I need help with the lighting in my tank, I bought the tank and it camae with 3 LED lights one white and two purple. I'm not sure what the brand they are they say 15000WW (or 15000MM I'm not sure which side I'm reading from). The white light says 36 watts and the two purple says 23 watts, they are about 4.5 feet in length. I know for majority of plants the white light seems to be better for their growth. I have one white and one purple light set on a timer for 8 hours a day. So, I'm thinking about replacing one of the purple lights for a white light (in the 5 feet range). The tank is a 200 gallon (6 x 2.25 x 2.1). Would replacing one of the purple lights help with my plants?
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Lighting help
- Thread starter lnsaneM
- Start date
1500 mm sounds like the length - that converts to 59 inches or 4 ft 11 inches.
Is there a K rating anywhere on the light? Having a lot of blue/purple would indicate a high K rating. Plants need a K rating of around 6500 K, with red and blue and some green in the spectrum, while blue is usually higher than that.
Is there a K rating anywhere on the light? Having a lot of blue/purple would indicate a high K rating. Plants need a K rating of around 6500 K, with red and blue and some green in the spectrum, while blue is usually higher than that.
I couldn't find a K rating, maybe you can tell from the colour in the pics? I'm definitely adding another 6700K and removing one of the purple-pink lights from the tank. And is a T8 fluorescent bulb? Is a T8 6700K better than a 6700K led?
Yes. The white will be stronger intensity (the purple are very weak) and thus of more value.
T8 refers to the diameter of a fluorescent tube. Decades ago, fluorescent tubes were T12, then the T8 were developed to provide the same or higher light with less energy needed. There is also T5 which is very bright, often too much for freshwater tanks/plants, but good over marine tanks with corals. The "T" number refers to the diameter of the tube in eighths of an inch, so T12 is 12/8 diameter, T8 in 8/8 or one inch, and T5 is 5/8 inch. In the T8 and T5, intensity can vary depending upon the phosphors and manufacture. In the T8 there can also be different wattages, but these bear no relation to intensity unless the tubes being compared are identical in all other respects.
As for LED and T8, it depends upon how they are made. Not all 6500K is the same. A good quality LED will use less energy and last years longer. I had T8 over my tanks for years, but the tubes needed replacing every 12 months because as they burn, the intensity of the light decreases, quite a lot. T8 is becoming much more difficult to get these days, in aquarium lighting. I would certainly get a good LED going forward.
Ok thanks this is really useful info, I'll see what I can find with a good 6500k range
I have replaced one of the purple led lights with a T5 6500k bulb, from the look of it the plants love it, but only time will tell. Thanks @Byron for helping me with this, and I also have set the timer whereas the only purple light is set on a timer 1 hour before the white lights come on and about 45 minutes after the white lights go off so it will mimic sunrise and sunset. Hopefully the plants will love the settings I have so far
Lighting is getting way too high tech and complicated these days. I'm going back to candles.
I agree with you, but as long as these lights are making these plants happy, I'm happy
I am starting to understand that lighting is just lighting. The technology is changing. Candles , kerosene lamps , incandescent bulbs , then fluorescent and now LED. I don't believe that any man made artificial light can duplicate sunlight. That's too fantastic a thought but maybe plants aren't as finicky about lighting requirements as we think. If things work for you then be happy. That's the bottom line and what works for one guy may not work for the next guy. The plants themselves are your proof of what works.
I'm in the process to change out the bulbs for my 75 gallon as well. The light cover on this set up is for 4 T5 bulbs at 115cm 54 watts. I saw some Sylvania T5 full spectrum bulbs that I'm interested in, has anyone tried this brand or know anything of them?
I used the Sylvania and Phillips tubes in T8 for 20+ years. The question here is, what does "full spectrum" mean when it comes to the specific tube. Is there either a Kelvin number or a CRI number for this tube?
T5 is more intense light that T8. The brightness of the tank light affects fish.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N5NPRN2/?tag=ff0d01-20
These are the ones I was looking at, I just did a research and T5 is indeed more intense than T8, I guess I could just always keep two on like how I'm currently running.
If I run all 4 at the same time, I do notice more algae on my tank
Those should be OK. The colour temperature (Kelvin) is given as 6400K, and that is right where you want it. I had 6500K over my single tube tanks.
Being able to only have two of them on is good too. This will provide considerable light, but floating plants (substantial ones like Water Sprite, Water Lettuce, Frogbit) will help here.
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Ok, that sounds good. And I already have added water lettuce about 1/3 of the top so far, I have a water lettuce infestation in my 200 gallon so far.
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