New to Plants (Seeking Anacharis Info and lighting)

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noobydooby

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Feb 23, 2011
Messages
2
Okay, so I have some Anacharis that I would like to grow and I want to know:

1. What kind of lighting do I need?

2. Why does everyone talk about Kelvins (k) when I do searches for info and then it just seems to be about visible color (strictly an aesthetics thing)?

3. What's the difference between a CFL light bulb bought at the hardware store, that just lists wattage, from a fluorescent bulb at the petshop?

4. Can LEDs provide the lighting I need?

5. Why do some light bulbs list "full spectrum" while others don't (isn't this 'white' light)? Are incandescent lights "full spectrum" even though this isn't listed on the packaging?

6. Currently I am running a desk lamp that has a small halogen light bulb in it for about 5 hours a day. I also feed once a month a plant food tablet. Am I doing okay or do I really need to search out better lighting? Oh yeah, this is a 20 gallon "long" tank - about 2 feet in length.
 
Welcome to AA!

1. For optimum growth of the Anacharis, you should have no lower of lighting then Moderate lighting (around 2-3 watts per gallon)

2. kelvins are a measure of how our eye should precieve the "blueness" of a bulb( 5000 to 6700k is the best area for freshwater tanks).The extra blue they put out helps make up for the red that is lost by the water absorbing it, and helps the tank from looking yellowish / greenish. Anything over 6700k will make your freshwater scene look washed out or faded (the exception is a 9300k bulb from All-Glass that has special phosphors to balance out the colors, I've heard great things about it.)

3. Flourecents are long bulbs like you would see in an office building...cfl's are Compact Flourescents, same thing just the size of a normal light bulb all coiled up.

4. LED will be able to support some plant, even reef (I use a Marineland double bright LED lighting system on a moderately planted tank). They use lumens instead of watts. The only bad thing I see with them is the price, they are pretty expensive at times.....

5. I believe they are referring to kelvins when they say that, how many K does the bulb have that you seen?

6. How many watts does the desklamp hold?
 
My comments below in blue.

Okay, so I have some Anacharis that I would like to grow and I want to know:

1. What kind of lighting do I need?
Anacharis isn't really demanding. It grows thick and bushy under low-med light.

2. Why does everyone talk about Kelvins (k) when I do searches for info and then it just seems to be about visible color (strictly an aesthetics thing)?
The Kelvin rating is the color temperature. Low numbers are redder, high numbers are bluer. Plants actually need both blue and red spikes in the color spectrum, so 6700K bulbs are a good compromise.

3. What's the difference between a CFL light bulb bought at the hardware store, that just lists wattage, from a fluorescent bulb at the petshop?
It's usually just price. The daylight bulbs at the hardware store are pretty much the same as the LFS bulbs. I use daylight bulbs from Sam's Club over most of my tanks.

4. Can LEDs provide the lighting I need?
Yes they can, but the little 5mm LEDs from Radio Shack or eBay won't hack it. Take a look at the LED link in my signature. I built that fixture for my planted tank.

5. Why do some light bulbs list "full spectrum" while others don't (isn't this 'white' light)? Are incandescent lights "full spectrum" even though this isn't listed on the packaging?
Fluorescent bulbs use different phosphors to emit light in different wavelengths. Good bulbs will use more expensive phosphors to get a better spectral output. If you can find a spectral analysis on the side of the packaging, look for spikes in the red and blue regions. There's a link in my LED thread with tons of information on the spectral needs of plants.

6. Currently I am running a desk lamp that has a small halogen light bulb in it for about 5 hours a day. I also feed once a month a plant food tablet. Am I doing okay or do I really need to search out better lighting? Oh yeah, this is a 20 gallon "long" tank - about 2 feet in length.
Your photo period is a little short. Try leaving the light on for 8 hours a day and see what happens. If you're serious about plants, I would change the lighting. A pair of 18W CFLs works well on my 20L.
 
Hi,

I appreciate the help as this is all pretty new to me.

The lamp is 60 watts, and lights up the entire aquarium very well.

So kelvins is not just telling me what color of light I will see, but will help me determine which is beneficial to my plant?

If I am using a white light (being composed of 'ROYGBIV'), then that should meet my light requirements, no?

For LED lights, I was considering something like a "LED Bar Strip" Aquarium Fish Tank 42 LED White Bar Strip Light & Power - eBay (item 220688500474 end time Feb-23-11 18:22:28 PST)
 
Lighting is unbelievably complicated. There are so many measurable qualities that make light suitable or unsuitable for different situations that it's very difficult to make broad rules. We do have some rules of thumb, but they cover a fairly narrow range of lighting options. This link will help explain a lot: Aquarium Lighting; Kelvin, Nanometers, PAR, Bulb, Watt, MH, LED, Light Basics.

All white light is not equal. You really need a spectral analysis of the bulb to understand what wavelengths of light the bulb is putting out. A good plant bulb will have strong peaks in both the red and blue parts of the spectrum.

I don't think that LED bar will cut it. You'd be much better off with ten to twenty 1W LEDs instead of fifty little LEDs. LEDs that support plants aren't cheap, but you could put together a decent fixture for $50 or so. I've got about $100 into my LED fixture, but I think I could do it for $80 and I wanted to be able to support high-light plants, so I think I overkilled it a bit.
 
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