Question About "plant-gro" Light...

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trojannemo

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well i'm in the process of setting up my tank to be more inclined to having plants. i tried to do the plant thing only with liquid nutrients (and barely at that) and of course it failed. so now i'm doing the full substrate, all the nutrients, and eventually CO2.

while looking at stuff, i found that there are these so-called "Plant Grow" bulbs for my T5-HO system. right now i have 2x 39W T5-HO 6700K bulbs, giving me 2WPG in my 38G tank but from what I have been told here, T5-HO light conversion would equal roughly 3WPG on the T12 standard for my tank? anyways, are these pink "Plant Grow" bulbs any better than my "full-spectrum" 6,700K bulbs? I like the idea of the bulb being less bright ('cause its pink?) but giving the same wattage (it's still 39W after all) but am i misunderstanding all of this? if it's the same wattage, why is it better for plant growth? or is it really?

any information on this will be greatly appreciated! thanks guys! :good:
 
maybe even more than 3wpg (because of size of tank) but still...

Get any tubes that have a good CRI (basically oone that looks good to your eye) people go to OTT about kelvin when it makes no difference. take a look here for some cheap tubes:

http://www.lampspecs.co.uk/Light-Bulbs-Tub...uorescent-Tubes

generally people go for 6700K because it is a nice colour light to go for, it isnt to blue or pink and it sohws off the plants colours well.
 
well i'm in the process of setting up my tank to be more inclined to having plants. i tried to do the plant thing only with liquid nutrients (and barely at that) and of course it failed. so now i'm doing the full substrate, all the nutrients, and eventually CO2.

while looking at stuff, i found that there are these so-called "Plant Grow" bulbs for my T5-HO system. right now i have 2x 39W T5-HO 6700K bulbs, giving me 2WPG in my 38G tank but from what I have been told here, T5-HO light conversion would equal roughly 3WPG on the T12 standard for my tank? anyways, are these pink "Plant Grow" bulbs any better than my "full-spectrum" 6,700K bulbs? I like the idea of the bulb being less bright ('cause its pink?) but giving the same wattage (it's still 39W after all) but am i misunderstanding all of this? if it's the same wattage, why is it better for plant growth? or is it really?

any information on this will be greatly appreciated! thanks guys! :good:

Ignore them. They are highly priced tubes to get people who believe to buy them. Stick to combinations that look good to you between 4000K and 10000K. Different manufacturers will give slightly different colouration even at the same K rating. There are lots of people who warble on about the K ratin having to be in the 4-5500K range (pink) but it is speculative to say the least. Even Tom Barr says ignore the K rating and go for the wattage. I use a 4500K(pink) and a 6500K(daylight) as I like the colouration they give out when mixed together.

I would say that you are closer to an equivalent of 4WPG not 3. I have 0.9WPG T5HO if I go by the scale but the plants say different. I work on the principle that I am at 2WPG!!!

This site may help you.

http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/lighting.htm

AC
 

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