Whats better?

[shrimpster97]

i just got an aqua GLO, and was wondering if i should have gotten life GLO.

 

[smithrc]

Neither i'm affraid - they are both poo...

I have tried both in the quest to get good plant growth.

We are now using Denneral Topical tubes and have had a LOT better success.

I'll be avoiding the hagens for a planted tank in the future.

 

[George Farmer]

I have a mix of Dennerle (3000K), Arcadia Freshwater (7500K) and Life-glo (6700K) giving great results and a lovely balanced colour. Life-glo would be better the Aqua-glo each on their own, Life-glo had a higher intensity and is a tri-phosphor lamp giving a 'fuller' light.

 

[blue_ram]

Neither i'm affraid - they are both poo...

I have tried both in the quest to get good plant growth.

We are now using Denneral Topical tubes and have had a LOT better success.

I'll be avoiding the hagens for a planted tank in the future.

Were Hagen and Denneral the same temperature (assuming same wattage)?

 

[George Farmer]

Dennerle - 3000K
Hagen Life-glo - 6700K

 

[shrimpster97]

Hagen Aqua-GLO - 18000K

even better, right?

 

[George Farmer]

Hagen Aqua-GLO - 18000K

even better, right?

Not really. Traditionally the best is 6500K which is the equivalent to sunlight. Overcast sunlight is supposed to be around 7500K. Hagen claim the temp is 18000K but I've heard several accounts that it's nearer 7000K, the Aqua-glo isn't tri-phoshor either.

True 18000K would be most benefit in a marine system with corals which need the blue end of the spectrum.

 

[Lateral Line]

>>> even better, right?

People always seem to assume that a higher "K" number must be better. No, as has been pointed out already, such a blue end lamp is only really suitable for a reef tank where the high blue end duplicates sunlight after the red end has been absorbed by the sea water.

For planted tanks, a good value lies between 5500K and 6500K and even then, you see some very peaky spectra.

 

[shrimpster97]

great!, so why did i get aqua glo, they were $16 each.

but that is the only ones they had.

they are not that bad are they?

 

[smithrc]

i couldn't get our plants to grow before moving away from hagens... now i have pearling after just 30 mins of the lights goming on and the plants are growing very well...

however - mr plec has decided to start eating them... A LOT

 

[Lateral Line]

Chlorophyll absorbs light at specific wavelengths. If you pump in vast quantities of light that doesn't match the wavelengths the plants use, then you are wasting your power. The price of the lamp will not alter the chemical properties of chlorophyll.

 

[konrad05]

aqua glo isnt even comparable, I want to argue if anybody votes for it