rotala wallichi

[shalu]

Here is a pic of my r. wallichii among other plants.

[Buck]

Originally Posted by surfnvb7

Also, I have read on some other sites about keeping them under 10k lights.

That is very true... the first photo with the angel is under an 18,000k 20 watt bulb that I used to use just to hang out in front of the tank at night.
Anything 10,000k and up will really show off the reds and pinks of plants but for overall use in a tank it will make the fishes colors seem very strange, at least thats what I think. They are great "part time" bulbs... like I said, I would shut off all lights and turn on a single 20W 18,000k bulb and melt in my chair...

But yes, red plants show there best stuff in a higher K bulb !

[Buck]

By the way... nice lookin wallichi Shalu...

[shalu]

Thanks, Buck, not as good looking as yours It struggled for a LONG time before it made amends, glad I did not throw it out. Same thing for r. macrandra and r. magenta. Now all rotalas are weeds.

[surfnvb7]

So do the red plants (willichii, macrandra, magenta etc) just look better under 10k? Or do they actually grow better under 10k? Does this have any positive/negative effects on the other green plants?

I have 4.3wpg along with the other goodies. Would you suggest to switch out my main bulb, a 6,700k coralife PC bulb (34") to a 10k bulb? I'm also running a 30w "nutri grow bulb" on another strip, and I have room for another one in the same strip, but then I'd be up at ~5wpg on my 30g.

Last question...isn't an 18k bulb almost actinic? Didn't think bulbs like that had any benefits to plants.

Thanks for your input.

[surfnvb7]

BUMP...any advice/suggestion/ideas?

[shalu]

Well, I don't pay much attention to bulb color, I use 5500K, 6700K, 10000K and the red plants are red anyway.

[wonder woman]

I switched 2 of my 4 tubes from 10,000k to 9325k, and noticed that not only are the reddish casts of some plants more noticeable, but the redder plants also do better. Straight 10,000k light is very blue/green

[shalu]

I tried 9325k for a few months, and decided I did not like the artificial red coloring of everything(can't tell if plants really grow any differently), and switched back to 6700K. Now the tank is a mixture of 5500K, 6700K, and 10000K.

[wonder woman]

Hmmm...
I have a combo of 9325's and 10,000's. I thinks it's a really nice balance- greens look very rich, yet reds pop as well. And fish colors are very nice. I couldn't see the 9325's as giving off an "artificial" red cast, but maybe that's because I balanced them with the cooler 10,000's.

[shalu]

guess beauty is really in the eye of th beholder To tell you the truth, my wife hates the red coloring much more than I do, the main reason I switched back. That's the least I can do after she allowed me to spend so much money on the tanks.

[wonder woman]

I guess when you've got such big, colorful fish (like a Marlboro red discus?), you kind of want the plants to be a nice, cooling backdrop. I like a lot of variety in color, size, and texture in my plants, because my fish are relatively small.

[shalu]

Well, when the SnowFlake discus swims under the GE9325K, my wife would say:"Look, the snow white is now all pink, I want my snow white back!" How can I say no.