lighting information wanted

[remm]

Well, here's my experience. I have a planted tang 75 gallon. I have a Current Orbit 4x65w CFL light with the lunar lights. I have Java Fern and Valisneria in the tank. The plants are doing better than ever with the current light setup, but I am finding that I need to add CO2 and/or more plants. Too much light and not enough plants = algae.

That being said I love the lighting fixture. What is neat is that I run the 6500/10,000 bulbs during the day and the dual actinic at dusk...it kind of looks like night.

What I find is that the actinics bring out the blues but the daylight bulbs are much warmer feeling. My thoughts are to goto a dual actinic/daylight bulb and scrap everything else altogether.

 

[crazyclowntang]

Remm I think you have too much light. You have 260watts total light output on a 75 gallon tank. That is about 3.5 watts per gallon. Too much light if you ask me. Try taking one bulb out, that would give you 2.6 watts per gallon, and then see what you get. Also remember that t-5's put out much more light than regular t-8's. A 32 watt t-5 bulb actually is way brighter than a 32 watt t-8 bulb.

 

[ltrepeter2000]

He is using a compact fluorescent fixture, still brighter than a T-8 but not as effective as a T-5. I dont know what fish you have in the setup but it cant hurt to add more plants or change your cycle time...How many hours are you leaving the daylight bulbs on for? The actinics can also encourage algae growth so you may want to consider cutting back on the time that they are on as well.

 

[crazyclowntang]

Ok I did not see the CFL next to the description of the light fixture. Even though the CFL's are not as effective as t-5's, 260 watts I think is overkill for a 75 gallon tank.

 

[ltrepeter2000]

If there are only four bulbs, I am wondering if he has two dual actinic and one 65 and one 10K if thats the case he probably has uneven lighting in the tank. If thats the case he only has 130W of lighting during the day. One of the reasons I asked what kind of tangs were in the tank is to determine if he is trying to have a planted tank or a fish with plant backdrop, sounds like the latter since he is using really hardy plants. This would let us suggest a different bulb combination.

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

I have the 260 watt CF light over my 90 gallon planted tank. Its not a heavily planted tank, and sometimes even 130 watts can be enough to produce algae. The daylight bulbs are combination 10,000k/6500k spectrum. The second pair are dual actinic. From the description it does sound as if he is using 2 lights during the day, and then actinics for dusk effect. Without adding more plants, reduced lighting or more frequent water changes may be needed.

 

[crazyclowntang]

One more thing is that you really don't need actinics for freshwater plants. Actincs are more for reef tanks. Corals, anemones, clams need the "blue" color. The deeper you go into water the reds and yellows of the color spectrum are filtered out and you end up with more of a blue color. Most freshwater plants thrive best with 6500k-10000k lighting. I would leave one actinic and two 6500k and one 10000k.

 

[danger_chicken]

Crazy - I'm using 10k MH I'm thinking of changing it to 14k or 20k. I'm pretty sure the 20k has a blue hue to it does the 14k?

 

[ltrepeter2000]

The higher you go the more blue you will get

 

[crazyclowntang]

The higher you go the more blue you will get

This is true Danger. Why do you want to switch to 20K? I will suggest buying a reeflux 14k bulb. I find it has the perfect balance of blue in it. It is very crisp and it seems to be the only real 14k bulb out there. With this bulb you don't need to supplement with a actinic bulb. A lot of people will buy other brand 14k bulbs but they always supplement with a 50/50 t-12 VHO bulbs to get the right "blue coloration. With the reeflux this is not necessary.

 

[danger_chicken]

I've seen africian tanks with the blue tint that looked awesome. I hate the look of actinic floro's it looks sterile to me. So does the 14k actually have a blue tint to it? I'm interested in purely esthetics.

 

[crazyclowntang]

Yes 14k does have a blue tint to it. 20k would be the way to go if you want the most blue.

 

[danger_chicken]

thanks, I'm not sure how much blue I want

 

[crazyclowntang]

I like the 20k bulb but I think its way too blue for freahwater tank. But that is just me. That is why I would go for a Reeflux 14k bulb. Just enough crisp blue color.