Lighting Question

madpiano · Sep 13, 2008

Hello

My tank is a 28Gallon (US) tank. I have an Arcadia Lumiere which fits 2 25W T8 Tubes. I have had the tank set-up for marine and tropical before, so now I have 4 Tubes and need to decide on 2 of them.

I have these:

Marine-Glo - very blue
Power Glo - extra high output white
Arcadia Freshwater 7500K
Arcadia Tropical 4500K

which 2 do I chose ? I quite liked the effect of the blue marine tube, but not sure if it is any good for a planted tank. I don't like tubes which are yellow / green in colour as I like red fish and they tend to look washed out in that light.

I have reflectors in the hood and will have white sand. Will that be enough to grow most plants ?

n3ont3tra · Sep 13, 2008

You probably have more than enough lights for most plants. The general rule for a high tech planted is 2-3 watts per gallon. With the reflectors, I'd say your in that range. Also, I would stick to the 7500K and 4500K. I know they don't look as good. Maybe you should go with the 7500K and one of the blue-er ones and see if the plants still grow okay. TBH they probably will but it won't look as 'freshwater-y'. :blink:

Okay I know that doesn't make much sense... it's just I can't recall ever seeing a freshwater with actinic lighting, and that's what I'm trying to picture with the Marine-glow bulb.

Wow I'm tired. Sorry for not making much sense.

madpiano · Sep 13, 2008

n3ont3tra said:
You probably have more than enough lights for most plants. The general rule for a high tech planted is 2-3 watts per gallon. With the reflectors, I'd say your in that range. Also, I would stick to the 7500K and 4500K. I know they don't look as good. Maybe you should go with the 7500K and one of the blue-er ones and see if the plants still grow okay. TBH they probably will but it won't look as 'freshwater-y'. Okay I know that doesn't make much sense... it's just I can't recall ever seeing a freshwater with actinic lighting, and that's what I'm trying to picture with the Marine-glow bulb.

Wow I'm tired. Sorry for not making much sense.

You made sense, don't worry - I guess as I already have the tubes, I can just try and see what it looks like. According to Hagen, the Marine Glo can be used in planted tanks, but they don't give Kelvin Ratings and Output levels so it is difficult to work out and I also don't know if they may be thinking about planted marine tanks.

n3ont3tra · Sep 14, 2008

Hmm I just googled them and they are actinics which is very blue, almost purple. Of course you can still use them but the I don't think the plants use that spectrum as much. You may want to double check though.