Bulbs best for plants?

[Hawkins409]

I have a 48" 4x54 watt light (T5 HO) with a cooling fan that I've had for about 8 months. It came with two Actinic bulbs and two "10kk" bulbs. When I bought it, I immediately replaced one of the Actinic bulbs with a Flora Sun 5000k.

My plants are not thriving. Could my bulbs be better?

 

[aqua_chem]

Considering the amount light you have and the appropriate spectrum, I think you should consider other potential causes if your plant problems.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Actinics don't do anything for plants, so I would replace it. When I did high lighting on my 75G a few years back, my fav setup was a couple of 10k or 12k bulbs, and the rest were 6500k. I was also running 520W and CO2 on it. Growth was CRAZY!!!

 

[Rivercats]

With that lighting what do you use for ferts and do you use CO2 or liquid carbon? One or both of them are most likely the reason your plants aren't doing well.

 

[Hawkins409]

Hello again Rivercats! I'm using liquid carbon daily. For Ferts I'm using Flourish root tabs and Aqueon Liquid Aquarium plant food daily. I've saved the link you gave me to try dry Ferts.

 

[Hawkins409]

And I'm fighting hair algae that's forming here and there on the gravel, plants, rocks and driftwood.

 

[Rivercats]

You really need to give serious thought to using dry ferts with that lighting as the plants need more nutrients under higher lighting.

Also something about the liquid carbon... how much are you doing daily as in how many ml to each gallon (forgot what size tank you have). When using liquid carbon in high light tanks you actually need to use more than the standard dose. It actually says that on the Excel bottle. The higher the light and the more plants you have the more liquid carbon you need. That is one reason I use the cheap Glutaraldehyde. Or you might want to consider going to pressurized CO2.

 

[Hawkins409]

Rivercats, can you post a link to the specific type of Glutaraldehyde that you use? When I Google it, it comes up with a bunch of things with Glutaraldehyde in it in different percentages, etc.

Yes, you had me with "go dry Ferts" from the beginning. I've read a lot about them and think that's the direction I'll go. My hesitation was that I didn't know if I wanted to buy bulk plant Ferts if I didn't know I could do it. I love gardening and the creative side of this hobby, but growing plants under water is completely foreign to me.

 

[Hawkins409]

Whoops. Rivercats, I forgot to actually respond to your question. I have a 75 gallon tank. It is very lightly planted now. I'm using 15 ml/day API liquid carbon, dosing in the morning about 1 hour after the lights come on.

 

[Rivercats]

Rivercats, can you post a link to the specific type of Glutaraldehyde that you use? When I Google it, it comes up with a bunch of things with Glutaraldehyde in it in different percentages, etc.

Yes, you had me with "go dry Ferts" from the beginning. I've read a lot about them and think that's the direction I'll go. My hesitation was that I didn't know if I wanted to buy bulk plant Ferts if I didn't know I could do it. I love gardening and the creative side of this hobby, but growing plants under water is completely foreign to me.

This is what I normally buy... Glutaraldehyde Cold Sterilization Solution 14 day 1 Gallon: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific. But they are sold out right now so I did alot of research to find the Metricide 14 at the cheaper price of $20 per gallon. I finally found a medical supply house on line that I got a case of 4 at $18 dollars a gallon and shipping was pretty cheap. My total ended up being cheaper than even the Amazon price. Metricide 28 can be used also. Just be sure to throw away the activator bottle that comes with the gallon of glut. You mix the gallon of glut with 1-1/2 gallons of RO water. Just be sure to store all Glut in complete light blocking bottles. I kept old gallon Excel bottle to use.

With as much light as you have you should add some more plants and utilize the light-ferts-liquid carbon. You probably don't need more glut with only 12 plants but if you add alot more plants you will probably need more.

I would get rid of the atinic and put a pink bulb or 6000K bulb in. I actually removed my 10K bulbs and went down to 6000K. The light may seem dimmer to the human eye but it's the color spectrium that is important to the plants.

You can spot treat the hair algae with Hydrogen Peroxide or Excel. You have a 75 gallon tank so can pull up 14-21ml of either HP or Excel in a needless syringe and slowly squirt the algae. If you have alot you can treat an area a day until all is treated. The Peroxide might work the best in the gravel. Just be sure to turn off your lights and filters for 15 minture while treating. The algae starts dying off ususally within 24 hours.

Also only run your lights 6 hours due to algae and the small number of plants. You can also remove the atinic and only use 3 light which right now will still give you plenty of light.

 

[Hawkins409]

Goodbye hair algae

 

[Hawkins409]

In case anyone reads this later and has the same question: Here's what I've learned from this discussion (which is consistent with what I was told when I just bought a replacement bulb today) is that although actinic bulbs might help bring out color with the fish, plants don't really benefit from them. The 10,000k bulbs are not necessarily bad for plants, but that bright white light is not in the ideal spectrum that plants need. Instead, for plants, you're looking for pink or something in the 5000k to 6,700k range. Some like to mix it up a bit by leaving an Actinic in there, others like to stick with just the bulbs ideal for plant growth.

I think as I replace more bulbs, I'm going to transition over into using only bulbs ideal for plant growth.