Giesmann midday vs aqua flora?

[Ellenquacker72]

I have a Hagen glo t5ho single bulb ballast. I purchased a zoomed flora sun bulb at the local Big Al's. I'm not sure if thee is something wrong with my ballast or the bulb or something, but the lighting was horrible, dark and pink and just made everything look brown and the plants weren't benefiting from it at all. So I switched it out for a NO 6700k bulb temporarily. The only plants I have in there right now are java ferns and they grow new leaves but then die soon after. So I am hoping to get a giesmann bulb and hope things work better. But I'm not sure whether to get the aqua flora, which might be pink and disgusting like the florasun, or the midday which might look better but not grow plants. Any suggestions would be appreciated, this is over a 20g high. Thank you!

 

[Rivercats]

I use the 6000K Midday Geiesmann bulbs in my T5HO fixture and they make the plants look the best color IMO. I won't use any other bulb. The AquaFlora will be much dimmer and have the same effect as the bulb you used before.

 

[aqua_chem]

The issue with redder bulbs is that they don't have heavy emissions in the region of light that is most appreciated by human eyes. They have more light in the blue and red regions rather than in the yellow/green region that the human eye readily detects. The problem is that plants "see" more light in the red/blue regions, so these bulbs are in fact better for plants. The color changes you saw we're probably optical effects of the change in spectrum (especially green plants for the reasons listed above) rather than a physical/biological effect. Most often people use two bulbs to provide green/yellow light that balances out the plant bulb, which is a luxury that you don't have with a single bulb fixture.

The midday bulb is around 6000K (somewhat warmer than the 6700K bulbs). Aquaflora is more similar to the flora bulbs you used previously.

 

[Ellenquacker72]

So the midday would be ok 100% sure? I've bought so many bad bulbs and things that its getting a little ridiculous

 

[Old Scales]

+1 on the Geiseman 6000K. I used zoomed 5000k & 6700k, one each in a dual fixture over a 29g for about four months. Went to both geiseman 6000k and my plants started noticeably growing better. Especially my HC Cuba that was at the bottom of the tank.
OS

 

[Ellenquacker72]

Awesome hopefully this will be the last time I have to try a new bulb!! Thanks you all!

 

[aqua_chem]

Honestly, if you're just growing ferns and whatnot, I'm not sure that a midday is such a great option for purely financial reasons. There are similar 6700K range bulbs for half the price. For you it will come down to a purely aesthetic decision, not so much a practical one. If you like the 'warmer' light, then it's a good choice. If you like the 'brighter', daylight color, other bulbs will work fine.

 

[Ellenquacker72]

I just don't want to buy a 'lower quality' brand and have if possibly fail. Have people had good results from the zoomed 6700 or 10000k bulbs?

 

[aqua_chem]

What exactly do you mean by 'fail'?

 

[jacpr233]

IMO I would buy a dual bulb fixture and buy a midday and a aqua flora. These are the best bulb in the market. They r pricy but worth the money. I have a 72 gal tank and I'm only growing dwarf baby tears with this bulbs. I'm running 2 of each. I'm doing the dry start method in this picture