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Hi everyone. I just got a 24"x12"x12" tank , Nutrafin natural CO2 system , reflector light with 2 tubes of aqua-glo ( 20W 18,000K).

I am doing a planted tank and just read that 18,000K lights are not beneficial for plants and help algae growth more. Is this correct? If so should I exchange just one light tube or both to a lower colour temperature?

I will be going to the lfs soon so need answers asap!
Thanks guys !

Not sure about 18000K bulbs - I assume they're better suited for reef tanks? But for growing freshwater plants, I'd get either 2 daylight (6500K) bulbs or a daylight and a 10,000K bulb.

-P

Hi bygone – Welcome to FP

I guess I am too late with my answer, but in case you still need info – I completely second upikabu’s statement.

Lights for the freshwater planted tank should not exceed 10,000K and one might even argue which ones are the best. I personally prefer the 6,700K as it seems to give me the best plant growth. If I have multiple lights then I combine them with another temperature, for example 5,000K or 10,000K. This balances out the rather green appearance of the 6,700K and makes it more pleasant to the eye (not that I don’t like 6,700K only).

Say, do I read that right that you have 2 x 20W of light? I thought that fixtures with a length of 24” would hold an 18” light and as such had only 15W as the 20W light in itself is already 24” long.

Your tank is about 15G, right?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks for your replies upikabu and Little_Fish.
Yeah my tank is about 15G and my bulbs are indeed 20W. My reflector is just slightly bigger than 24" so I could just fit in the bulbs. Took me awhile to get them in tho!

bygone,

Cool, that is 40W over 15G then

That should give you some very nice growth. What kind of plants do you have in there?

Also, I would be curious to know how you managed to place the fixture over the tank (maybe I could do something similar to my 20G)?

Ingo

Last edited by LITTLE_FISH at 03-Dec-2005 05:19

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Well the good thing is I bought the reflector light which just fits nicely under the aquarium hood so thats where my lights are, and a piece of cover glass underneath the lights of course in case any splashing occurs.

I just set the tank up yesterday so I havent got anything in there yet besides filter , gravel , heater... I'll let it run for another day or so before getting some plants. I've got enough light and CO2 system as well so I guess I could get higher light plants but I'm new to this so don't know if I'm brave enough to try some of the more difficult plants! Any suggestions on how I could aquascape my tank and what type of plants?

Also, my main worry now is the substrate. I'm using a mixture of regular gravel (3mm) and some iron based gravel (it's not fluorite or laterite). However, I just found out from another lfs that this iron based gravel isn't good enough for plants and they suggested using some laterite balls and liquid fertilizer. What do u think? Also with my tank set up would I be needing PMDD? I'm in Australia so getting cheap fertilizers would be a problem and I would have to use the Seachem products which are expensive. It would also be quite a hassle dosing all those stuff and if possible I would like to avoid them. I'm a university student so i've got money and time constraints and I've already spent more money on this set up than I originally planned to!

Sorry for the long post !