[BlueRam]

I would like to say thanks on how helpful these posts have been. Question, what would be the effects of using a magnetic ballast with starter with T5HO tubes?

While the bulb may light, the idea behind T5 is to use electronic ballasts to the fullest to maximize output for a given current consumption.

"The T5 lamp is currently designed for operation only on high-frequency, rapid-start, or programmed rapid-start electronic ballasts."

http://www.pnm.com/customers/tech_guides/PA_11.html "How to Make the Best Choice"

A Workhorse or other T5 ballast is rather easy to find. (the endcaps and bulb length are also different)

 

[waterfaller1]

Good thread.

 

[Hilde]

I found this link to calculate light need here. Anybody else use it?

 

[plantbrain]

I found this link to calculate light need here. Anybody else use it?

I think it's as useless as the prior post suggest here in this thread.
It does not measure what the plant's are receiving, you need a meter to measure that and to fairly compare light from one tank to another.
It's a good attempt however. But nothing beats measuring the plants and in the tank in question.

This also gets around brand names, reflectors, smugdes on glas,s lids or not, differing plant heights, corners, uneven lighting(bright in some places, not so bright in others) etc.........

PAR meters are relative cost effective and the data is more useful.
You may share or perhaps even rent one from another member etc, then adjust the light to where you want it.

Apogee makes a cheaper version and they are about as good as LiCOR's.
A few clubs bought one to share amongst their membership(not a bad way to go).

I honestly have never had issues with the W/gal rules, but the light has become more efficient so I've gone to lower and lower light watts over the years.

So what was once 2-3 W/gal, might be 1 or 1.5w/gal today.
A meter gets around that issue also.


Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[guppygolucky]

Confused with lighting situation

I have a 20gal tank...not an extra high or long. the hood is an eclipse 2 with 2 bulbs (18inches) that came with the hood T8-15Watts. I changed one bulb to a Plant and Aquarium (by Philips) 15Watt with 410 Lumens with a color temp of 2700K. The other bulb is a Natural Sunshine (by Philips) 15Watt with 590 Lumens and color temp of 5000K and color rending of 92.
My substrate is fluorite. i have anacharis, anubias nana, and a microsword.
Is my lighting sufficient? also if not...where do i find a local retailer that sells a higher wattage bulb.
my other question is when 6500 Kelvin is recommended...is it per bulb or combined?
Thanks for your help

 

[Church]

Kelvin ratings don't "combine." If you have 2 x 6500k bulbs in there, your lighting is still 6500k, not 13000k. That being said, yes I highly recommend you keep within the range of 6500k to 10,000k. Your 5000k bulb is close so that one may be okay (albeit a little too yellow for my liking), but I think that 2700k one needs to go. That's the spectrum you would use if you were growing fruits and/or flowers in a terrestrial garden.

I don't know much about the Eclipse tanks, much less their hoods, but I do think that 30w will be sufficient in a 20g tank, to be able to grow low light plants anyway. But you should make sure they are in the right spectrum. Pay little-to-no attention to marketing gimmicks that claim certain bulbs to be "for aquariums" or "just like sunlight" or whatever. Just simply go out there and grab some 6500k T8 15w bulbs. I personally tend to like blending 6500k and 10,000k in my tanks. It makes for a very crisp, white light, that is neither too blue or too yellow.

But this is just my opinion of course.

 

[guppygolucky]

ok. Thanks so much! I will change the bulbs from your recommendation. a 6500K and a 10000K bulb. So when i am looking at the watts per gallon. im only pushing 1.5 WPG. will that be enough?
Just for my own enlightenment. If the WPG is not really a concern...and only the K is concerned, what happens with a larger or a deeper tank?
Thanks for your time

 

[lauraleellbp]

Kelvin rating only refers to the color of the light coming from the bulb and has little to do with anything other than aesthetics when it comes to a FW planted tank.

I know there's quite a bit of discussion of Actinic light, coral photosynthesis, and water penetration over in the SW hobby, but that's not really applicable to the FW side.

 

[Church]

If the WPG is not really a concern...and only the K is concerned

These are both untrue statements, so don't get confused again. Wattage is still a concern but WPG is not really the best way to look at things. It's just a generic guideline people use for lack of anything better. And saying that only the K is concerned is also very false, because even if you have the correct spectrum, what does it matter if the light doesn't reach the plants because it's too low of a wattage?

 

[Kisho3]

:] Wow. So the higher the K the brighter it is to one's eyes. I found my answer thanks a lot!

 

[Ennio]

I would like to add that the webpage referred to a few posts back is very wrong when LED is concerned. The lumen-requirements stated there are based on non-directional sources. LED is extremely directionally focussed (usually beaming 120 degrees or less). Meaning the lumen reaching an aquarium bottom surface would be much much lower than the requirements stated on that page, yet would be more than enough for plants and the human eye.

With LED there is no loss at the back (top of aquarium) or sides, so you need no reflectors either. It is also noticeable that the light from LED does not reach out of the sides of the tank, as other lighting does.

 

[edger]

I have this light:

http://www.plumbersurplus.com/Prod/Lights-of-America-9024B-27-Watt-Fluorescent-Linear-Quad-Replacement-Bulb/98162/Cat/1037[/URL]

it lists these properties:

• Wattage: 27 watts
• Incandescent equivalent: 125 watts
• Dimensions: 5.75" x 3.25"
• Light Output: 1,860 lumens
• Color Temperature: 6,500 Kelvin

This is all on a 6 gallon Fluval Edge. Do I have enough or do I have way too much for this tank. I keep reading that if I have too much, I am asking for an algae bloom.

Thoughts???

 

[James A]

Hi..!!
The lumen and the watt are both units of measurement. The lumen is a measure of light while the watt is a measure of power.

 

[eNdoubleU]

29g

Hi, I'm new to the forums and read this entire thread and the links that were available. A few of the links posted are not working, btw =[

So, I just started a 29g tall tank, meaning 18" high. My tank came with a 20W 18,000K, I know too high =[ and I'm looking for a budget solution for lighting for plants. According to research on my plants, I need med-high lights.
I'm thinking of making a hood out of wood from home depot, then buying reflectors and using 4 spiral 27W 6500K bulbs. Is this right? According to the article by Erik Olsen, I need about 93W of lighting.

In case I'm wrong, the plants I want in there are echinodorus amazonicus, argentinensis, cordifolicus, and tellenus. Thanks.

 

[Hoppy]

Read this thread: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/85667-par-data-spiral-power-saver-bulbs.html From that you can figure out how many of what wattage spiral fluorescent bulbs you would need, with them mounted either horizontally or vertically. You would need a lot of bulbs if they are horizontal, or a lot less if they are vertical. You can't make the decision by adding up the wattages.

If you are willing to use Home Depot work lights, http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053 and 26 watt 6500K bulbs, 3 of them will be adequate.

 

[eNdoubleU]

Thanks Hoppy, I was reading that post after I posted here. It was a really good and very informative read. I am going to use verticals and by your suggestion 3x 6500K. I have also read up on the spacing and I wish I could afford a PAR meter. But I may be able to get my hands on one and fine tune it. Thanks.

 

[forddna]

I'm not very good at understanding lighting, even with the info provided. It just doesn't click for me.

Can someone tell me how 24w of T5 would compare to 36w of PC?

 

[Hoppy]

I'm not very good at understanding lighting, even with the info provided. It just doesn't click for me.

Can someone tell me how 24w of T5 would compare to 36w of PC?

A 24 watt T5HO is about 24 inches long, so it can cover a 24 inch tank very well. A 36 watt PC is about 17 inches long, so it leaves the ends of a 24 inch tank darker than the middle.

The reflector is a very critical part of any light fixture. T5HO fixtures almost always have excellent, highly polished aluminum reflectors, so most of the light the bulb produces actually reaches the aquarium. PC fixtures, other than AH Supply, tend to have much poorer reflectors, so less of their light gets to the aquarium. On a 16 inch high tank, the typical T5HO, single bulb fixture should give you about 100 micromols of PAR - high light - while an AH Supply light should give you about 70 micromols of light - medium light - and many PC fixtures would give you about 30-40 micromols of light - low light.

 

[forddna]

I'm comparing AH Supply individual reflector 36w PCs to comparable individual reflector T5s. I can only use retrofit kits inside my canopy.

 

[forddna]

The 36w reflectors from AH, if I'm not mistaken, are 22" and the bulb is 18". So how do you think that would compare with a 24" 24w T5HO with a 24" reflector?