lighting sugestion please

[muskieswen]

Simply put, 55 gallon planted tank with community fish. What lighting recommondations as far as how many lamps, watts, color, specific lamp etc. Loosing some red colors down at the deeper levels. If I pull up the plant and float it for a day the red comes back. What lamps whould you use?

[djlen]

This is not a matter of Kelvins. It's a matter of wattage.
2x55 will probably not give you enough penetration for many red plants.
I would go at least 3watts/gal. or possibly a bit higher for reds.
If it was my tank I'd go with 2x96.
Kelvins is a subjective issue. For a natural look I like 5600K.
I just bought a 20watt/2700K for my little 5 gal. and it does a good job of growing plants, but I really dislike the yellow light it throws.
Kelvin rating is a personal opinion thing.

Len

[muskieswen]

dglen,
thanks for the advice. I will bump it up to 3 or more watts and give it a try.

[djlen]

Just remember to keep a close eye on the tank after increasing light and adjust nutrient dosing to correspond with increased light.

Len

[promethean_sprk]

I've got 2 T12 and 2 T8s over my 55. That's a little over 3wpg and it grows ammania fine and makes some of my l. repens beet red. I'd have to ODNO to get any more light as 4 48" tubes cover the entire top of the tank.

The t8s are 4100k and the t12s are walmart plant lights. I really like the T8s, and feel they're probably the best bang for your buck as far as lighting goes considering useful lumens/watt and installation and bulb replacement costs. The 4100k bulb has a very good CRI and makes the plants and fish look good.

[muskieswen]

promethean_sprk,
What wattages are your lamps that you can get over 3watts per gallon? The t-8's as far as I know come in 32 watts and the t-12 comes in 40 watts, thats only 2.6 watts per gallon. I have the same setup only different color lamps. I have 2 32 watt t8 10,000 k and 2 40 watt t12 at 18000 k. I think I need to get more of a red spectrum.