Fluorescent light suggestion

[davethomasowns]

Hello all!
Just upgraded from a 20g aquarium to a 29g aquarium. It is hard to explain, but I liked the fluorescent lighting in the smaller tank better than the new one. The old one looked brighter and more colorful. The new tank’s lighting seems darker and too white.

I went to Petco and saw that they had several different “shades” of fluorescent lights. Does anybody have any suggestion for a nice and bright bulb that would be good for growing plants too?

Thanks!!

 

[coach_z]

you probably have the same exact size bulb and same size watt bulb on the two tanks. is this true?

 

[excuzzzeme]

Light "shades" are the Kelvin rating or temperature and PAR rating of the lamps.

On my 29 I used 2 - "All Glass - 8000K" lamps and liked them. These were available at my local PetCo. The plants did very well under them.

 

[H2Ogal]

A number of things affect how lighting looks on a tank: the color temperature (Kelvin rating, or K) of the bulb, watts per gallon and depth of the tank. Also, the color of the substrate can have a huge effect. It would help us to know the K ratings of the original and new lamps, as well as the wattage.

For plants, you need "daylight" spectrum bulbs. The most common/popular are 6700K which tends to be a little greenish, 8000K which is reddish/pink, and 10000K which is a very slightly blueish white. Which to use is entirely up to you; the plants won't care either way.

I recently tried all three in various combinations in my dual fluorescent fixture, and chose to use two 10000K lamps, as I felt it brought out the truest colors in the tank without going too red or green. My substrate is light pool filter sand, which looked decidely green or red under the 6700K and 8000K lamps. Also, my plants are a mix of greens and red tones, and I didn't want to intensify one over the other. If I had all or mostly deep green plants and a very dark substrate, I'd probably have gone with the 6700K. Some people like to use two different bulbs in a fixture to get the color balance they want, but that created an odd striped effect for me, with the front and back of the tank looking quite different. I have a 20g long, only 12" deep, which may have made the effect more noticeable.

Fyi, the 10000K lamps were very bright at first. I've added gravel/rocks in an open area of the tank to darken the substrate (and for other reasons), which has really enhanced the peaceful look I'm going for.

Hope this helps.

 

[kj5kb]

you probably have the same exact size bulb and same size watt bulb on the two tanks. is this true?

Good question...Do they both have a single 24" (or 18") tube? That would explain a lot.

Lamp-wise, I'd go to the local HD/Lowes/etc and get a daylight tube. Cheaper to try than an expensive aquarium tube, and works well with plants. You can always go up or down in color temp later if you wish.

 

[WeedCali]

Hey jeff, My tank came with an AGA 8000k bulb but i replaced it since i figured that color temperature wasnt suitable for plants. however, when i got a new bulb i was in a hurry (and wasnt as well-read) so i just got a bulb that said was for plants. its a Flora-glo bulb but its 2800k which makes no sense to me. would it be better to just put back on the AGA bulb?