What kind of bulbs should I get?

[Southwestern]

I have a 100g tank that I wouldn't call "planted" but it has plants. I have been dealing with algae problems and one of the suggestions i got was to replace the bulbs. The ones I have are 6 months old now.

I have 2 T5 80 watt bulbs, 6500 degrees Kelvin. I don't know if they are "HO" - should I get HO?

Should I replace with the same?

Thank you!!!


P.S. As an update for anyone that helped in the past... the algae is barely under control. I scraped tons of it off rocks last week. My water is balanced and phosphates are at 0. I feed once a day and definitely not too much - I keep thinking I'm starving the fish. My goal right now is to get these plants up and running. Then add more. I'm in that uneasy state where I am watching to see if I can get the plants to grow.

 

[hage0245]

What kind of plants do you have?

The setup you have now should be fine. I'm guessing (please someone correct me if I'm wrong) that your bulbs are HO based on the wattage. I wouldn't replace them unless they blow out.

Are you running CO2 at all? If not, I would suggest supplementing your tank with CO2 and that should help with the algae. What kind of algae are you dealing with?

About feeding your fish....the extra fish food and waste produced by the fish should provide a fertilizer of sorts to your plants. I would continue feeding once a day.

Do you use any liquid fertilizer? What is your substrate and do you use root tabs? Do you dose Excel?

 

[Southwestern]

I'll try to answer what I can...

I'm not sure what the names of the plants are except that I have a sword, anuba (sp?) and crypts. There is at least one other but I don't know its name. It's very common and grows quickly.

No CO2 running. But I have been dosing with Excel every few days. Actually alternating Excel and Flourish.

Kind of algae... Everyone seem to have a different theory on its type. It's green, covers the rocks and appears fuzzy. It also attacks plants.

Substrate is 100% Seachem flourite. Should be good for the plants, right?

In terms of lighting, my latest approach is 5.5 hours of electric light in the evening plus the mild, indirect light it gets during the day. It's dark from 11:30pm to 6:00am.


I don't want to drag you and everyone back into my algae problem but if you have some advice, I'm always open to it. I did get advice that said the bulbs become less effective over time. One person said 6 months, the other said one year. I don't know if that's correct.

 

[Riiz]

That is actually plenty of light, maybe too much without the addition of CO2. T5 bulbs should be good for 12 months+ and some do run them until they die.

But I would increase Excel dosage to every 1-2 days and cut back Flourish dosing to maybe once per week. Next, I would look into increasing the amount or frequency of water changes that are preformed, as that can influence algae growth too.

 

[ValorG]

6 month old bulbs are not your problems, yes lights do become less efficient with time but bulbs would be the last thing I look at when having an algae problem. Have you tried spot treating with h2o2 or ODing on the excel.

 

[Southwestern]

I can do that with the Excel.

I was doing HUGE water changes every week but I was told that was probably a bad idea. I have reduced to about 50% change every 10 days or so. I have two Filstar XP3's running on the tank which should provide plenty of filtration.

I appreciate the help! I'm going to watch this in case of other opinions too. Thank you!

 

[jetajockey]

I would not OD on excel, it can be a killer.

What are your tank dimensions? and how long are the lights?

At this point I think you might have too much light and not enough plants/co2/ferts to compensate.

 

[hage0245]

Would it be possible to post pictures of your tank and the algae? Your lighting period is quite short, which is interesting since I would assume that would repel algae. Sorry but I can't really tell you whether or not to change your bulbs since I know little about T5 lighting fixtures other than that they are quite efficient, reliable, and long-lasting, depending on the quality of the bulb.


Everything you explained describes an ideal low-tech planted tank. Your plants are easy to care for, your substrate is good, and your lighting is good. Back to your original question, 6500K bulbs are the best for a planted tank. As far as the algae goes, I can assume that's a matter of a lack of CO2. Have you considered getting pressurized CO2 at all?

 

[Southwestern]

6 month old bulbs are not your problems, yes lights do become less efficient with time but bulbs would be the last thing I look at when having an algae problem. Have you tried spot treating with h2o2 or ODing on the excel.

I didn't do the spot treatment approach because there was just so much of it! I ended up scrubbing a lot of it off, siphoning it out and changing the water. So, right NOW it isn't totally out of control but I think it's coming back.

 

[Southwestern]

Give me a minute and I can post a picture of the tank.... but without the algae. I scrubbed so much of it off. I can post a picture so you get an idea though....