Cambomba Changed Colour/shade

[Schmill]

Ok, so I have plenty of Cabomba growing in my 60L tank, and it seems to be a fairly dark green in colour.
I took some parts of it that had been broken off by the fish, or were floating, and planted them in my new 300L tank to start giving it some greenery whilst I waited for my other plants to arrive.
I've now noticed that the growth in the new tank is quite a bright, almost lime green colour, whereas the growth (on the same plant) that happened in the other tank is more of a darker green.
Personally the lighter green growth seems to look healthier to me, but I was wondering which of these it should actually be, and what (if anything) should be done to correct whichever tank is incorrect - lol

Thanks

 

[aaronnorth]

When i had it i found the more light it recieved the lighter it gott in colour.

 

[Schmill]

Ok, if thats the case it shows the advantage of relectors / T5 certainly.

My 60L tank has a 30W T8 tube over it, no reflectors, but the inside of the hood is white.
60L = almost 16 US Gall. = around 2W / Gallon

My 300L tank has 2 x 39W T5 tubes over it, with reflectors
300L = 79 Gallons with 78W = around 1W / Gallon, but then I know you doulbe it(?) for T5, giving 2W / gallon, and then I'm guessing you gain something from the reflectors too.

Based on the rough calcs above it would only being the reflectors making a difference, so I'd be interested to get one for the tube in the 60L tank and see if the Cabomba in there changes colour too

 

[aaronnorth]

wpg is calculated including reflectors, so your 60l will be slightly less than 2wpg. Also T5 penetrate the water deeper.

I planted mine and it was dark, once it started to grow and reach nearer the surface i noticed it was lighter, a lovely plant that i would like to use again but too big for my tank at the minute. The tank it was i didnt last very long.

 

[SuperColey1]

60L tank has 2WPG physically but multiply that by 0.3 as there are no reflectors therefore equivalent to 0.6WPG

300L tank has 1WPG but is T5 and has reflectors therefore is equivalent to 2WPG.

The WPG rule assumes you are using reflectors

I have done a couple of diagrams for you These are highly unscientific diagrams just to show what the 'science' behind reflectors is. lol

This first one shows you a tube without a reflector. The pink represents light that is directly getting to the tank and the green represents light that is directly getting to the substrate. All the rest is 'lost' so you can see that the 'usable' light is approx 30%

Now with a reflector the blue represents the reflected light that is 'saved' The reason there is white at the top of the reflector is that the tube will block some light on its return (restrike) This is one of T5s efficiencies in that being thinner it blocks less light. So we are now up to 70-80% more than double the tube on its own!!!

There are other considerations in that there are better reflectors with better angles to refract light etc plus T5 has other efficiencies over T8.

AC

 

[Schmill]

Thanks for the explanations, it's good to know how to work out the different things.

So if I add a reflector to the T8 on the 60L tank, that will avoid the 0.3 multiplier, and keep that up nearer to 2W / gallon.
I understand that the T5's will still have deeper water penetration, but they are on a 2' something tall tank, and the T8 / 60L is only perhaps 1' high.