Quick Lighting Question

[netcode]

I have two 40 watt 4 foot fluro tubes... that leaves me with roughly 1.23 wpg. Should i have both tubes at 3100K or should I have one tube at 3100K and the other tube a higher K such as 6000+? I do not want to have both tubes as higher K because from my understanding Algae feeds on blue spectrums of light.

ANy suggestions are appretiated. I am just learning.


Thanks!!

 

[Themuleous]

Hi and welcome to the forum

If those are the tubes you have then I would just use them rather than replacing them. The spectrum of light the tubes produce is more important than the K rating they have. Are they plant specific tubes? What make are they?

There are aesthetic reasons for having higher K rating tubes, think lower ones tend to have an orange or pink tint, but not sure. Tubes of around 6500k tend to be the whitest. But this doesn't necessarily affect the plant growth, just what colour the tank looks!

Sam

 

[netcode]

Hi and welcome to the forum

If those are the tubes you have then I would just use them rather than replacing them. The spectrum of light the tubes produce is more important than the K rating they have. Are they plant specific tubes? What make are they?

There are aesthetic reasons for having higher K rating tubes, think lower ones tend to have an orange or pink tint, but not sure. Tubes of around 6500k tend to be the whitest. But this doesn't necessarily affect the plant growth, just what colour the tank looks!

Sam

I thought K rating is directly related to the spectrum of light that the bulb puts out?

They are bulbs made by GE Electric. One is called Daylight which is the white colored light and it much higher in K. The other is "Plant & Aquarium, Wide Spectrum" which is 3100K according to their website.

 

[Graeme Edwards]

I suggest you read the pinned articles on lighting and the other topics, you will get allot of what you need to know from there.

Graeme.

 

[netcode]

I suggest you read the pinned articles on lighting and the other topics, you will get allot of what you need to know from there.

Graeme.

done n done. This is why I had the idea in mind to change my lightning from higher K rating to a lower one as it is recommended if u have low lightning <2wpg. I was just curious as to wether or not a combo or going with both tubes as a lower K rating would be better.

 

[Themuleous]

TBH mate I've never really got my head around the whole wavelength/k rating thing, but just get plant tubes, if they are higher K rating then so be it. The fact that they are designed for plants is the important thing.

Sam

 

[Graeme Edwards]

From what i know, the green part of the light spectrum is one of, if not the most important color wave you are looking for, but also a tube with three light wave peaks is best, as for the kelvin iv read that 8000K or as close to it is best for aquatic plants, maybe use that as a guide, stay as close to 8000K as poss but dont go over.

I'm sure your aware it takes many factors to create good plant growth and to give algae as small a chance as possible, if i was you, look for tubes with a three peak wave lengths and a kelvin nearest to 8000K but no higher and you should be good with that, if ££££££££ dosh is an issue leave them as they are and make do, then upgrade when you have the cash.

Graeme

 

[Themuleous]

A kelvin of between 5500 to 6700K is generally considered to be the 'best' for plants but as you say the three spikes is more important.

 

[netcode]

I was in my LFS today and I was looking through the lighting section.. I saw something that I thought was interesting. Most if not all the bulbs had a high peak in blue spectrum. From what I recall this is the spectrum of light that algae like... if so why do these bulbs contain such high peaks in the blue spectrum? I dunno if there really is an answer to it or not but it struck my mind as interesting since i thought fish keepers would try to minimize anything that had to do with algae growth.

 

[Themuleous]

Blue light is important for algae, but all plants use red and blue light to photosynthesis and the green gets reflected back (that why plants look green ) The blue light its important for corals especially as that is the colour that penetrates water best so algae in corals have adapted to use it. But all plants need blue and red light.

I think you're over thinking this to much, don't get hung up on working it all out just get plant tubes and be done with it At the end of the day if you provide the right conditions for plants to grow in an aquarium then you're also providing the right conditions for algae to grow, you can't have one without the other, but there are other things you can do to stop aglae.

Sam

 

[netcode]

I think you're over thinking this to much

I over analyse everything, I think I am just a little on the crazy side

Anyways thanks for all the feedback! I am going to upgrade as soon as possible now.