Aquarium Trouble And Best Lighting

[chameleongeekgrl]

Hi everyone I know were all getting sick of lighting questions but maybe another one for me

What i've got is a 55 gallon with 250 watts of lights. It's got a fully automated co2 system with the ph controller and it's time to buy new lights. I have 8000k now and they give off sorta pinkish hue. I've had them since last christmas and I want something to give it more brighter, whiter look inside the tank. these are my options
8000°K Full Spectrum
True Actinic 03
Reef Lamp (True Actinic & 10000°K Super Daylight)
10000°K Super Daylight

Would the 10000 K be okay where it is a super daylight to get good growth and a brighter aquarium, or am I better to stick to the 8000K (pink hue) Full Spectrum?

The problem is I have plenty of light and Co2 but all my plants that I bought with red are losing there leaves and turning green. Is this a light problem or a supplement problem? I'm adding Florish once a week and FloraPride Every other. I'm still new to this plant thing so sorry if My questions have been answered a zillion times I DID read the lighting guide though

 

[Themuleous]

Much better to get full spectrum lights. Avoid the Actinic they are almost 100% blue, same probably goes for the reef lamp.

What type of tubes do you have at the moment? E.g. T8, T5 or PC? and what's their wattage, we could probably recommend a good plant tube for your set up.

Sam

 

[nry]

That is a massive amount of light (~5 watts per gallon!). Couple this with CO2 and your fertiliser regime then becomes the likely problem - unless you are also adding nitrAte, pottasium and possibly phosphate alongside your current liquid feeds your plants will quickly strip the tank of any 'naturally' occuring nitrate, pottasium and phosphate leading to major nutrient deficiencies.

My guess anyhow!

Personally I'd look to get the lighting closer to 2 - 2.5wpg especially for such a large tank.

 

[chameleongeekgrl]

I have compact lighting, 21 inch, 55 (or 65 watt depending on the type of tube) Watt, 4 of them. I am able to turn off so I just have two going at a time. When I do this my tank seems preety dark. I am allowed to get a new lighting get-up around Christmas, so any recomendations there would be greatly valued but at the time I'm stuck with compact lights.

I can definantly get some other nutrient additives to go along with my Florish, I also just ordered some Flourish Excel... Hopefully it's not the same thing I have now.

Thanks for the feedback so far!

 

[nry]

Flourish Excel is an alternative to adding CO2, if you are adding CO2 already then you don't really need it.

You may need to consider adding pottasium, phosphate and possibly nitrAte, these will be used up very quickly with your light levels and I think you are adding CO2 aswell which will really speed up how quickly these three are used - the Flourish you already have is used alongside these as the 'trace' aspect of fertilising.

With your light levels and CO2 you may want to read through the Estimative Index pinned thread which has a fertiliser regime which is well suited to high light/CO2 tanks like yours.

 

[chameleongeekgrl]

Okay i've turned my lights down to 2 watts per gallon. I've ordered (All the Flourish Line) of Potassium, Phosphate, and Nitrogen, and the Excel was already on it's way. read through the EI dosing (does anyone who use this, does it go through fertilizers quickly?) and pruned all the dying leaves off my plants. So hopefully when I start getting my junk it'll turn out better. Thanks for the help NRY and Themuleous !!!

 

[nry]

EI dosing is best done with dry powders, it is much MUCH cheaper. For my 15-gallon £15 of powders will last me 10 years!

You can premix these powders with water if you prefer doing it that way, it is all described in the pinned Estimative Index thread.