Plants avoid my T5's and go to my T8's ?

[candymancan]

My 27G hex has 4 lights on it.. Its a 25 inch tall tank.. 24 inch waterline but 25 inches tall..

I made a plexiglass hood for it, and removed the old 13 inch t8... I have the aqueon 24 inch duel t5 Normal output lamp in the middle.. It has a 6700k daylight and a pink colormax on it..

And then I have my 55g's 2 24 inch t8's on each side of the t5 lamp.. I have pink Floramax bulbs in them.. Now I know plants love pink lights better then white or blue 6700k-8k full spectrum or daylight bulbs... But the t5's daylight has red and blues and it has a pink bulb.. I would have never guessd this to happen..

But my plants are curving towards the the 2 t8's on the sides.. Its weird.. youd figure the t5's would put out more energy for them but I guess I was wrong.. they prefer the t8's..

Any idea's ?

Also it seems like half the plant is dying where the t5's are touching and the otherside with the t8's isn't... Is the t5 too strong ? what is it doing to my 2 plants here.

 

[Rivercats]

Plants don't prefer roseate bulbs over fuller spectrum bulbs. As I stated in a similar thread "Plants use color in the red and blue ranges. A roseate (650 nm) bulb really doesn't have a color temp., it is just a good bulb to add more light from the red spectrum." Plants grow best when provided with a spectrum of both blue and red. If you want to optimize plant leaf development (blue light) and stem elongation and color (red light) you need light in both the blue and red spectra for photosynthesis.

In my 220g tank with very high lighting (metal halides and T5HO's) I used only 6000K bulbs and no roseate bulbs and plants grew great and had outstanding color on non-green plants.

T8 and T5 bulbs have about the same light output, both are NO (normal output). If you had T5HO's (high output) they would be stronger.

 

[Sk3lly]

Completely agree with rivercats.

Plants use the varying parts of the colour spectrum for various parts of their growth.

Red plants actually reflect the red light instead of using it. Hence why they appear red.

OP, Rivercats really knows her stuff and is full of useful knowledge. In my experience you cannot go wrong when following the advice she gives out


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[candymancan]

Pink bulbs are red and blue, where do you get that information from rivercats... Pink is red and blue combined...

And what you just said doesn't answer my question on why my plants are avoiding the t5's.. If the Daylight bulb is so great why are they curving to the pink lights instead of sitting under the daylight bulb

FYI Full spectrum bulbs don't have any red's

The daylight bulb might have more of a range of color's but the relative energy is quiet low compared to the Floramax bulbs. I know you know your stuff rivercats, but the pink bulbs do have blues... they in fact have the same blue in the 430ish nm range.. And they have much more red's,,

the daylight simply has more green and orange hense why its bright..

You and a few handful of others are the only ppl I know who refuse to use pink bulbs lol.. Look at this shot.. All of my color'ed plant are red/purple.. I just got the ludwigia so ignore the green it was like that when I got it but the new growth is red. Im not using co2.. EVen my tiger lotus curves its stems to the t8 pink, they avoid the daylight all together

The only difference I see the daylight having is slightly more blue at a lower energy..

 

[Brookster123]

Rivercats is right, she's always right.. do you have any Windows by the tank? Perhaps in the direction the plants are leaning??

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[Sk3lly]

I know its not t5 or t8 but this is my FULL SPECTRUM led fixture. Looks pretty complete in terms of colours to me


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[candymancan]

Rivercats is right, she's always right.. do you have any Windows by the tank? Perhaps in the direction the plants are leaning??

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Always right never happens im sorry.. No windows

 

[candymancan]

View attachment 250935

I know its not t5 or t8 but this is my FULL SPECTRUM led fixture. Looks pretty complete in terms of colours to me


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Your right it isn't a florescent bulb.. Full spectrum bulbs are all blue and green 0 red.. Im not disagreeing that THE 6700 daylight isn't good for plants, but I personally believe the Pink is better.

Fluorescent Aquarium Lighting: Aqueon Full Spectrum Daylight Fluorescent Lamp

 

[BillD]

Your right it isn't a florescent bulb.. Full spectrum bulbs are all blue and green 0 red..

Sorry, not true. Full spectrum means all colours. Regardless, tubes are different, and colour temp alone will not tell you what wavelengths a tube is strong in. However, if a tube has a high CRI , one can reasonably assume, it has most of the colours covered. My experience over the years is that tubes in the 5000K (my preference) to 6500K will grow plants significantly better than the pinkish "aquarium" tubes. I believe that is because they have far more light output. In some cases almost double.

 

[Sk3lly]

Full Spectrum, surely the clue is in the name??


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[jetajockey]

Flow has a factor in the way the stems sit as well. Also, with limno hippuroides, I've noticed that they sometimes have an issue growing straight up as the stems get really tall. I believe the weight tends to make some of them slouch over.

 

[Sk3lly]

Flow has a factor in the way the stems sit as well. Also, with limno hippuroides, I've noticed that they sometimes have an issue growing straight up as the stems get really tall. I believe the weight tends to make some of them slouch over.

I have this problem with my limnophilia love the leaf structure. Hate the weak stems


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[Rivercats]

I have this problem with my limnophilia love the leaf structure. Hate the weak stems Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

The limnophilia I have under the metal halides and T5HO's actually get thick heavy stems that grow straight. Only younger/newer stems have softer more flexible stem in that tank. I have noticed in the 55g the stems don't grow thick and sturdy when grown under a 6000K Giesemann Midday bulb and a Giesemann Aquaflora bulb. But they did grow straight. I also found that slightly crowding the stems when planting will also help them to support each other but it can also cause lower leaves to drop due to lack of sufficient light.

 

[Sk3lly]

The limnophilia I have under the metal halides and T5HO's actually get thick heavy stems that grow straight. Only younger/newer stems have softer more flexible stem in that tank. I have noticed in the 55g the stems don't grow thick and sturdy when grown under a 6000K Giesemann Midday bulb and a Giesemann Aquaflora bulb. But they did grow straight. I also found that slightly crowding the stems when planting will also help them to support each other but it can also cause lower leaves to drop due to lack of sufficient light.

Hmmm maybe I'll stick with them in my new scape


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[Rivercats]

I had to go on my old computer to find this but hopefully it will clear the air about Kelvin rating, spectrum, and wavelength in nanometers bulbs emit. Most all bulbs except for those at the extreme end of the color spectrum have amounts of both blue and red. Higher rated bulbs have higher blue spectrum but still emit some light in the red spectrum. Just as lower K rated bulbs still emit some light in the blue spectrum.

Lighting Spectrum and Photosythesis - Lighting - Aquatic Plant Central

 

[Mebbid]

Sorry, but it looks like your plants that are "bending away" from the t5s are actually bending to get the most exposure from it. The leaves I see in the t5 side look quite healthy while the leaves on the t8 side look rather ugly.

Think of it this way, if a plant is straight up then all the leaves will be shaded by the leaves above it. If its bent even a little, it will sacrifice lighting to half of it while greatly increasing the light to the other half.

Rivercats plants grow straight up due to the overwhelming intensity of her lighting.

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[Fishperson]

My opinion is that they grow outward to gain the full effect of the light. If they grew straight up they would only get light from above (mostly). Growing to the sides, IMO, gets them the most light and shades (and thus outcompetes) other plants.

Just a theory.

Edit: ...and mebbid already said that lol.

Anyway yeah I agree with mebbid that has to be right.

 

[aqua_chem]

I'm with the 'limnophila just does that' group on this one. It never grows straight up for me.

Also,

Sorry, but it looks like your plants that are "bending away" from the t5s are actually bending to get the most exposure from it. The leaves I see in the t5 side look quite healthy while the leaves on the t8 side look rather ugly.

Can't say with limnophila, but rotala will definitely pull that on you under high enough light.