FishEnthusiast
Fish Herder
Hi all,
I have a planted tank, planted with low light plants only. The tank is 55G and 4ft long. It came with 2 15W compact flourescent lights. I started to get run over by diatoms recently so I caved and bought a new hood that I could modify myself. I bought 2 4ft tubes, 40W each, 6500K rating. I put them in and my tank was darker than with the 2 15W. I also have 2 4ft 2500K 40W tubes too, but I don't like them, they are way too pink, and leave my tank dark. So I modified the hood and put the two 2ft 15W tubes in the middle of the 2 40W. I have no idea what the Kelvin rating is on the 15W, but I got them from the LFS and I believe they were for plants.
Is there better light out there for my plants? Can I get a 40W that is more compact than the ones I have now? I am so confused, who would have thought that 80W of light over 4ft would barely light my tank?
Just to give you a flavour of what I am talking about, here is my tank with no lights on
with the 2 40W on
with 2 40W and 1 15W
with the 2 40W and 2 15W
with only the compact
I don't see any difference at all between the 4 lights and the compact lights only. Could I use a combination of 6500K and 2500K along with my 15W bulbs? Is that advisable? I want to combat the diatoms too. I am hoping that by adding more light they will go away.
My plants are all thriving. If you compare these pics to my signature you can see some have doubled in size. Thanks for your input
I have a planted tank, planted with low light plants only. The tank is 55G and 4ft long. It came with 2 15W compact flourescent lights. I started to get run over by diatoms recently so I caved and bought a new hood that I could modify myself. I bought 2 4ft tubes, 40W each, 6500K rating. I put them in and my tank was darker than with the 2 15W. I also have 2 4ft 2500K 40W tubes too, but I don't like them, they are way too pink, and leave my tank dark. So I modified the hood and put the two 2ft 15W tubes in the middle of the 2 40W. I have no idea what the Kelvin rating is on the 15W, but I got them from the LFS and I believe they were for plants.
Is there better light out there for my plants? Can I get a 40W that is more compact than the ones I have now? I am so confused, who would have thought that 80W of light over 4ft would barely light my tank?
Just to give you a flavour of what I am talking about, here is my tank with no lights on
with the 2 40W on
with 2 40W and 1 15W
with the 2 40W and 2 15W
with only the compact
I don't see any difference at all between the 4 lights and the compact lights only. Could I use a combination of 6500K and 2500K along with my 15W bulbs? Is that advisable? I want to combat the diatoms too. I am hoping that by adding more light they will go away.
My plants are all thriving. If you compare these pics to my signature you can see some have doubled in size. Thanks for your input
