Has anyone ever looked in to using hydroponic lighting for their tanks? There is a shop near me that sells hi power T5s and powerful LED lights at a fraction of the price that are used to grow plants (probably cannabis too!)
Hydroponic lights
- Thread starter Adamski
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Macscale
Aquarium Advice Addict
Yeah it's not good. They use a different color spectrum for the horticulture industry. A lot of red and yellow, which will just grow algae..
Sillyfishies
Aquarium Advice Addict
You could replace the T5 bulbs.
Mebbid
Aquarium Advice Addict
If you are looking to inceease your light level I would be worried about the reflectors being sub par on a hydroponic unit. Ideally they should be a mirror finish.
Sillyfishies
Aquarium Advice Addict
Isn't white suppose to reflect better? If so a spray can paint job would suit you well.
Mebbid
Aquarium Advice Addict
White kind of reflects. But not very much, shine a flash light into a mirror and then a white wall and see how much reflection you get. Basic reflectors will be the cheap crappy plain white plastic or painted metal. Better reflectors will be a non polished piece of metal. The best reflectors are either well polished pieces of metal or mirrors. Between the 3 standard types of reflectors they will all have different light intensities underneath the bulb. That's the prime difference between different flourescent light fixtures of the same power.
The hydroponic led light I picked up for a FW planted tank is lots of reds and only very few blues.
jetajockey
come get me tang police!
Hydroponic lights work great for plants, hence why they are used to grow plants. The red/blue/white combination varies from product to product. Generally speaking, aquatic plants have the same needs as terrestrial plants. The issue is in the aesthetics, they typically aren't all that great to look at.
Whichever ones you end up looking at, just have a good look at them in operation and try to envision whether you'd want your tank to look that way.
Whichever ones you end up looking at, just have a good look at them in operation and try to envision whether you'd want your tank to look that way.
There is a DIY section in the BML website where you can put in LEDs for each spectrum and see the spectrum change/loss by depth. Quite fun to play with.
I'd agree they can take a lot of getting used to, especially if very high in reds.
I'd agree they can take a lot of getting used to, especially if very high in reds.
TheTodd
Aquarium Advice Addict
Blue/white is what I have. Prices have really gone down the last year too. SuperMart on eBay had them $125 each last year around the holidays (when I got two) and they are close to $75 each now. I'm thinking of getting four for my 240g now.
Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice
AdamsAquarium
Aquarium Advice Freak
Not true that those "red or blue" lights cause algae. Aquatic plants need a good mixture of reds and blues. Normal fluorescent bulbs have both of these but you need a 2/3 ratio of reds to 1/3 blue. You probably will not see the reds of blues but it is on the bulbs descriptions. The reason for it is the reds need to be a longer wavelength and the plants absorb it faster than the blue, which is what gives it it's color. But when the red is not absorbed as quickly as the blues are, that's when you start to promote algae growth.
Sent from my SM-N900V using Aquarium Advice mobile app
Sent from my SM-N900V using Aquarium Advice mobile app
Macscale
Aquarium Advice Addict
Not true that "red or blue" light won't cause algae. If you were in the Freshwater section, that'd make sense but this is in Saltwater and it's a bit different. (It was originally posted in salt because it was supposed to be a cheap alternative for coral light). Too much light period will promote algae no matter the spectrum.
Red, Yellow, and Green that make the 6,500k look will promote algae more. You also need excess nutrients though.
