Lighting And Live Plants

[mislisa]

I was wondering if anyone could tell me the the difference between the different light bulbs availiable. I have a 55g tank that is currently lit with the "plant gro" bulbs, but i haven't noticed any difference except in the color of the light. Did i waste my money on these bulbs?

I've read somewhere that it's the wattage of the bulb that makes the difference, but i've only ever seen 15 watt T8 18" bulbs....


Please help!!! I'd really like my plants to grow, and i don't really understand the co2 process.

 

[mike455555]

the spectrum of the bulbs. they do addmit different coloured light the grow bulbs are normaly more in the red and blue spectrum as plants use this light (the greens reflected,and that's why the plants look green)

its not the wattage of the bulb. its the wattage over the hole tank. for example 1 t8 tube produces 24w's for my tank (which is a 30 gal tank) so 24/30 =0.8W per gallon.
this was not enoguh for me so i went out to get another t8 tube. (same type)
so now i have 1.6 wpg for that tank. =]

plants need co2 for photosyntheses (As well as other minerals). some of this can be produced by the fish breathing. but if you have higher light (over 1.5wpg) co2 addition is recommended as the fish cant produce enough for the plants optimum growth. but if you add co2 the plants will also need to take in more minerals (potassium, nitrates, magnesium for macro, the plants need more of theses. and then you have the trace elements (iron, zinc,copper, and some others i cant remember)

you can inject extra co2 to the aquarium by a few ways. yeast based,and pressurized. pressurized is the best because you dont get fluctuating levels in the tank (which can cause algae)

 

[RadaR]

I was wondering if anyone could tell me the the difference between the different light bulbs availiable. I have a 55g tank that is currently lit with the "plant gro" bulbs, but i haven't noticed any difference except in the color of the light. Did i waste my money on these bulbs?

To be blunt, yes.
There are no real advantages to "plant gro bulbs". They just look different to us humans and they cost more.
What plants really care about is PAR (photosynthetically active radiation).
Most fluorescent bulbs whether they are from fish shops or hardware shops will be full spectrum which is fine because all wavelengths of radiation between 350 and 725nm are photosynthetically effective. Plant gro bulbs may claim to have strong peaks in the red and blue parts of the spectrum but would you see a noticeable different using these bulbs (compared to any standard bulb) on a small scale such as a planted fish tank? No.
I might also be worth mentioning that kelvin (colour temperature) is also not important.
In summary, pick a bulb in which you like the colour.

 

[mislisa]

Great, thanks for the info. My tank is a generic kit from petsmart with an upgraded heater and filter, but the lights are only 15w each... so 30 watts for a 55g. I've never seen a higher wattage bulb, but maybe i'm not looking in the right place...

I've looked into the pressurized co2, but it's way over my bidget atm, so i'm going to start adding some fourish excel, as i've heard that this can be benificial. Please let me know if there's anything i can be doing to improve my plants... they're pretty scraggly for the most part, although the java fern and crypts seem to be doing ok.

 

[mike455555]

are your bulbs T8? . what plants are you trying to grow? dosing ferts can help but im not sure if you will need to with the amount of light you have got. the fish can provide enough for them. but by all means dose it and see if it makes a difference, they might be lacking something
your on 0.5wpg if i were you id put another tube in this is really low light, crypts and java fern and afew other plants can surrive in low light (unsure what your trying to grow)

 

[mislisa]

my lights are t8s, but there's no room for another bulb unless i make a new lid or something... not sure how i'd go about adding another light.

The plants in my tank are a bit of a mix, mostly left over from when i did the beginner "let's buy what looks neat". I don't really know what a few of them are any more, so i'll work on getting some pictures and have someone help id them for me. This is my first time using real plants, and i'm definitely not going back to artificial if i can help it!!!

I believe I have a few scattered crypts, java fern, corkscrew vallernis (sp??), a few onion plants (doing well actually), a few stems of what i believe to be moneywort, some sort of sword (i think) and a few moss balls. I'll try to get some pics later.

 

[mike455555]

most of the ones you have named are high light plants although they could do with abit more light IMO. is there no way to fix another bulb over the tank? in a 55g there should be room for some more bulbs.

you have 2 hoods over it? couldent u fit another bulb in both? or a long one in-between?

 

[mislisa]

most of the ones you have named are high light plants although they could do with abit more light IMO. is there no way to fix another bulb over the tank? in a 55g there should be room for some more bulbs.

you have 2 hoods over it? couldent u fit another bulb in both? or a long one in-between?

Umm, not really, not without buying new light fixtures. here, i just snapped a quick pic of what my set up's like, as well as the different plants i have.









I'm not sure what this one is....




Now the lights:

 

[mike455555]

you could change it so there starter units not in the tank with them

like these ones http/www.swelluk.com/aquarium/fish-tank-lighting-28/control-units-184/arcadia-t5-starter-units-6667.html
then you could fix an extra bulb ... althoguht it would mean replacing them all... unless you could find a place to tuck a bulb within the hood?

 

[mislisa]

hmm.... i really don't have much cash to play with at the moment, so can you recommend some low-light plants that may do well? I'll look into replacing the lights at some point, but i just can't right now.