Newbie looking for plant suggestions

[NickAu]

I think you should enter the tank of the month competition

Read this
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/f...y-2018-tank-of-the-month.447581/#post-3784237

 

[Tool13x]

Not all lighting that says it is good for freshwater plants will be good. When buying LED you have t know exactly what you are getting. I have had five LED fixtures and all went back within a few days because they were not good light.

The unit linked in post #12 is very high in the blue light, and this bothers me. Light has to be intense enough to drive photosynthesis, but it also has to be of the right spectrum (the colour wavelengths).

Perhaps the Finnex stingray or the Koval is a better choice for the money?
I know any of these aren't The best lights on the market but they have good reviews. I guess The main question is am I better off with one of these budget LEDs or swapping the Aqueon T8 bulbs for the better ones you suggested?

 

[Byron]

Perhaps the finnex stingray is a better choice for the money?
I dont know for sure but i thought that you could turn the blues off/on gor moonlight setting on the beams work light?

If you could turn off the blue, that would weaken the intensity so much I doubt this would be as good as what you now have.

I'll leave it for those with LED experience to comment further. There are good LED planted tank light units, but many (the ones I've tried) are not. I think AbbeysDad has a Finnex, PM him.

 

[Tool13x]

I think you should enter the tank of the month competition

Read this
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/f...y-2018-tank-of-the-month.447581/#post-3784237

Looks like fun, Ill give it some thought. Ideally Id like to get my lighting sorted out and let my plants fill in before I go showcasing, but it couldnt hurt to throw an entry in there.

 

[NickAu]

Instead of buying a new light get plants suited to the light you have. The Crypts and Annubias should be fine with that light.

I will be upgrading my light so I have more options on getting some low lying plants for the foreground.

Micranthemum monte carlo is a great carpeting plant and should do well with the light you have.
https://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/blog/2015/05/micranthemum-monte-carlo-care.html

I have it in one of my tanks dam stuff grows like a weed, Its starting to attach itself to the wood,

 

[Tool13x]

Micranthemum monte carlo is a great carpeting plant and should do well with the light you have.

Thats awesome, I was just looking at some Monte Carlo earlier today at my LFS and I almost bought it. Maybe I will pick some up on my next visit.

 

[Tool13x]

The unit linked in post #12 is very high in the blue light, and this bothers me. Light has to be intense enough to drive photosynthesis, but it also has to be of the right spectrum (the colour wavelengths).

I keep coming back to these Beamswork Lights, Ive been researching them the past couple of days and
I found a fantastic writeup with PAR data comparing that Full Spectrum with a 6500K High Lumen, They also have a 6500K standard fixture which seems to be less problematic. They seem pretty powerful to me, the FSPEC PAR was at 42 @ 22".
In comparison to what I have, I managed to find some T8 Aqueon Full Spec Par data for reference and my current bulb is 27 PAR @10" while the FSPEC is 59 PAR @ 10".

If you could turn off the blue, that would weaken the intensity so much I doubt this would be as good as what you now have.

I looked into that a little further and found out that you can turn off the blue LEDs if you buy Beamswork timer and set it up a certain way to only have the white, green, and red LEDs on. Yeah I'm sure you'd lose some intensity but its still 104 of the 120 0.5w LEDs. The Finnex PlantedPlus 24/7 has a similar LED setup though the PAR ratings are a bit higher and in this video review the Blues are only responsible for 5 PAR on a 20 gal high vs 60 PAR all on.
Which actually leads me to my next question: Why is the blue light a concern?

In conclusion I think I am going to purchase the FSPEC 10k and give it a chance, 40ish PAR seems like good Low to maybe moderate lighting. I want to stay away from co2 so I think maybe thats about as high as I should go without starting to worry about algae becoming a problem?

 

[Byron]

Which actually leads me to my next question: Why is the blue light a concern?

Aquatic plants require light in the red and blue wavelengths to drive photosynthesis. Of these two, red is the more important. Adding green to the mix has been shown to improve the plants' response. Diana Walstad surmised that this could be due to the increased intensity (even though green is reflected by plants, which is why they appear green to us) but more likely has something to do with the natural evolution of the plants. Sunlight at mid day is high in red, blue and green. The is matched by light with a Kelvin from 5000K to 7000K. Bulbs and tubes with 6500K are very good for planted tanks, and it provides a true rendition of colours of plants and fish.

Blue light penetrates water better, while red is restricted. One might think blue light would be better, but as I pointed out above it is red that is more critical and this is even weaker in much LED lighting. Marine light is very different; the penetrating blue light is essential for corals. Much of the LED lighting seems to have concentrated on blue, which probably suggests marine situations.

The other problem with high blue light is that the plants not only cannot use it (without sufficient red and probably green) but algae can. I experimented with more blue lighting some years ago, and without question I had more problems with brush algae when the tank lighting was strong in blue. I was using two tubes, one 6500K and the second 10,000K and another time 11,000K. Algae did increase. Now I have one 6500K and one 5000K (5000K is warmer light, more red and less blue) and the algae problems disappeared. Over a period of five years these experiments were pretty convincing.

 

[Tool13x]

The other problem with high blue light is that the plants not only cannot use it (without sufficient red and probably green) but algae can. I experimented with more blue lighting some years ago, and without question I had more problems with brush algae when the tank lighting was strong in blue. I was using two tubes, one 6500K and the second 10,000K and another time 11,000K. Algae did increase. Now I have one 6500K and one 5000K (5000K is warmer light, more red and less blue) and the algae problems disappeared. Over a period of five years these experiments were pretty convincing.

Very informative, it makes more senses to me now, thank you. It sounds like I'd be much better off with one of those 6500K lights then. I think I'll probably go with the DA6500k, its rated at the same lumen as the FSPEC but different temperature. It looks like the 1watt LEDs in the high lumen light are problematic, lots of reports about burning out within 1 year.