What color compact Flourscent lighting?

[DoctaQ]

the 28k bulbs are meant for terr plants, they would cause algae in a tank

i used a 5.5k bulb and it worked great, until i stopped doing co2

 

[jrawebb83]

5500K isn't too bad, but I prefer higher if I can get it. I've had lo-light plants do fine at 5500K.

Home depot around here carries several nuvision lamps in "daylight" which is 6500-6700K. Look for the blue package. While you're at it, get ones that are "UL listed for wet location" I know they carry a 14W wet location in daylight.

Put the light on a timer, they are on sale for ~$4-5 at HD now. I'd start with 8 hours ON if you have algae issues.

Now to get slightly off topic:

Anubias is a VERY slow grower...It will grow in almost NO light so I doubt that is the entire problem. Be sure to prune the yellow leaves promptly.

The crinkled aluminum foil is a shock hazard waiting to happen...plus it's probably not THAT great of a reflector. I suggest spray painting (Krylon Fusion) the inside of the hood white instead.

x2

Especially about the aluminum foil. Use some white spray paint, high gloss. It will work way better as a reflector.

 

[richardhmc]

Well, today I was walking around the city and there were at least 10 light shops. I have never seen so many light shops right next to each other but thats besides the point. So anyways I walked into all of them and all of them had 6500k as the highest. When I told them Im looking 6700k and its kind of hard to find, one of the workers was trying to tell me that there was no such thing haha. so is there a difference between 6500k and 6700k? does that 200 have a huge impact? also, i noticed those lights were incandescent. Does it have to be florescent? Thanks!

 

[DoctaQ]

definateley try to go for compact fluorescent

it puts out 4 times as much light and half the heat

a couple hundred in color temp doesnt make much of a difference, even 55k to 65k is indistinguishable unless they are next to each other

 

[trigiver01]

Oh - the floraglo lights, which specifically state "freshwater planted aquarium" run at 2800k, claiming the best photosynthetic range. Now I'm sad because I bought them.

 

[richardhmc]

so I can just buy the 6500k bulbs and I'll be fine with any plants right?

 

[vampie]

I usually use 5500k to 6700k simply because of aesthetics.. I've used 2700k bulbs as well and didn't really see any drastic difference in growth. I just wasn't a big fan of the yellow color.

 

[DeeDeeK]

The color of summer sunlight at noon (when the sun is most directly overhead and has the least atmosphere to penetrate) is approx. 5500K. Anything from 6000K and up is actually bluer than natural light gets above water.

The higher the color temperature, the greater proportion of it's output is in the upper end of the spectrum. The lower, the greater proportion is in the lower end of the spectrum. Since chlorophyl absorbs red wavelengths AND blue wavelengths it makes sense that bulbs which provide plenty of both would be best for growing plants under.

Diana Walstad tested a bunch of fluorescent tubes and found GE cool white to be very competitive with gro-lux and other brands. So perhaps GE cool white has close to the optimum spectrum?

I got stuck with a 12000K PC tube when my 6700K burned out and I couldn't find anything else. My plants seem to like it just fine - so I guess if there's a mixture of red and blue frequencies, the plants'll like it pretty well.

 

[Canuck]

I've used the plant and aquarium bulbs, they work just as good as any other bulb and better then some I've used. I saw absolutely no evidence of increased algae growth compared with any other bulb I've used. If someone has scientific data to the contrary maybe you could provide it. Granted they do produce a purple/pink light that many may not find pleasing. K is highly over rated in importance by a large number of people. The plant gro bulbs actually do provide the spectrums that plants use and as noted their K values are nowhere near sunlight. The k value represents what the light looks like to the human eye and may or may not contain the best spectrums for plant growth. Granted a cool white may be marginally worse then other bulbs but the difference between a 5500k, 6500k or 6700k bulb will be indistinguishable as far as plant or algae growth. If the anubia leaves are yellowing, the most important problem you should be dealing with is your nutrient deficiency, which in turn will cause the algae problem your suffering from.

 

[richardhmc]

Thanks for your inputs and clearing the color temp issue. So now I'll just stick with my CFLs and see how they do and figure out a reason why my plants aren't doing so well