the bulb is.

 

[plantbrain]

I like Triton bulbs, there are a number of T-8 bulbs. See USENET for some more on those.
T-5's and PC are good also.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[defdac]

what would u guys say is the best flourescent bulb is for growing?

Ivo:s article at aquabotanic calculates PUR-efficiency for a number of bulbs:
http://www.aquabotanic.com/lightcompare.htm

I've made a Java-applications that takes a spectral distribution and samples it and calculates the PUR-efficiency. I've started to collect all efficiencies here:
http://defblog.akvarie.net/permalink/1402.html

You can send me spectral distributions + LUMENS + wattage and I will calculate the PUR-efficiency for you.

The best T8:s for growing would be Aquarelle, Triton, TLD840, Osram Fluora.

Best life/growth/economy will any tri-phosphor bulb have (Aquarelle, Triton, Aquastar) as they only loose to about 90% of their intensity until they go black. This is easy to test with two bulbs (one old and one new) and take an under exposed photo of them, do a gaussian blur on the picture and convert to grayscale and compare the highest RGB-value on each bulb. The difference will be about 90%. Here is such a photo with one year old Aquarelle next to a couple of days old Aquarelle:
http://defblog.akvarie.net/picture/1420.html

 

[carpediem360]

Becareful I heard cichlids DO NOT like plants. They will tear them up.

 

[Raul-7]

Becareful I heard cichlids DO NOT like plants. They will tear them up.

This is not entirely true, our friend Travis has proven to us how he successfully planted his Mbuna tank- http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3421

Maybe with other species it would be hard to keep it planted, but I think Bavarian was going to use mostly Anubias sp. and Java ferns; which are two species that aren't tasty salads for fish, except maybe for those darn Congo's... :roll:

 

[Bavarian3]

Becareful I heard cichlids DO NOT like plants. They will tear them up.

This is not entirely true, our friend Travis has proven to us how he successfully planted his Mbuna tank- http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3421

Maybe with other species it would be hard to keep it planted, but I think Bavarian was going to use mostly Anubias sp. and Java ferns; which are two species that aren't tasty salads for fish, except maybe for those darn Congo's... :roll:

WOW i am amazed with that tank and how far he went with planting. Looks like its doing pretty good so far. And yes i am only using java fern, vallissneria, and anubias nana. Although id like to know what this plant is as the grassy ground plant... http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=828

 

[Bavarian3]

what would u guys say is the best flourescent bulb is for growing?

Ivo:s article at aquabotanic calculates PUR-efficiency for a number of bulbs:
http://www.aquabotanic.com/lightcompare.htm

I've made a Java-applications that takes a spectral distribution and samples it and calculates the PUR-efficiency. I've started to collect all efficiencies here:
http://defblog.akvarie.net/permalink/1402.html

You can send me spectral distributions + LUMENS + wattage and I will calculate the PUR-efficiency for you.

The best T8:s for growing would be Aquarelle, Triton, TLD840, Osram Fluora.

Best life/growth/economy will any tri-phosphor bulb have (Aquarelle, Triton, Aquastar) as they only loose to about 90% of their intensity until they go black. This is easy to test with two bulbs (one old and one new) and take an under exposed photo of them, do a gaussian blur on the picture and convert to grayscale and compare the highest RGB-value on each bulb. The difference will be about 90%. Here is such a photo with one year old Aquarelle next to a couple of days old Aquarelle:
http://defblog.akvarie.net/picture/1420.html

So which would be the cheapest? these would be better than florasun? I also would like to grow green algea so i dont know if that makes a difference.

 

[Raul-7]

Although id like to know what this plant is as the grassy ground plant... http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=828

It is plain old Riccia fluitans.

FloraSun has a nice color to it, not too blue and not too white...it's the nearly the same bulb Amano uses to light up his tanks.

 

[freshreef]

if u consider t5 bulbs as florocents - so the osram 6500k is my fevorite

 

[Bavarian3]

i appreciate the qucik replies everyone. Where would be the best place for me to purchase plants from? i plan on ordering a good amount probably about 40-50 dollars worth so i want somewhere with good prices but not outrageous shipping, also with a good selection. I definetly want to grab some of that riccia. And does anyone know where i can get a flourasun bulb online other than that reptile store. I cant find it anywhere nor at my local fish stores.

 

[Bavarian3]

ok guys now my mind is boggled a bit. i ran across this...... http://www.hellolights.com/cl2x96wcoflb.html what do u guys think of that? go for it? seems like such a good deal to pass up even though i dont need this much light, it could be used for the future.