Lovin Fish
Aquarium Advice Freak
Which aquarium lights offer good lighting for a low-tech planted tank while maintaining a low(er) power bill?
If the power bill is the biggest concern, then I'd definitely look into LED's. I don't have a lot of experience with them as far as planted tanks go, but their power consumption is hard to compete with.
If LED's aren't a viable option, the next route I'd go with on a smaller (<29g) tank is screw in CFLs.
Just to clarify, 5000k is a kelvin rating. Kelvin is basically a rating of light color, not light intensity. That means that a 2500k bulb and a 10000k bulb are using the same amount of energy, they just have different colors.
This is a long read, but it breaks it all down.
Aquarium Lighting; Reef, Planted Light Information. PAR, Bulb, Watt, Kelvin, Nanometers, MH, LED.
I like using the bulbs around 6700k (daylight) range, full spectrum for my planted tanks.
Actually the picture on my profile is the tank like 3 weeks ago and that's the yellowish tint I'm trying to get rid of and get a pure white light
Oh really? Gosh...see I read that read you linked me too and took notes even. But when I told my husband what I had learned he said "don't believe everything you read" and I never mentioned it again. I figured he knew what he was talking about since he has always handled the lighting in our house and is always reading up on stuff. Sounds like he might need to read a little more about lighting He's so stubborn though. I might not be able to get him to even hear me about the meaning of kelvin rating.
The yellowish tint is a lower kelvin rating on the bulb. Shoot for a daylight bulb (~6500k) for a brighter white, or 10000k for an operating room type white. Any higher than that and it'll start looking more and more blue.
Hope you figure out how to get it across to him, maybe he just has to 'stumble' on it himself. I know I can be stubborn sometimes myself, so a well timed and well placed article could work wonders.
I know what you mean about the power bill, ours is pretty high here also, for the opposite reason.
Yes, the one I linked I have bought a few of and they don't have a kelvin rating listed but I would guess that they are 6500k+, possibly higher.
And the best part with walmart is if you don't like it, it's simple enough to return or exchange it.
I get mine from home depot, but walmart does sell them as well. My local walmart fish section actually has replacement bulbs in the fish section if your hood bulb area is too narrow to fit in a spiral CFL.
This is the one I was thinking of.
Walmart.com: Lights Of America 10 Watt Mini Fluorescent Aquarium Bulb, 1ct: Fish
Watts per gallon is an outdated rule, it's really not good for much. For the most part, there's no 'too much light' when it comes to the plants themselves, so there's no real aim for a certain target WPG. I have low light plants like java moss and ferns that live fine in low light, but grow even faster in higher light situations.
So you are working with those undercabinet type t5 fixtures? I don't think I've ever tried those. It's hard to guesstimate, other than assume low, how much light you have since those are not really meant to put out a ton of light (i.e. good reflectors/bulbs). And as you have found out already, the bulbs aren't in the right spectrum for plant growth. With the cost of individual fixtures/bulbs etc it's usually cheaper just to buy a proper aquarium type fixture, something like this
36" 78W T5 HO AQUARIUM LIGHT HOOD FISH FRESHWATER PLANT | eBay
Just an example, these fixtures are ultra cheap quality but have had decent reviews and are hard to beat for the cost. There are some better ones out there for a little more, but this is just to give you an idea.
You can get a better understanding of light intensity vs distance on this link. PAR vs Distance, T5, T12, PC - New Chart