Plant growth with fluorescent lighting

[FreshyFresh]

This is my unheated 55gal tank. I keep a 4ft T8 fluorescent shop light type fixture sitting on the glass tops for lighting. I only run one of the two 48" T8 tubes. This tank does get some indirect daylight from a window close by.

My point of this is, depending on the plants you keep, you don't need fancy lighting or a fertilizer and CO2 adding regimen for that matter. I don't do either. I've had to harvest bucket loads of anubia and java fern out of the tank from time to time. I've gotten most of the java moss out of there at this point.

 

[FJB]

I agree completely. Two of my planted tanks (yes, low light plants) are lit exclusively with fluorescent bulbs.
I do have other tanks with LEDs (Finnex planted), and these allow other plants.
What I like best about the fluorescents is the yellowish/greenish tint they give to the aquarium. I love it and believe it is friendlier to te fish. In general, my Finnex are just a bit too bright and a little towards too white.

75g, 2 48" fluorescent


120g, 2 36" Finnex Planted (LED)

 

[FreshyFresh]

Looks great!

It's a ~5000K range T8 lamp I use in my fixture. More on the "daylight" range, but like you say, definitely still has some yellows/greens to it. My fixture also has a 10000K lamp in it (came with the fixture), but I keep that lamp unplugged. That lamp is super purple/blue as you could imagine. I did run them both for ahwile, but was getting black beard algae on the plants. This fixture is plugged into a lamp timer that stays on for 8hrs/day.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I have mostly T-8s. I do have a few power compact T-5 lamps as well. I am more concerned with the CRI rating of bulbs than anything else. I have a supply of the Zoo Med Ultra Sun T-8s on the shelf with a CRI of 98 are 6500k. The have a rated life of about 10,000 hours. I was worried that they could stop making T-8s over time.

There are other color rendering indexes available that are more modern and use more colors in their determination. But I am happy using CRI.

Can’t tell the difference between the black and navy-colored socks in your walk-in closet under your old fluorescent lights? Could be that the current lighting source has a very low CRI level. Color Rendering Index (CRI) is a measurement of how natural colors render under an artificial white light source when compared with sunlight. The index is measured from 0-100, with a perfect 100 indicating that colors of objects under the light source appear the same as they would under natural sunlight. CRIs under 80 are generally considered ‘poor’ while ranges over 90 are considered ‘great’.

High CRI LED lighting renders beautiful, vibrant tones across the full-color spectrum. However, CRI is only one measurement for light quality.

from https://www.flexfireleds.com/color-rendering-index-cri-and-led-lighting-what-is-cri/

 

[FreshyFresh]

I think it's wise to stock up on quality T8 lamps if you can find/get them. Especially the German made Zoo Med Ultra Suns.

Keep those older T8 fixtures as well. Any ballast or fluorescent lamp hardware you get today is really cheaply made.

 

[Pinkey]

I've been away for a few years as I let my tanks grow out and do their own things. It is really great to see you're still here. It's nice to "see" you again.