Help with finding right lights for a 55 gallon?

PAL

PAL

AC Members
Jan 7, 2009
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Bay Area, California
Here's the tank specs:
55 gallon
2 bps of co2 (pressurized)
Regular ferts
6.8 ph
0 ammonia, nitrate-ite
3dkh

My tank currently has the following plants:
Rotala Indica (200+ stems, it's the background)
Ludwigia Broadleaf (15 Stems, sides)
Staurogyne Sp "Porto Velho" (30 stems, midground)
Marsh Mermaid Weed (4 stems, sides of staurogyne)
Java Fern (2 plants on driftwood)
Trident Java Fern (3 plants on driftwood)
Riccia (driftwood again)
HC (entire forground)

Right now everything is doing great under 130 watts of pc 10000k light however, I'm not seeing the glow of the green or the rich red that I'm looking for.
It is a Coralife 48" straight pin fixture that I would like to keep. I am building a canopy which everything would be nailed into place on. I am thinking of changing the bulbs on the coralife to 1 6700k, 1 10000k (for me).
Then thinking about getting a exocotic LED strip which is 8 white LEDs, 4 blue. Then the blue 453nm LED strip by exocotic.
However I have heard that the best way to get a good red is by 700nm light, which I can't find. Any thoughts, changes on what I should do???
 
Get some t5ho its a lot better then them pc bulbs I have 216w of t5ho over my 55g and its a lot of light. You can grow almost anything with just 108w of t5ho.
 
PAL said:
I am thinking of changing the bulbs on the coralife to 1 6700k, 1 10000k (for me).
However I have heard that the best way to get a good red is by 700nm light, which I can't find. Any thoughts, changes on what I should do???
Click to expand...
PAL:

The 6700K/10000K is a good combo (I also do not enjoy the tint from pure 6700K lighting).

A 7000K bulb will help "bring out" the red color.

TR
 
Thanks jones, vito, I really don't want to invest in an entire new fixture when I can just change out bulbs. Maybe I'll go with a 6700k and 10000k on the coralife and buy a t5ho fixture and put in some 7000k
 
http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+16770&pcatid=16770

this is a great fixture for a great price imo. that is of course if you choose to go that route.

maybe someone else has but i have not yet found a bulb that brings out reds too well for a t5 system (and i don't use pc bulbs). what i did was one 6700k and one 10000k bulb for the bright/shimmering look and good plant growth and i put a ge freshwater t8 bulb in an all glass aquarium fixture and the reds really pop now.

now this is all speculation but it seems to me the brighter light from the higher powered bulbs washes out the red/pink hue somewhat and the t8 really shows up well. i doubt it's adding anything decent for my plants but i don't need it to either.
 
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