Do I have adequate lighting for my tank?

I am some what new to keeping plants! I have attempted them for the past year, but with no luck. When I move in a few weeks, I am going to dirt my substrate, and cap it off with peat moss, and eco complete. I am not worried about the nutrients that my plants need really :)

Where I do seem to fail, is when it comes to my lighting. I have the worst possible lighting for a planted aquarium. The bulb is only 24 W, on my 55 gallon tank :/ I switch between a bulb with lots of blue/greens, and a bulb with lots of red/oranges. I think that is the only reason my plants have been surviving (not flourishing :( )

Tonight I am going to get my self some nice lights! The first is a normal double bulb T5 system. I will get 2 6700k bulbs. They both have 28 W. Here is a link:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11248153

The next fixture is a little nicer. It's a double t5 HO. I am not sure on what bulbs to get, but probably some type of daylight bulb, and a 10000k bulb. Here is the link:

http://www.petco.com/product/111939/Zoo-Med-AquaSun-T-5-HO-Double-L...

Do both of these together sound like a good combo? Or should I focus on a certain K more? or maybe an acitinic blue? Please help! Thanks!

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Hmoobthor on October 6, 2011 at 7:08pm

def go with the T5HO for your 55g.

The regular T5 is okay but it might be a bit hard to reach down the bottom of the tank.

Daylight bulb and a plant bulb combine will be fine together. daylight are 6500k while plant range from 8000k above..not sure the range are.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Tyler (scarhbar23) on October 7, 2011 at 1:41am

thanks for the reply! I am glad someone read this!

But ya, I don't think both fixtures are going to fit real well. and I came home to find my rams had spawn, so I got preoccupied with that, instead of lights.

could you maybe post some examples of what bulbs are best?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Hmoobthor on October 7, 2011 at 12:16pm

i won't know what your store carry what brand. But take down note of the bulb kevin and research it.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Tyler (scarhbar23) on October 7, 2011 at 2:30pm

Well, I guess what I am wondering , is what K will work best with the 6700k bulb. At thy range, I have some nice orange/red. I probably need a good green /blue now right? Is that near the 9000k range??

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Hmoobthor on October 7, 2011 at 3:44pm

here is what bodyblade posted:

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Lighting.html

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by ThereThereTBKON on October 8, 2011 at 11:23am

I switched to Aquaticlife T5HO lights on my 40 gallon and am really really happy with them. They come with bulbs specifically for planted tanks. When you first switch to using new stronger lights, make sure you ease your tank onto them. Start by having them on for 4 hours a day and increase the time by half an hour each day until you're up to where you want to be. You could get a real algae problem on your hands if you don't. If you want to check out the Aquaticlife T5HO lights, check out my videos!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Tyler (scarhbar23) on October 9, 2011 at 11:26am

Ha don't want to sound rude, but I found a good system at a good price too. I'm going to put a 6700k and a 6500k bulb on it.

Now I need some better bulbs for my non planted tank. What bulbs make my fish stand out most? Maybe a daylight bulb 10000kfor and whatelse?