Planted tanks

[Aussie_Star]

hi
i have found some metal haildes and they come with 14000k blubs, and i was wondering what is the correct range for a planted tank? any info would be great

 

[Discomafia]

5000k-6700k bulbs are most useful.

 

[Lateral Line]

You need a lamp that emits light in the range that is absorbed by chlorophyll. Full spectrum 5500K - 6500K covers that range. 14000K is too high for a planted tank, a lot of the power you are pumping into the tank is at wavelengths that are ignored by the plants. Lamps that high are best suited to reef tanks.

 

[Aussie_Star]

so what happens if u have a high k?

 

[Discomafia]

chlorophyll won't absorb it?

 

[kenneth_kpe]

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=63809

lateral line provided a lot of usefull info for me from this thread before hope it helps

btw lateral line i finally found a cheap good light thats hits the chlorohpyl curve in a good way kinda like the fluora bulb from before the light is kinda pinkish from my point of view

 

[Aussie_Star]

k, the blub that comes with the kit are 14000k ( yes for reef tank), so i need at least 6500 as the max. I will go looking forthe 6500k daylight ones.

 

[maddskillz]

hey i have a question

i have a 96 power compact watt actinic and
i have a 96 power compact watt 10000k

for a 30 gallon planted tank is this to much light

 

[Sanj]

10,000k is usable, but not ideal. Actinic isnt really good for planted tanks. Sound like the lights you have are for marine use?

 

[Aussie_Star]

well i havent got them yet but that is what comes with it, another question, what is the best site on plants?

 

[kenneth_kpe]

for me a good site and kinda complete one is tropica.com another not so good one but fun to look at is plangeek.net, im sure other peeps have great sites for plants wait for the experts on these but if you read this before they post better sites, it doesn't hurt to check em out

 

[Aussie_Star]

thank you, they helped alot, I can only find co2 system for a the biggest 125 gallon tanks, if i have 4wpg do i need more co2 or less?

 

[kenneth_kpe]

well it really depends, its always safe to start slowly dont plug in a lot of c02 injectors at once start slowly test for c02 levels using your PH test and KH test and slowly increase your injection by adding more or hooking up a much more efficient system to diffuse your c02

there is an online calculator for c02 that i always use that can be found somewhere in this site
http/www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/articles.htm
also the articles are really good

(with my 15 gal i did this, first i did the brew then plugged it in via an airstone only, tested my c02 levels especially ph and found the levels to be ok, then the upturned bell, used that for a long time and then finally i used a reactor via a internal filter, the plants are doing ok now and the fishes to ( i think the fishes are , but no deaths yet )
hope this helps

 

[Aussie_Star]

that site is so good, really helpful. i well be doing mine set by set like it explains. I was going to do it another way, but ill try this way

 

[Discomafia]

You will need CO2 at 4 WPG because if not, algae growth will be encouraged. Usually light is the limiting factor in growth of plants in aquariums. However, your WPG settles that, and the next limiting factor is CO2. Meaning if you don't have CO2, your plants won't be at an advantage and cannot outcompete algae for nutrients. Hope you can understand what I wrote, I know I didn't phrase it very well.