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best bulbs?

6K views 8 replies 7 participants last post by  Jeff5614 
#1 ·
I have a 75 gal. tank with a Tek-light HO T5 lighting system (4 lamps @ 54 Watts ea totaling 216 watts or 2.88 wpg). Would that be considered medium, high, or very high lighting? Which types of bulbs would be best for growing plants? Right now im running two powerchrome midday 6000k and two powerchrome actinic +..would that work? I'm using eco complete substrate and i'm waiting for the rest of my co2 supplies to come in. I've always wanted a planted aquarium as a show piece, but couldn't even get the easiest plants to survive. With this setup, i believe i'm on my way to success. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Mike:fish:
 
#2 ·
Plants cannot use actinic light, so essentially, you only have 108 watts instead of the 216 you think you have. This means that you have 1.44 WPG, and not 2.88 WPG as you originally though. This would put you around the low light region.

If you can find replacements for your actinic bulbs, and can bring it up to 2.88 WPG, you will have medium-high light.

Definitely with that kind of lighting, you will need CO2 as well as a regular fertilization (both macro and micronutrient) regime.
 
#3 ·
Four 54watt T5HO bulbs in a Tek is much more than "medium-high," I'd call it very high. Just two of the bulbs is pretty much equal to when I was running four 65w PCs! Pressurized CO2 is mandatory with just two bulbs running.

Actinic light does provide useful PAR according to the tests I've seen, but it's just so UGLY on a freshwater tank. That alone should be reason enough to avoid it. Thankfully the actinic+ is a blend, so it's less ugly than it could be.

I recommend the combination of Giesemann Aquaflora and Midday bulbs. They look amazing and are on my list when I replace the bulbs for my 48" Tek on my 75g.
 
#5 ·
x3 on the Giesemann Aquaflora/Midday combo.
When i needed a couple replacement bulbs I finally gave in to all the hype and tried the Giesemann combo. I have to say they lived up to all the great comments I had read beforehand. I'm liking them so far, and so are the plants.

Welcome to TPT btw.:proud:
 
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