[johnny313]

i am getting a new light today. just wondering before I spend money on something thats not going to work out. i want to know what is the best light for a shrimp tank. I am not using co2. no ferts except for excell. I do have mosses and a few plants.

stay with the T8's? or goT5NO?

The light i have on there now are just T8's. but its 48" on a 36" tank. doesnt look too appealing.

 

[HolyAngel]

I would stay with t8's. I'm using 1 reptiglo UVB 2.0 bulb on my 15 gal, it's 2xodno though so it's pushing a lil more par than normal, but the bulb is 6500k with a 98 CRI. Found it in the reptile section of petsmart/petco and I'm enjoying it much more then the aquarium bulbs I've used before, like the Hagen line.

 

[GeToChKn]

T5NO's you're going to have to raise like 2 feet above the tank unless you want to join algae city. I have a 48" light over a 30", so I just added another 12" tank on the end, now its fits perfect

36" T8's are hard to find but are made. I just use two hardware store 48" T8's, 6000k daylight. Anything in the warm spectrum is too yellow and doesn't look good. Cost like $5 a buck. Really no different than the "$25 a bulb" life-glo bulbs which are 6500k, but 6000k is close enough really.

 

[HolyAngel]

Yeah they make the reptiglo's in 36"

Oh, and do NOT dose excel. Bad for shrimps, and If you're not Dosing other ferts it's totally pointless. Stick to mosses, I wouldn't go much beyond that. Maybe crypts or other low light plants but they will probably suffer, the moss will definitely always grow though.

 

[GeToChKn]

I would stay with t8's. I'm using 1 reptiglo UVB 2.0 bulb on my 15 gal, it's 2xodno though so it's pushing a lil more par than normal, but the bulb is 6500k with a 98 CRI. Found it in the reptile section of petsmart/petco and I'm enjoying it much more then the aquarium bulbs I've used before, like the Hagen line.

They only have the reptglow 5.0's it seems at my local big al's, at least online. I may have to go in and see what they have and switch one of my T8 bulbs out for one of them.

No, I have to stay away from there for now. lol. Maybe once I do my tank upgrade, I like the footprint of the 40breeder tank and could make 5 separate tanks out of it and consilidate all my shrimp tanks into 1. I have about 42"x22" and 36"x18" would fit perfect and give me 5-8gallon sections.

 

[HolyAngel]

They only have the reptglow 5.0's it seems at my local big al's, at least online. I may have to go in and see what they have and switch one of my T8 bulbs out for one of them.

No, I have to stay away from there for now. lol. Maybe once I do my tank upgrade, I like the footprint of the 40breeder tank and could make 5 separate tanks out of it and consilidate all my shrimp tanks into 1. I have about 42"x22" and 36"x18" would fit perfect and give me 5-8gallon sections.

hmm idk about the other reptiglo's. I believe only the uvb 2.0 is 6500k and the rest are different colors and meant to be run with the 2.0 so you still get a good CRI.. not positive though.

and Yes get that turtle a new tank! I wanna see what else new you come up with! lol

 

[GeToChKn]

hmm idk about the other reptiglo's. I believe only the uvb 2.0 is 6500k and the rest are different colors and meant to be run with the 2.0 so you still get a good CRI.. not positive though.

and Yes get that turtle a new tank! I wanna see what else new you come up with! lol

hehehe. In due time. I have enough going that I should be able to get all my neo's breeding and trade for LFS credit and we'll see what the tigers do, and if my crystals get making some more babies eventually. I like my 40gal breeder idea though. In time.....

 

[gonzo.njexit9]

dont mean to steal the tread but
whats the difference between
6100k, 6500k
i have T8-18" 8000K 15W -2 STRIPS SINGLE BULB
should i change to something closer to 6100k????

 

[GeToChKn]

the 6000k-6500k is the best for plants and what is called "daylight" or what we see normally with basic sunlight. Soft-white is the lower 3000k range, 8000k-12000k are used more on coral reef tanks to give more of the blue color they need. The main thing is does it work for your plants and does it look good to you?

When I tried the 3000k softwhite bulbs, everything had a ugly yellow tint in my tank.

 

[mordalphus]

I use t5 nos for all my tanks and don't have a bit of algae. 10k bulbs are best for looking at your crs and red shrimp.

 

[Jorge_Burrito]

I agree with the above, I think 10k bulbs give plants and shrimp, especially red shrimp a really nice hue.

 

[HolyAngel]

Eh, I was going for most accurate color representation, the 10k bulbs all usually have a lower CRI, so you're not seeing everything you could as it actually looks in sunlight.

 

[Bandit1200]

+1 for the 10k bulb. I went thru a lot of different spectrum bulbs till I got the 10k. May not be "accurate", but it's my preference.

 

[astrosag]

Also color temperature has more to do with aesthetics than photosynthesis. Choose a color temp you like and you'll be fine.

All of you with your 6000k and 10000k are going to make me go through a ton of bulbs to get the right look lol.

I was actually thinking of having either two 6500K bulbs or 6500k/10000K and add some moonlight leds to add the blues. You think that would work as well as the actinic bulb i currently have with my 6500K?