Which lights???

[Misskiwi67]

Hello,

We're just finishing our proposal for fishtank funding, and we're not sure which spectrum lights to select. We have 6 bulbs to replace, which would you select (3000K, 7000K) to provide the best lighting and keep algae growth to a minimum.

I read the pinned articles, but I'm still not sure I understand well enough to make the best selection and/or combination, so I thought it would be best to just ask for your opinions...

Thanks!!!
Alinda Buckingham
co-chair ISU fishtank committee

 

[pseud]

It's suggested that you go for 5500k to 6500k.

I'm personally using a 6700K and 8000K.

I'd probably choose the 7000k for all of them, or maybe 4 of the 7000k and two 3000k.

 

[zig]

Generally the higher the spectrum you go the more prone the light would be to inducing algae, but you dont have anything to worry about if you only go as high as 7000k, im talking more 10000k and over.

The higher you go up the spectrum the bluer the light will be, its the blue end of the spectrum you want to avoid.

At the other end of the spectrum (the 3000k end) is the red part of the spectrum lights at this end tend to be quite orange in colour, light in the middle part of the spectrum 6000-6500k will be more like daylight at noon.

So it really comes down to personal choice, i usually stick to the 6000-6500k range as i prefer a more natural daylight type of lighting, others like to mix the daylight with a more yellow or orange light for a warmer effect, and then others will like lights in the 7500 range which tend to be more greenish in colour as this shows green plants a lot better, again as a personal preference i would avoid anything around 3000-4000k lights in this range are to orange looking for my taste.

If you go somewhere between 5500-7000k you cant really go wrong, im sure others will tell you the combinations they prefer the most.

Your doing a great job on this........very dedicated to getting it right.

I look foreward to the finished photos>

 

[Misskiwi67]

Hehehe... we're turning our proposal in to purina by the end of the week... I'm starting to get nervous they'll turn us down, even though the rep pretty much said they'll give us the money if we give them a plaque on the tank.

So if our proposal goes through, we will probably all order stuff that day and then we should have everything running the week after that, provided there's no huge tests to study for or anything....

Oh, my second biggest worry after getting the money... what do you do with 200 lbs of aquarium gravel??? We're replacing the substrate with ecocomplete.

 

[zig]

Oh, my second biggest worry after getting the money... what do you do with 200 lbs of aquarium gravel???

Maybe start another aquarium

 

[donkey]

you could try a TROCAL PLANT TUBE. it dose say that it will inhibit algae you can find them here

http/www.newleafaquarium.com/frameset.html

 

[George Farmer]

I doubt the Dennerle tubes will be available in NZ unfortunately.

Mixing 3000K and 7000K will give a nice balance I would guess. I used to mix 3000K and 7500K with nice results although when I lost my red plants I found the overall light a little to yellow/orange for my taste.

A good tip is to use higher K tubes at the front of the tank and lower toward the rear. This creates an illusion of greater depth.

As suggested, as long as you avoid really high colour temp. then most K ratings are fine. Quantity of light and balancing this with the correct CO2/nutrient levels are more effective at controlling algae.