Can plants live with these bulbs?

[Sidman24]

So far I'm just floating water sprite, but these are just the regular bulbs that came with my 10 gallon start up kit. Nothing special. Wondering if they are good enough.

 

[bshenanagins]

So far I'm just floating water sprite, but these are just the regular bulbs that came with my 10 gallon start up kit. Nothing special. Wondering if they are good enough.

I think it would be fine, water sprite isn't very demanding but if it starts to turn brown you'll know why. I have some in my betta aquarium with a single round 6700 LED fixture and my sprite went from a little clump to a handful in about a month looking green and healthy as ever. No ferts, no co2, just light.

 

[Mebbid]

Yes the plants can live with those bulbs. Some of the ones that will work best are anubias, bolbitis, java fern, and java moss. The water sprite will work in there as well but just won't grow very quickly.

 

[BBradbury]

Hello Sid...

The lamp or lamps that come with tanks only provide a little light so you can see into the tank. They aren't really designed for growing aquatic plants. Ideally, you need to get a bulb with a Kelvin (K) value between 10,000 and 6,500. Check the strip that holds the light and see if you can match the light to one in the above spectrum range.

You may just want to take out the bulb and take it to a local hardware store and get a replacement. One that's specifically for aquarium plants.

B

 

[Sidman24]

Thank you for the reply!

 

[Mebbid]

The lowest k rating those bulbs would be is 5000k which is still in range to get decent growth on plants. The "plant growing" lights are often just regular lights that are marked up because of their label.

 

[aqua_chem]

I'm kind of getting the feeling that no one looked at the picture. Those are incandescent bulbs, which really aren't very good for planted tanks for a number of reasons. You should replace them with 19-15w CFLs (the spiral bulbs) when possible. Most big box stores will sell good bulbs as "daylight" bulbs for cheaper than pet stores will sell "plant" bulbs.

 

[Sidman24]

I'm kind of getting the feeling that no one looked at the picture. Those are incandescent bulbs, which really aren't very good for planted tanks for a number of reasons. You should replace them with 19-15w CFLs (the spiral bulbs) when possible. Most big box stores will sell good bulbs as "daylight" bulbs for cheaper than pet stores will sell "plant" bulbs.

I did exactly that! I put the spiral bulbs in. Thank you!