Upgrading Bulbs need some opinions

[Jnam]

I have a 130w PC fixture over my planted 55gallon tank that is 2x65w straight pin layouts. Its CO2 injected keeping steady at about 22PPM. The bulbs the fixture came with are 50/50 daylight actinic bulbs @ 65W. SO the usable light is roughly 65w not the quoted 130W. I did this on purpose when i bought the fixture i didnt have CO2 and i didnt want to deal with any algea issues. But now that i have CO2 and i have worked the kinks out. I want to upgrade the bulbs Here are my choices.

Keep the set up I have: My water is stained with tannins from my DW (on purpose) but the yellow color of the water mixed with the blue actinic gives the water a green color I dont care for. The actinic brings out the colors in my glow lights but really that is the only benefit.

Change the bulbs to 6400K daylight bulbs: I think i will get better light and color. And my plants will have more usable light. and the green color should go away.

12000K ultra daylight: Even more lumens and better depth penatration but is this to much?

The plants i have are mostly medium light plants, but i want to try my hand at a carpet effect and wish to have more light or watts really. Like i said i dont care for the green color of the water so less blue in the light the better. So PLEASE give me your opinions or wisdom on which replacement bulbs i should purchase. Or if maybe i should look at a different bulb thats not listed. I dont want to change my fixture just the bulbs.. TIA

Here is the current pic. This was taken the day i put the DW in so it doesnt show the water color very well. Also my plants on the right have grown signifigantly

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Try some GE 9325K bulbs everyone seems to love them, can be had for ~$15. They are 55w but the ballast should control them properly if they have the same connectors

 

[Jnam]

where can i purchase them?

 

[czcz]

I think the 9325K's pink and the purple it reflects of the glass will drive you crazy, though it is a really good way to (ahem) cheat and make plants look way redder than they are

I have tannis leeching into my tank as well and enjoy it. After the sun comes down (direct sunlit tank) I'll post comparison pics of 12000K and 6700/10000K (combo) bulbs if you'd like. The latter are what's doing it for me. Both bulbs (the 12000K and the combo) look great alone or in combination.

In the setup you describe, I don't think you need to worry about too much light assuming you have ferts on hand. I would add at least one fast grower and at the least pick up some KNO3 or K2SO4 (or, if you have it at a hardware supply, "Sodium Free Water Softener" is usually KCl). CO2 plus moderate light will let you grow many a pretty plant, but dosing K and N in such tanks helps keep algae away. You should also pick up a PO4 source in case it becomes your limiting macronutrient, but fwiw, my old ~medium light tanks only needed K and N to look good. We're talking like once a week dosing, regular trimming of your fast grower and water changes (nutrient export).

You can always kill one of the bulbs or change to a 50/50 to limit light if you wanted. But trimming + light dosing leads to prettier plants

 

[Jnam]

"I would add at least one fast grower and at the least pick up some KNO3 or K2SO4 "

I am dosing KNO3 i do have other ferts on hand. What fast grower might you suggest? I have been trying to pick up some kind of larger biomass that grows quickly but my local suppliers are limited (not in quatity but quality). As far as the lighting goes I would appreciate photos very much. I love the tannins but lights in the blue spectrum make the water very green in appearence...

My only question is, the fixture i have only holds two 22" +/- bulbs

bulb1 bulb2
============= ============

in an orientation simmalar to this ^
so if I use a combo will that effect the look and growth of the plants?

 

[czcz]

Rotala rotundifolia is one of my favorite plants and sometimes I think the collectoritis crowd too readily dismisses it (or go to the color variants) simply because its so readily available. R. rotundifolia is really an awesome plant and you can make it slope or bush or even bend. What's cool is a good bunch can take over a chunk of tank in a few weeks, and as you propogate with regular trims you can shape it in whatever way you want, which will come in handy when guys like jrp offer up rare stuff you want to propogate, scape, and trade. And when we mess up R. rotundifolia grows back fast anyway

I just noticed you have L. repens which will probably take off any day now, but I still think you'll like R. rotundifolia and find it the prettier more malleable plant.

I did not understand the bulb layout so please disregard I don't think a difference in color temperature with two bulbs end to end will change plant growth on either side -- in my tanks 6500K-12000K never made a difference except aesthetically.

My current tank has bulbs front and back (side by side) but my old 24" tank had 13w CF bulbs end to end and a 14" T5 across the back. When I mixed the end to end bulbs the left side did not look like the right side and the result ate away at me until matching the bulbs. When I changed the T5 (distributing light to both sides) I got cool color combos. I think front to back lighting often looks great mixed and is a fun way to mess with a tank.

Anyway, assuming you're still reading this trainwreck of a post and my babbling thoughts on different color temps, let me mention that the guy who did the Lotus and Island tank was a proponent of staggered/"noon" light schedules. In other words (and with arbitrary numbers in this example), he would light his tank at, say, 2wpg for 3 hours, then hit it with 4wpg for four hours, then drop to 2wpg for 3 hours. Some folks found this interesting then found success and believed this type of lighting let them limit algae, obtain great color, and control growth. (Other plant nerds disagreed.) So, let's say you lit the west side of your tank with a nice warm color and the east side a nice cooler color. You progress through a light cycle of left, both, right. That could be cool.

After dumping in a bunch of CaNO3 earlier today before a water change, I realize what I thought was tannis was really just suspended mud. And I need to clean the back glass too. And I hope that and my grow out phase doesn't make you disregard the thoughts above, 'cause I used to be able to grow plants before work addiction killed it along with my soul, and I really love it when people post awesome tanks. Oh, and you should notice the white of the window behind the tank. The first pic is closer to the window's eggshell(?) white when sun comes through that window.

6700K / 10000K combo bulb


12000K bulb

Anyway, HTH

 

[brutus]

i like the 6700k/ 10000k combo.

 

[Jnam]

Here is a better picture of the tannins right after i did a 50% water change. and moved some plants aroung As you can see very different. the L. repens started as a single 6" stem and now its about ten 6" stems. I am going to clump them together and replant them on the left behind the large DW after i get them a little taller. I plan on using some new aquired Rotala rotundifolia to fill up the background from the middle to the right. I reall want that heater to disapeer. I Moved my light closer to the water. I think its getting better dispersment now. The back side of the tank grows much faster then the foreground. I dont have glass tops i just have the stock double door plastic glass pieces of junk.

 

[shrek_vn2002]

i have 50/50 and i just bought 67000/10000 but i think its a little bit yellow... i dont know... if you have 2X65W IMO i would try 67000/10000 and 10000...

 

[neilanh]

I like the 6700K/10000K mix also myself. Current makes a Dual Daylight bulb that mixes the colors, I'd run 2 of those.

Compact Fluorescent Reef Aquarium Lighting: Current Compact Fluorescent Straight Pin Bulbs
22" SunPaq Dual Daylight
6700ºK/10000ºK 65W

 

[Jnam]

sound good thanks... Where could i get the current bulb from?

 

[neilanh]

the link in my post

 

[Jnam]

WOW i totaly missed that LOL. Sorry we just had a baby a month ago and sleep is not really permitted. So sometimes i am a little slow...

 

[shrek_vn2002]

Yeah... I just bought a 65W 67000/10000 from Drs. Foster & Smith and they are on sale now... They packed it very carefull and fast shipping too...