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When you are talking aboutr color temp, this does not tell you the entire spectral output.
For Example, the Atinic blue 7100K is primarily just this narrow color spike in the blue region and virtually no red or other color mix.
You can use a Triton which has a blue and a substantial amount of red and has a color temp of 7200K.
A 10K bulb also appears white becuase of the mix of colors.

Plants will use light in the 400-700nm range. So will algae..........Light is light, 6500K bulbs do not grow plants any better than 4100K watt for watt of energy.

How the colors appear to our eyes is another matter.
But the plants and algae can and do adapt to the light that is there, they can use yellow and green light also, chlorophyll is not the only light harvesting pigment.

You can talk a long time about light color temps and algae prevention(but both have the same type of chloroplast and internal machinery) and so forth, but ultimately it's a question of how it looks to your eyes. Most of us like 5000-10K range. So whatever floats your boat in that range is good.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Yet another insightful reply, thanks Tom!

Plants are more photosythetically sensitive to the red and blue light. I guess that is how I should have worded it.

Also, blue light might be a better option for deeper tanks since it doesn't get absorb as easily through the water. As plants grow to the top of the tank they may be able to use the red more. This might explain why some of my plants grow better as they reach the upper half of the tank.

Fish can handle much brighter light. Heat and the temp. of your tank water is something to take into consideration. You might not have a problem with the smaller bulbs you have but keep an eye on your therm.

You may hear the light temp. and light wavelength used interchangeably. K is temp. Red is cooler, then orange, yellow, green, blue, and then violet being the hotest. Just like on the spectrum charts you may have seen. nm is the wavelength and can be visuallized by thinking of a sine wave. The wavelength is the length of a complete cycle of a wave as it travels through a medium. The higher the temp. the shorter the wavelength.

Oh, if your taking the quiz on this site, they seem to leave some of these colors out in one of their questions "what colors of the spectrum are used with aquariums" or something like that. Just pick the answer with the most colors I guess. I thought it might be white since all the colors in the spectrum combined makes white and all the colors can be used for one thing or another, but that was wrong.

FMZ, did you get my PM?

No Dragonfish I did not get your PM except the first one. Did you get my reply??

Yeah, I like the lightstrips on that site. Its relatively inexpensive (compared to Petco) and comes with flourescent bulbs!

Do these come with bulbs?
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3817&Ne=40000&R=4424&N=2004+113349

I was thinking that or this one:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3800&Ne=40000&R=2564&N=2004+113349
Which comes with 9325K bulbs, is that ok?

Both 30" models.




[span class="edited"][Edited by sly 2004-07-05 23:35][/span]

its a bulb? you would be better off with fluorescent lights. for those low light plants, i am guessing you need 2 tubes, if you are lucky and yer tank got everything they need, you can get away with 1 tube maybe. at least total of .... 30 watts, double check with other people, cuz i just put my java fern in, still observing

Yes, I'm looking for a florescent bulb but only have one slot and has to be 24 inches. ..

So what's your question? That's only going to be .66W/g, which may or may not be enough. If you have an option, I would recommend getting more light.

Thats the problem, my hood light fixture is too small and has room for one.

My light strip is removal however, maybe I can buy another one with 2 fixtures. Anyone familiar with light strips?

hey hey sly, i hear you, i was once like that too. the problem with the hood that came with your tank is that, its only designed to fit one tube. you need to say good bye to that(but keep the light), go to an aquarium shop and buy the cover glass designed for your tank. usually its 2 pieces of glass covering the entire top of your tank, allowing you to put a couple more lights.
and to save your dough, homedepot, lowes, homebase or your local home improvement stores should have some cheaper light fixtures if you wish to add. i just bought this shop light, two 24 inch lights, for 12 dollars from lowes. that, plus your original light will give you 60 watts, makes your tank up to 2wpg

Thanks Green, maybe i'll try doing that.

How much are the fixtures, I have a 30 gallon tank that can fit a 36 inch hood. I went and checked the glass cover and they're only $30. I"m just look for 30-40 watts total.

fixture probably pretty cheap too, i bought mine for 12 dollars, and it holds two 24 inches. i guess they wont be more than 30 dollars. if you buy them from pet store though, they can be like 100+ dollars

THe fixture holds 2 bulbs? Whats the brand did you buy?

And just to clarify my confusion, you just put the fixture right on top of the glass cover?
]

[span class="edited"][Edited by sly 2004-07-05 13:49][/span]

what brand..... ehhhhh i dont remember, nothing fancy though. yes i just set it on top of the glass, because some shop lights arent made for aquariums, so lights dont have reflectors covering the sides of the lights, so i used some foil to cover the sides so a little more lights go in the tank, and also to prevent some water spill on my light

if you get a shop light, try to get one with an electronic ballast and not a magnetic. Electronic ballast will double the life of your bulb. The recommended bulb change is every 6 months for mag. and 12-14 for elec. If your don't want to tinker too much, just buy one made for aquariums with double bulbs or triple bulbs.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/NavResults.cfm?Ne=40000&N=2004+113349

Some places sell retrofit kits if you want to tinker.

You're referring to the light fixtures that are sold at hardware stores and aren't made for fishtanks right?

But if I buy a fixture (say from your site you mentioned above) inconjunction with a shoplight bulb then I won't have to tinker with anything, correct?

]

[span class="edited"][Edited by sly 2004-07-05 23:19][/span]

I forgot to mention what type of bulbs to get. You can find the daylight 6500K phillips at home depot as well as "plant and aquarium". Use one of each or just 2 daylight. Using P&A alone will make your tank look too pinkish (unless you like that). 6500K usually makes your tank look more nice with more blue light than P&A.

You can also get bulbs made for aquarium plants that are usually full spectrum or in the range of 4500K to 7500K. Checkthe link I gave earlier.

How much lighting do I need if I have Java Ferns, Crypts, or Anubias (all the low light plants)?

My Tank:

30 Gallon
36"L x 12 1/4"W x 16 3/4"H

Also, I only have one lightbulb slot in my cover.





[span class="edited"][Edited by sly 2004-07-04 19:16][/span]

how can i tell the difference between eletronic and magnetic ballast?

Ack, I decided to buy a glass cover ($20) and a twin tube strip ($40) instead. It also includes 2 bulbs! Pretty decent deal I think considering at LPS, the glass cover was $30 and the twin tube was ridiculously priced at $70 without the bulbs for a whooping $100+!

I couldn't find anything at Home Depot!

i just returned my strip of light today actually. bought a socket for a compact fluorescent plus a bulb for 13 watts but output is supposely 60watts, and built myself a little reflector for it, total costed me 8 bucks for 60 watts, which just brought my tank to 110 watts for 29g = 3.8wpg

when ever you see watts/gal they mean flourescent watts. Those screw-in compacts are just comparing themselves to incandecent bulbs. They put out as much lumens as 60 watts incandescent bulb at just 13 watts.

You just upgraded by 13 watts.

electronic ballasts usually say they are on the label of the ballast.

sly, those bulbs should work ok. 9325K is mostly in the blue color of the light spectrum. Plants use blue and red. If you have problems, experiment with different bulbs.

Is 6700K the optimum temp?

Yes 6700K is the best temp for freshwater plants.

for your low light plants, it's easy to get lighting
a standard 30inch reflector with one slot can fit a standard 30inch 30watt light. so that's 1watt per gallon.

6700k is good for your tank

The strip I ordered will have two 24" 20watts 9370K bulbs. I think it will suffice because I ordered only low/average light plants.

13 watts... hahaha i feel cheated, well, i just bought one more of those, thats 6500k 20 watts, so i hope that'll help a bit. anybody used like 3-4 of these things? will that be way too bright for the fish? cuz these things are VERY bright although they dont help much in terms of light intensity.

I use 2 on top of my 10gal. The the spectrum temp (cool white) on the one is not right so it doesn't help much. I do not use it on a planted tank anymore though. It did work though.