Tobykourtney
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2013
- Messages
- 1,347
Would a 20 gallon high with 2-13 watt cfl 6500k with a 26 watt 2700k bulb in the middle be considered high light?
I don't think you'll get high light with CFLs on a 20H, maybe medium if you reflect it really well.
You know a white background reflects 95% of the light right ? Doesn't matter TOO much if its shiney steel or white...
Thing that matters is how deep the tank is.. More light is best for deep tanks... Just an example for you... My 27g hex is much taller then your tank and I have only 3 florescent bulbs over it.. All T8's I have 1 full spectrum which is a 8k bulb... and I have 2 floramax bulbs which are pink bulbs.. "pink is best for plants" and my red neseae which are hard to keep plants are orange not "red" but they are taking over half my tank and are like 14 inches tall now... and I have a telenthara cardinalis red plant and its DEEP red and grew 10x the size in only like 2 months... No CO2..
Here are pics.. My lighting according to some people here and charts you see online is LOW lighting... yet how do you explain my red nesease growing so fast and it being orange on all the new growth... and my telenthara cardinalis (the red plant in the front left) being ruby red and so bushy ? Im not even using ferts.. The reason is because im using 2 pink bulbs... Pink is the best light to have for plants... the white/blue looking lights which are 6500k and higher bulbs... have blues and greens in them... green plants don't even use... they have some red but IMO not enough... pink is the way to go.. only problem is pink to our eyes isn't bright... that's why my 3rd T8 is an 8K bulb.. it has NO red spectrum at all so the bulb is like white when you look at it... so it makes my tank appear bright to the human eyes.
A couple of things... first I agree with Mebbid about the plants growth rate and your higher ammonia levels since your tank is recycling. Second both green and non-green plants use blue light. Pink bulbs supply a higher red spectrum but also aren't necessary to achieve color on plants. I have very high lighting in my 220g with no added rosette (pink) bulbs and I get extreme coloring on my non-green plants. In your tank par is going to be higher the closer to the light the plants get and the fact you have two rosette bulbs they also make red plants look red whereas high blue light would wash reds out. This is off topic from the original post so I'm leaving it at this.
OP you can always add a second CFL fixture if you decide you need or want more light. Also remember the higher the light the more important it is for plants to have the proper amount of CO2 or liquid carbon and proper macro and micro ferts.
I think that combo will work quite well.
And here it is
Too much yellow IMO. But that's just me.
A couple of things... first I agree with Mebbid about the plants growth rate and your higher ammonia levels since your tank is recycling. Second both green and non-green plants use blue light. Pink bulbs supply a higher red spectrum but also aren't necessary to achieve color on plants. I have very high lighting in my 220g with no added rosette (pink) bulbs and I get extreme coloring on my non-green plants. In your tank par is going to be higher the closer to the light the plants get and the fact you have two rosette bulbs they also make red plants look red whereas high blue light would wash reds out. This is off topic from the original post so I'm leaving it at this.
OP you can always add a second CFL fixture if you decide you need or want more light. Also remember the higher the light the more important it is for plants to have the proper amount of CO2 or liquid carbon and proper macro and micro ferts.
Do you want me to Just keep my 8K light on and take another picture... ? The plants are still orange and red..
You are right about the ammonia I figured that MIGHT be and thats why I didn't add any ferts while the tank was cycling.. But prior to this change in substrate my plants were still growing fast and my neseae did lose its red and turned green but the new growth stayed orange.. Remember when I mentioned that to you like over a month ago.
If plants use Blue more then red.. why do Hydroponic farms and green houses use PINK LED'S to grow the plants... why do people who grow weed and so forth use pink... because plants grow faster. Im still going to argue this to my grave.. Your not using Pink bulbs.. but I bet your white/blue bulbs have a high red spectrum still.. Daylight bulbs tend to have that but they just have the green in them
Do you want me to Just keep my 8K light on and take another picture... ? The plants are still orange and red..
You are right about the ammonia I figured that MIGHT be and thats why I didn't add any ferts while the tank was cycling.. But prior to this change in substrate my plants were still growing fast and my neseae did lose its red and turned green but the new growth stayed orange.. Remember when I mentioned that to you like over a month ago.
If plants use Blue more then red.. why do Hydroponic farms and green houses use PINK LED'S to grow the plants... why do people who grow weed and so forth use pink... because plants grow faster. Im still going to argue this to my grave.. Your not using Pink bulbs.. but I bet your white/blue bulbs have a high red spectrum still.. Daylight bulbs tend to have that but they just have the green in them