What is the best T5 ho light

[fishfanatic]

I have a 35 gallon tall tank it currently has a marineland reef led on it. Last night i had a crazy idea to put my old t5 on there to give the led light some help (it does not give a lot of the red spectrum) What would be the best t5 bulbs i could possibly get for my tank (i am new to plants)

 

[fort384]

Is it T5 or T5HO? What length is the fixture?

 

[fishfanatic]

It is an HO. The fixture itself is 36 inches long the bulbs are 34 inches long

 

[fort384]

You have a single bulb T5HO fixture? Odd.

Any bulb that is 6500-10000K will suffice. It will provide peaks in red and blue.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Geissman and ATI seem to be the two highest rated

 

[fishfanatic]

It has two bulbs.. sorry about that. But because the tank has very little room on the top the t5 will have to hang off the back just a little. should i just use one bulb that would be over the tank?

 

[fishfanatic]

Some one online told me to get a Life-Glo bulb (my fixture is "Glo")

 

[fort384]

depends on whether or not your ballast will run with just 1 bulb in... some won't.

I am not down with all the life-glo and power-glo and etc.-glo bulbs. Just look for something that is 6500K-10000K and you will be fine. I think the life-glos might be 10000K but google could tell you for sure.

 

[fishfanatic]

if i remember correctly the life glo it 6700K. Would this make my tank a solid medium light tank?

 

[fort384]

Honestly, I am not sure on the specs with the marineland LED fixture. But, it is probably right around medium.

 

[fishfanatic]

What lights do you run on your 29 gallon tank?

 

[fishfanatic]

would i do good to add something like this Current Usa 36" TrueLumen Pro LED Strip Light W/Canopy Brackets (Power Supply Sold Separate) - AquaCave

 

[fort384]

I ran 96W of T5HO on it.

Add that in addition to what? The other LED or the T5HO fixture?

 

[fishfanatic]

I would add it to the led (it probably would not do a thing to fix my lacking of the red light)

 

[fort384]

I think it would help... I can't speak intelligently though about where that would put you (i.e. medium/medium high, etc). It does look as though it will provide red/blue spectrum based on the color temp the provide, but would rather see a breakdown on it to be sure.

I am behind the curve on LEDs. I need to do more reading.

 

[fishfanatic]

if i keep my leds and put the t5ho fixture on my tank am i going to have algae problems. do you have any tips to get algae off of plant leaves ( algae seems to suffocate my plants and makes the leaves die)

 

[fort384]

You might... if there is any nutrient imbalance, extra light will exacerbate the problem.

What kind of algae are we talking about? If it is green spot algae, you can rub the leaves gently between your fingers... if it is particularly bad, a quick seachem excel dip will help loosen it up.

If you are having algae issues, I would try and get that under control before adding more light...

 

[fishfanatic]

about a week ago is when i replaced my t5ho with my led light and the algae seems to be much better (no more red/brown algae has appeared) now i am just getting the nice soft stuff that can be rubbed off very easily. As for my vals i cant rub them because i can feel the leaves cracking every time i touch them. Should i just leave them be?

 

[fort384]

yeah, and trim the leaves that get real bad.

Some amano shrimp would help out with that (but still look for nutrient imbalance issues, which might be another thread).

 

[fishfanatic]

a man at the LFS suggested that i get some cherry shrimp and they would clean off the leaves of the plants. is this so? And would my fish eat them?