"AQUA-GLO" bulbs too strong for anubias and java fern?

[ichimuj]

I just set up my 29g tank with an Eclipse 3 hood. I bought 2 "Aqua-Glo" bulbs to replace the eclipse lights, but after reading some posts here I think these bulbs are too strong. It says 18,000K on the packaging. I don't want algae problems...should I return these bulbs and stick with the eclipse lights that came with the hood? Apparently anubias and javas require pretty low light anyway...

[ichimuj]

BTW, the packaging advertises other bulbs:
FLORA-GLO (2800K)
SUN-GLO (4200K)
LIFE-GLO (6700K)

the eclipse hood requires 2 bulbs...what to do???

[AABatteries]

Hmmmmmm... So is this a planted tank?

[W_Oz]

AquaBison: I would assume so since they're asking about Java Fern and Anubias lighting :14:

You're color temp is incorrect for a planted tank. You want between 5,000K and 10,000K lamps for plant growth. As for everything else, you'll need to determine how many Watts (for watts per gallon or WPG number) or Lux (lux per square inch or LSI number) your lamps are throwing off. Since you have a 29 I'm guessing like 40-50 Watts with those bulbs? In which case you have around 1.6-ish WPG which is low lighting. Without knowing how many lux those bulbs can make it's harder to say. But! Since you have a tank smaller than a 50-ish gallon tank, I'd say you definitely have low lighting (since smaller and larger tanks need a higher WPG number to promote the same ammount of "brightness" in the water column because of the surface area the light is spread over).

You'll want to get more into the range of ~2+ WPG or ~15 LSI if you want to see your plants grow. You will unfortunately likely not be able to reach that number given the hood you have. This however is just my opinion.

Long and short of it. Your 18,000K lamps aren't what you want for your tank.

[invadertoast]

I had a 29g with an Eclipse 3 hood, and as far as WPG you can only use up to 18 watt bulbs in there so there's not much you can do besides buy a retrofit kit. However, I was running a single 15 watt bulb (6700k) and my java ferns and x-mass moss grew like crazy. I also have anubias which hasn't grown much, but looks great.

[ichimuj]

Thanks...the last thing I need is an algae problem. I'm taking those bulbs back. BTW, I emailed Marineland and asked about using 20watt bulbs in the 18watt max fixture. They replied that it isn't recommended but it probably won't be a problem since the wattage is so close...but I'm going to try the 15watt bulb and see what happens. Thank you for the great info...hope I can be of help to others soon!