20 gallon high cfl light 2700k 6500k combo

[Tobykourtney]

Would a 20 gallon high with 2-13 watt cfl 6500k with a 26 watt 2700k bulb in the middle be considered high light?

 

[Mebbid]

It's nearly impossible to say with the CFL bulbs but it's possible. It completely depends on what type of reflectors they are. The shinier they are the higher your light is going to be.

 

[candymancan]

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.

 

[Mebbid]

Sorry I guess I should have said "quality of reflector" As for the importance of reflectors I will show this chart. It shows the different par ratings based on distance with different quality reflectors.

These may be showing t5ho bulbs but the only difference between them is the reflector quality.

As for the growth of Candyman's plants my first guess would be the 8+ppm of ammonia being experienced by the tank currently. Plants utilized ammonia more easily than nitrate which most planted tanks are based off of. Give it time and see how the lower leaves react on your plants.

 

[jetajockey]

I don't think you'll get high light with CFLs on a 20H, maybe medium if you reflect it really well.

 

[Tobykourtney]

I don't think you'll get high light with CFLs on a 20H, maybe medium if you reflect it really well.

It just has normal heat lamp domes for the fixtures with polished on the inside. I'd be happy with medium I just need a grow out tank for my 75

 

[Rivercats]

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.

 

[Tobykourtney]

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.

Yea I'm running pressurized at around 60 ppm and dosing pps pro and modifying as necessary. The 26 watt and the 2-13 watt cfl are installed and looks really nice ill post a pic when the lights come on.

 

[Rivercats]

I think that combo will work quite well.

 

[Tobykourtney]

I think that combo will work quite well.

And here it is

 

[Tobykourtney]

I think that combo will work quite well.

It's not very impressive now. It's going to be the tank I put plants that I'm trimming out of my 75 gallon so it should fill up quick.

 

[Sillyfishies]

And here it is

Too much yellow IMO. But that's just me.

 

[Tobykourtney]

Too much yellow IMO. But that's just me.

Yea I literally just went out and got a 26 watt 6500k bulb for the middle. In my opinion it's very bright. Definently medium-high light. It makes my 75 gallon high tech tank look dim.

 

[Tobykourtney]

Too much yellow IMO. But that's just me.

With all 6500k bulbs and I finally found all the clips to the domes.

 

[candymancan]

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

 

[Tobykourtney]

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

The pink grow bulbs peak in blue,red and green. It's just my personal opinion also that red plants don't use the red spectrum as much being why they are red. Just like green plants use blue and red spectrum. I think maybe that's what she was trying to get at.

 

[jetajockey]

Indoor grow lights have both blue and red leds in them. If you look at the spectrum of most daylight bulbs, ie full spectrum bulbs, they tend to have everything from red to blue, though more on the blue side as you go up in Kelvin. The reason why most people use this is simple, aesthetics. Aesthetics in a fish tank are just as important as optimal growth, something not often thought of when doing indoor grow rooms.

From what I understand, plants go red as a light related defense mechanism. And some plants will go red much easier than others.

 

[Rivercats]

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

You think what you want and that's fine but I've been at planted tanks for 30 years and you can't begin to compare what you consider very red, etc. to a tank with true high lighting and plants that get intense color a couple inches from the substrate in a 30" high tank. No one said plants use more blue light nor does red light make plants grow faster. Nor is this thread a place for you to want to argue about it once again.