High Temperature Lighting for Planted Aquaria

[PhishNeslo]

Hello everyone,
I am new to the board, and am very excited to be here. in michigan where i live, no pet stores carry fertilizer or gravel without epoxy, and expert advice is not redily available. i am in the process of setting my my dream tank, and have the substrate bed, driftwood, and river rocks in place, and am in the process of installing the lighting. I am using two 250 watt 10,000k metal halides to light the tank and two small algae scrubbers/return dumps from the sump. My questions are as follows:

1) are any types of plants, or biopes in general, more suited to the type of lighting provided by a 10,000 k bulb?

2) what experiences have people had using similar high intensity/high temperature lighting? I read a post about someone using 18000K bulbs for enhanced colors w/o detriment to the plants, but was curious as to the intensity used.

a CO2 delivery system is in the sump and is governed by a ph probe connected to my computer, and any information about a similar setup would be appriciated. untill now, all my CO2 fertilization has been in conjunction with home beer brewing.

Thank you for your time and patience with newbies like me. i swear i read a lot of posts before i writing anything myself. sorry for the long message.

phil

[GulfCoastAquarian]

Welcome to the board, Phil. Just about any plant will do well in that sort of lighting, as freshwater aquatic plants tend not to be finicky about spectrum as much as intensity. Thinking generally, that type of lighting is found in intensely lit tropical areas in deeper waters (where red and green light is mostly filtered, leaving bluer light). Most Amazon river plants aren't found at greath depths, but the one's found at the bottom such as E. Tennullus would definitely do well in that type of lighting.

[PhishNeslo]

just for an update: i am currently running two 175watt 10000k mh pendants on the tank as the sole lighting, untill i get some more co2 flowing. i have noticed that my planted are getting lanky, mean and lean looking with long internodal distances (almost 2 inches near the tops of my wistera). i think adding some intense yellow/red light when i add my co2 will make things more fluffy and pretty. i was thinking of a 250 watt hps bulb over the middle of the tank to light some floating plants or something, because i know those are supposed to make plants grow fruit and flower, so i think they will make my plants bushier. any idears?

phil

[GulfCoastAquarian]

That's a very common combination and inexpensive to boot so I think it's worth a shot. The combination of color temps might look even more appealing. You're approaching 7 watts per gallon with that setup, though and even with CO2, algae is still going to have a field day. At the very least, cut down those 12 hr photoperiods to 10-11 at the most.

[PhishNeslo]

i want to have ten watts per gallon. i have been reading that thread about overdriving N.o. flourscents. if i get a couple of electronic balasts, can i overdrive the ceiling fixture i have mounted under my 48x18 tank? there are four bulbs in there with normal balasts in them. do i need special endcaps or fixtures to overdrive? i am switching the 30 gallon with a 55 gallon, so the system overflows from the 90 gallon on top to the 55 gallon on bottom, then goes through a big flow-thru canister and is pumped back to the top tank. i think i might put the 30 gallon in the series and fill it with some duck weed or something else that grows fast and light the hell out of it. MORE POWER!!!

[GulfCoastAquarian]

You're a guy after my own heart, haha. Us Tim Allen types are never satisfied! Yes, you could upgrade your ceiling fixture's magnetic ballasts to electronic ballasts. You could use the existing fixture, endcaps, etc. You would need four ballasts, though, at $20-$25 a piece.

[PhishNeslo]

four ballasts? i thought i could do it would two, if each one was made to power four bulbs normally.

[GulfCoastAquarian]

To overdrive a bulb to the same intensity as a 55watt PC, you'd use all four outputs from one ballast to drive a single bulb. You could also overdrive it as you said, with two ballast, each bulb receiving two inputs, but the results are no where near as dramatic. I did it this way and I'm going to buy another ballast so each bulb can have its own ballast, being driven 4x.