New Lights Worth It?

[Pacific]

Just rescaped my tank trying out live plants for the first time.

Want to replace the lights aswell as always thought they were a bit dull especially lighting towards the bottom of the tank. It's a Juwell Rekord 800 with the standard stock lighting.

First of all just wondering do different lights actually make a difference or would i just be wasting time buying some different ones without upgrading the actual light system itself? Been looking around for the last hour or so and seems theres so many different lights available. Dont suppose theres any sort of general consensus as to which makes of light are recommended is there?

Cheers for any reply

 

[Joshwainwright]

Different lights do make a difference however with more light, plants need more nutrients and with more nutrients, plants need more CO2. If you increase one limiting factor, you must increase them all.

The amount of light, nutrient dosage and CO2 all need to be increased for better results in plants.

 

[KittyKat]

I prefer to use between 1 and 2 watts per (US) gallon. If you are only starting out, then toward the bottom end of that would work well for you. The few times when more light is needed is generally when CO[sub]2[/sub] and fertilisers are used.

It helps to replace bulbs every 1-1.5 years as their output decreases a lot. To not waste bulbs I rotate them like this: new -> planted aquarium -> Malawi aquarium -> bin once they stop working.

As for colour, green plants do best under ones which peak at red and blue, while red plants do well under ones which peak at blue. I prefer to use Philips/Osram 865 because they are cool daylight in colour and (if I remember correctly) peak at all three.

 

[miller4eyes]

im no expert but i no that the differnt lamps you can get make a difference the differnt colours mimic daylight so would help plants to grow better

 

[Pacific]

after looking around think i'll buy the Power-Glo + Aqua-Glo combo. not to expensive and gets good feedback from what i've read.

 

[creg]

is it worth using co2 with low light?

 

[KittyKat]

is it worth using co2 with low light?

It really depends on the set-up, the plants you are trying to grow, how much fertiliser you are using.. if you start a topic with all set-up information, I am sure someone will help.