I am all for even buying new hoods for my 55. I just do not know what kinda to get . any suggestions or a link to some that I can look at online and read or get.
Hey! There may be no need to buy a new hood. I recently upgraded my tired old lighting. I have a homemade wooden hood, so all I did was buy an appropriate lighting ballast and some lights. As you are buying a new ballast, I would suggest T5 over T8. (I bought this unit http
/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HAGEN-GLO-T5-HO-TWIN-LIGHT-STARTER-2-X-24W-/310398024862?_trksid=p4340.m185&_trkparms=algo%3DDLSL%252BSIC.NPJS%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BUA%26otn%3D10%26pmod%3D390411441146%252B390411441146%26po%3D%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D8242883577298000908 - 24W is a 2ft T5HO bulb - comes with everything you need to mount the bulbs in a hood except for screws) To know what power ballast you need, look on here. Only look at T5HO (High Output) - http
/www.thelightbulbshop.co.uk/Shop/FluorescentTubes/Product/2444/FQ2482S/T5Lumilux%C2%AEHighOutput.aspx
As said, colour is mostly a personal choice. Personally, I'm loving the colour that my bulbs are atm. I would tell you what bulbs you need power wise, but I don;t know the length of your tank (I'm assuming 4ft, but best to let you decide
)
again, i will quote Clive from the Barr Report. Clive is a well respected aquatic biologist. Please give it a read and give you opinion.
Full spectrum is irrelevant and is not even true. No bulb is full spectrum because no bulb can approximate the spectral curve of the sun.At best a so-called full spectrum bulb has energy peaks in more than one frequency and that's it. Even if it were possible to simulate the solar spectrum it wouldn't matter because very few plants in tropical rain forests have access to full spectrum lighting, especially if they are in water which attenuates many wavelengths. Possibly, open grasslands or the very top leaves in the canopy trees of the rain forest have access to full spectrum lighting. 300 feet below the canopy in a stream stained with tannic runoff aquatic plants grow fine without ever seeing full spectrum or 6500K light bulbs their entire lives. As a result plants have developed the ability to utilize whatever visible light is available in the environment.
Freshwater does not attenuate the red, green and yellow wavelengths as strongly as salt water. As a result, freshwater appears as many different colors while marine water normally appears blue or blue/green. Blue light is a higher energy radiation and so is not affected as easily by the water. This is why it penetrates. Red light is the lowest energy visible radiation so it is the first victim upon entering seawater. The zooplankton, corals and other species living at certain depths have had to adjust to the spectral quality reaching them at that depth.
Photosynthesis requires photons within the visible spectrum. Lumens are not relevant because it's a measure of how humans perceive the brightness of light. Chlorophyll and auxiliary pigments such as carotene molecules are sensitive to and eject electrons when struck by photons in the visible spectrum. Each chlorophyll type is optimized around a certain spectral band, however there are enough different pigment types to cover the entire spectrum. The plant assesses what wavelengths are available in the environment via photoreceptors and manufactures pigments to match what is available. The photon energy is then converted and passed on to the chlorophyll for electron conversion. If the spectral quality of the light changes the plant adapts and manufactures a different pigment type to match the new ambient conditions. Although Chlorophyll a and b are the dominant pigment types other pigment are always present. You can see these pigments inherent in the leaves during the Autumn when the green chlorophyll is withdrawn leaving the other pigment types behind. These pigment are responsible for the fall colors but they are not just there for our viewing pleasure. They are there to take advantage of whatever wavelength light is available during the growing period.
Therefore it does not matter what color light is used, the plants will adapt to match.
found here
http
/www.barrreport.com/archive/index.php/t-4768.html
What i find interesting is aquatic plants an actinic bulbs. I have seen decent plant growth and actinic bulbs (not done by myself) and aquatic plants grow well.
Also Aqua design amano (ADA) run by plant god Takashi Amano use a bulb called the NAG green bulb, yes the bulb is in the green spectrum, and these bulbs are used on all of his tanks in his gallery in Japan. Guess what!!
this is why i totally disbelieve that the K ratings (especially 6500) of bulbs make no difference to how you can grow aquatic plants.
This is very interesting. I will have to read up on the secondary pigments, my knowledge is based purely on research I was privvy to surrounding structure mapping of the active centre in chlorophyll. Some of the quote you link sounds like pseudo-science, but I doubt very much it is a complete lie and rather is an over simplification of some very complex science.
regarding actinics, they do emit radiation inside of the adsorption spectrum of chlorophyll, but I will not pretend to know anymore about them as I am having to look up their spectrum from Arcadia, which is always a bit dodge.
Whilst the bulb is marketed as NAG Green, I am highly doubtful it is purely a green bulb - again, I can find no information on it - other than it being a metal halide, so it will by nature have a very wide spectrum.
Personally, I believe that the spectrum of the bulb can and does effect plant growth, in much the same way that adding CO2 or fertilizer does (although admitably not to the same magnitude) - for instance, a plant grown on my window ledge will grow plenty well, but if I take that same plant and put it under a 'perfect' hydroponics rig, it will grow
better.
However, as I will keep saying, the choice in colour is as much about personal taste as it is a question of what the plant can best utilise, you will be much better off adding another bulb (assuming light is the limiting factor) than stressing about kelvin ratings.
