light fixture

[fishdud]

Where can I buy a good cheap light fixture that'll fit a 36 g bowfront to mostly grow plants. My bday is in 8 days and wanna be growing high light plants. Thanks

 

[BillD]

Consider that if you have high light, you will also need CO2 injection.

 

[fishdud]

Yeah ha I'm aware of that.

 

[jetajockey]

define cheap. The low end would be the oddysea fixtures on ebay.

 

[fishdud]

Cheap as in no more than $200. My t5 Nova extreme cost me $105, I think from Amazon but can't find any

 

[jetajockey]

have a look around at catalinaaquarium.com and fishneedit.com , if you plan to go high tech in the future then you definitely want to get a high quality fixture.

 

[fishdud]

I'll have a look. Do you know if the aqueon t5ho fixtures from petsmart are any good? Jw

 

[jetajockey]

i think those are T5NO fixtures, they are okay but not if you plan to go high light.

 

[fishdud]

You sir have just saved me from buying that cause that what I was planning on getting. Anyways, fish need it let you choose your bulbs, I want all pink right?

 

[jetajockey]

If you like the color pink, sure, but if you just want good plant growth you'll be fine getting daylight (~6500k) bulbs. I think both fishneedit and catalina let you choose the bulbs, both are good fixtures with high quality ballasts and nice reflectors.

 

[fishdud]

But isn't the pink bulb used for plant growth?

 

[jetajockey]

The pink bulbs are for plant growth, but it's not absolutely necessary, just go with the daylight bulbs and they'll grow plants just fine.

 

[fishdud]

So all white with daylight spectrum? I'm looking for one that doesn't give me just 24 watts but that's all I can find that'll fit my tank

 

[jetajockey]

A 2x24w t5ho fixture would be plenty of light.

 

[fishdud]

That's what I'm using right now and I think its giving me 1 watt and I'm trying to you for mainly in the high two's or just three

 

[jetajockey]

WPG is not very accurate when it comes to t5 lighting. Have a look at these charts to get a good idea.

PAR vs Distance, T5, T12, PC - Updated Again Charts

 

[fishdud]

So I'm guessing my lighting is at medium low? Or around there.

 

[jeffp]

What kind of differences are there in PAR when you compare different temp bulbs? Say between a 10000k and a 6500k. Is there enough of a difference to matter, for example a 10000k+6500K might only be medium light when 2x6500k might be high light?

 

[jetajockey]

What kind of differences are there in PAR when you compare different temp bulbs? Say between a 10000k and a 6500k. Is there enough of a difference to matter, for example a 10000k+6500K might only be medium light when 2x6500k might be high light?

There is a good writeup on lighting at this site
Aquarium Lighting; Kelvin, Nanometers, PAR, Bulb, Watt, MH, LED, Light Basics.
Taken from there on PAR-

Bulbs that emit mostly actinic light will have a lower PAR (although actinic UVA still occupies an spike in PAR as seen from the graph and improves the PAR of your lighting), bulbs that occupy mostly the middle spectrum (yellow-green) such as "warm White (2700- 3500K ) will produce little necessary PAR, while bulbs that produce mostly infrared (as seen from the graph) will produce more important PAR light energy, however it is the balance of infrared and UVA that will generally provide your best PAR output.

I'm pretty sure that the PAR ratings were gathered with ~6500k bulbs since they are the most commonly used for planted tanks, but I haven't gone over the thread in depth to be certain.

One other interesting side note I ran across while perusing that link

*Planted Freshwater Aquariums: It is also important to note that freshwater algae also prefer more of the "blue" UVA light so the use of actinic blue lighting should be avoided in planted freshwater aquariums, as well the use of higher Kelvin Daylight (such as 14,000K) should also be avoided in all but the deepest tanks since higher Kelvin Daylight lights/lamp produce higher amounts of "blue" light. Otherwise many freshwater plants may not be able to "out compete" against some algae such as hair algae.