Thinking of uping lighting

**Countrylovin4evr** · 01-26-2012, 03:01 AM

I want to up my lighting just a bit to help with my plants. Right now the stock lighting is like 6700 k on a 29 gal. I know it gets down to substrate as my sand gets darker about an inch down- and fish swimming close to bottom cause a shadow up to 1 in below sands surface.
I found at petsmart a "plant light' for aquariums and I think its like 8000k. Since I'm sticking mostly with low light low main. plants (I am not co2 savy) would that be enough? Will it help my current plants any or is it really just over kill? I guess I'm asking is it too much or too little or just right if I'm not going to be doing co2 or lots of ferts (I'm planning on getting some stick ferts and I have a small amount of ecocomplete in with play sand)
Currently I have a moss ball that has boomed with the eco sand under it (I spread it out over a driftwood and stuck a bit of eco between) and a wisteria that grows a bit then gets eaten by mollies and grows more... and an anubis that seems to being doing well though no extra growth. Though I understand they are slow in water and I've had it 3 wks max. I'm planning on more of those plants and some java ferns and maybe an onion. ANyway- thoughts and suggestions would be great. I don't want anything that will make me change or add to hood. the one I found is just a strip lighting like I have only brighter and 'for plants'. There is a similer one that is 'best for color'- what would be better? Not sure what the color one's k was.

**Brhino** · 01-26-2012, 04:34 AM

you are confusing color temperature with light intensity.

A K number like 6700k or 8000k refers to a specific spectrum of light - as in, what colors when combined make up the light that is output by that device. Technically it's the temperature (in degrees kelvin) of an idealized object that would emit the spectrum in question.

So, 8000k is not more light than 6700k, it's just different colored light. I believe 6700k is pretty ideal for freshwater plants as is. If you want more light, you need to increase the total intensity of your lights. This can be done by adding more bulbs and/or switching to more efficient bulb types (ie using T5 instead of T8 bulbs).

**pjaldave** · 01-26-2012, 05:16 AM

if you saw that light at petsmart, i would assume it is the Aqueon Floramax if i remember it correctly.

it says it is for a planted tank, but then i beg to disagree. it has more of a blue color, which is good for plants btw, but low intensity. Tried it in my tank and saw the bottom part being really dark.

i say, if you're going with one of those light bulbs specifically for plants (ie floramax or flora-glo) i recommend adding another light bulb with full spectrum (6500-6700k).

**Countrylovin4evr** · 01-26-2012, 05:20 PM

Oh- well good thing I asked then. I didn't do well in science obviously. lol Yes it was an flormax thing or similar one I believe. So the color enhancement one would be the same. Has anyone tried it and seen how it did with plants and brightness? I have no idea what my light is - t5 or t8 or whatever... will go look now. lol. I love the blue color look I always have- but I don't want to dump my brightness if it makes it worse. But then I don't plan on doing floor covers really. I love them, but don't think I could get them to work for me. I may not be able to get a bulb yet anyway, but probably a great idea to have another so when one burns out I'm not $20 out in mid paycheck you know? Thank you.

**pjaldave** · 01-26-2012, 06:23 PM

color enhancing bulbs are the same as floramax and such. most have 14000k spectrum and is really not good for your plants. had it for about a month and i noticed my plants aren't growing. soon enough i changed to 6700k and now i see my plants growing faster than ever.

so same advice, if you use these kind of lighting, it will work as a supplement lighting. meaning you need another bulb around the full spectrum for it to work for the plants.

btw, i think for a 29G, it would be a T8 rather than a T5.