Question Re: T8 Lighting

[Electric Warrior]

HI, so basically I have a Fluval Roma 200, which uses two T8 tubes, and I will not be upgrading to a T5 unit anytime soon. I have an Arcadia Freshwater tube in the front, which I think is rated at 7500K, and in the back I have an Arcadia Original Tropical. All of the plants that I have in the front do great and grow really well, but in the back they are all struggling/melting. I think that the Original Tropical lamp is only rated at about 3500K? This tube I quite liked the look of when in the back of the Freshwater tube, as it brought out a lot of the hues of the fish, etc. But I don't think it's cutting it, obviously, in a planted tank... Are there any other good T8 tubes that promote some stronger plant growth, as I guess that I could put another Freshwater tube in the back, but I don't know if that will be overkill on the tank or not? My water has quite a lot of tannins which probably doesn't help, but it's not brown or anything. I dose ferts, but don't run C02. Any suggestions?

 

[Ps3Steveo]

I'd go with a temp around daylight colour so 6500K.

 

[Electric Warrior]

I'd go with a temp around daylight colour so 6500K.

Okay do yo know of one? A lot of the T8 tubes I have been looking at online don't seem to list the K rating.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Should say daylight on one of them.

 

[Electric Warrior]

Should say daylight on one of them.

Do you know anything about the quality of Sera tubes? I have no experience with them, but they have a 'Brilliant Daylight' T8 that is rated at 6000K. Quite pricey!

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Well they say you get what you pay for so must be good if expensive but I have no experience witht them.

 

[Electric Warrior]

Yeah, I usually find that to be the case myself, but I was trying to find some reviews on Google, and unfortunately, everything seems to be in German

 

[Electric Warrior]

So, just a little update. My plants in the back part of the tank were doing really poorly, so I went ahead and bought the Sera tube. It was way pricier than any other t8 tubes, but finally bought the cheapest one I could find from Green Machine, at about £18 + postage for the 30W. It's rated at 6000K, and it already looks so much better than the horrible Arcadia Original Tropical. I still have the Arcadia Freshwater in the front, which is 7500K, and I am still quite happy with it. The Original Tropical was quite pinky and about 3000-3500K, so it made the fish look quite good, but the plants started looking awful after a while. This tube seems to be a bit green/white, and the plants look amazing-I never actually thought that they could look that green inside my tank. Will have to wait and see if the tube also improves their growth/condition with some time for the real test. Most places were selling this tube for £23-26, so I got it for a good price I think. This is the tube: http/www.sera.de/u...illiant-t8.html

 

[ian]

don't get too caught up on K ratings and plants, you could have saved yourself a whole lotta money as well buying from here, exactly the same bulbs with 'plant pro' printed on them

http/www.lampspecs.co.uk/

 

[ian]

the plants melting at the back will be either a C02/flow issue, not a light issue.

 

[Electric Warrior]

I don't use C02, so that's not an issue because it's not needed at this point. Flow in my tank is fine, as I have two externals at opposite ends, and there are not really any dead spots. And I always thought that a light at that end of the spectrum and at 3500K would not really grow anything other than very low light species? I don't have anything demanding in my tank at all.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

There is CO2 in the water in your tank and in the tap water you use so that is how CO2 issues are caused if not using a CO2 set up.

 

[Electric Warrior]

Right, so are you saying that if my plants don't improve with the better lighting in the back of the tank, I would have to be looking at a C02 setup?

 

[Ps3Steveo]

I'm saying, you said you dont have CO2 so that wont be a problem, it can be a problem in any tank and cause the algae as every tank has CO2.

 

[Electric Warrior]

Right, according to Ian, the plants melting in the back part of the tank that had the pinky light, with the low temperature rating, were most likely melting due to an issue with flow/C02. But then how does that explain the fact that five days since I put the new tube in, the plants are already doing much better? The ones that were not looking too good before are already improving quite a lot, and I haven't changed my fert dosing/photo period? I do well admit that I do not know too much about C02, as I don't add any. Maybe I did get ripped off on the light, I don't know, but these guys seem to sell quite a few of them, and for £2-7 more than what I paid.