do the freshwater fluorescent bulbs for planted tanks have UVA and UVB for my turtles?? WHAT? I have read a LOT and I still don't know. They live in a heavily planted tank so I need to keep my plant bulbs. I am so confused for the love of God!:help:
History:
20 gallon long,
lotsss of lush gorgeous Vallisnaria filling the center of the tank.
lots of Anubias & Java ferns all along the sides.
TWO 24 inch T12 Westinghouse Freshwater aquarium plant bulbs I DO NOT know the spectrum 6500 etc etc, no clue (there is a commercial lighting store down the road & they will sell to the odd consumer who will go there-as it's in an industrial complex. I am in Florida and a lot of people have tanks so they keep these bulbs in stock. )
Every 8 or 9 months I'd add an actinic blue bulb with the freshwater plant bulb, then another 8 or 9 months, go back to two freshwater plant bulbs, cuz a dude at a LFS said to try it...I don't know, tank always looked great.
Fluorite substrate with some handfuls of Aragonite for the 2 snails & 2 turtles.
Flourish added sometimes weekly sometimes every 3 days
And other Ferts added per the bottle.
This tank was alwayssssss gorgeous, still is- except my two turtles ate every last leaf of my enormous many Vals over the last year and a half. I've added a Turtle Topper http://www.turtletopper.com/ they have two lamps on top of the turtle topper, one a Repto 5.0 UVB lamp and today I bought a heat lamp cuz it's getting chilly in here.
Since adding the turtle topper all plants are from the middle of the tank to the far right & the 2 plant bulbs cover most of the tank, while the turtle house is only on the left edge of the tank.
BUT LFS said, oh you have to have UVA for them too. WHAT? I could drag them in the yard for half an hour each day for some sun, but honestly I have other stuff to do. I just REALLY don't understand, and geez I'm not really totally stupid either. :iamwithst
I really love my plants in there though, they look so great and I don't only want to cater to the turtles at the expense of the Anubias and the Java Ferns. BTW the turtles are not that big they are Reeves (Chinemys reevesii )
History:
20 gallon long,
lotsss of lush gorgeous Vallisnaria filling the center of the tank.
lots of Anubias & Java ferns all along the sides.
TWO 24 inch T12 Westinghouse Freshwater aquarium plant bulbs I DO NOT know the spectrum 6500 etc etc, no clue (there is a commercial lighting store down the road & they will sell to the odd consumer who will go there-as it's in an industrial complex. I am in Florida and a lot of people have tanks so they keep these bulbs in stock. )
Every 8 or 9 months I'd add an actinic blue bulb with the freshwater plant bulb, then another 8 or 9 months, go back to two freshwater plant bulbs, cuz a dude at a LFS said to try it...I don't know, tank always looked great.
Fluorite substrate with some handfuls of Aragonite for the 2 snails & 2 turtles.
Flourish added sometimes weekly sometimes every 3 days
And other Ferts added per the bottle.
This tank was alwayssssss gorgeous, still is- except my two turtles ate every last leaf of my enormous many Vals over the last year and a half. I've added a Turtle Topper http://www.turtletopper.com/ they have two lamps on top of the turtle topper, one a Repto 5.0 UVB lamp and today I bought a heat lamp cuz it's getting chilly in here.
Since adding the turtle topper all plants are from the middle of the tank to the far right & the 2 plant bulbs cover most of the tank, while the turtle house is only on the left edge of the tank.
BUT LFS said, oh you have to have UVA for them too. WHAT? I could drag them in the yard for half an hour each day for some sun, but honestly I have other stuff to do. I just REALLY don't understand, and geez I'm not really totally stupid either. :iamwithst
I really love my plants in there though, they look so great and I don't only want to cater to the turtles at the expense of the Anubias and the Java Ferns. BTW the turtles are not that big they are Reeves (Chinemys reevesii )
