lighting help

[JakeH]

Whats about the 14000k is that only helpful for coral life or
will it benefit the freshwater plant species...

No. The blue spectrums are for SW corals. Freshwater plants prefer much lower color temperature. Most of the twin-tube fixtures I see have one 10,000k bulb for the fish & one pinkish bulb for the plants. I dont know the exact CT, but probably in the 4,500K to 6,500K range.

 

[forsaken]

so it wont work. what should i do

 

[JakeH]

so it wont work. what should i do

What wont work? Your dome light should work fine. You will probably have to get some info on the best CFL lamps for plants, though. I just bought a new Coralife twin-tube fixture from Big Al's & it came with a 10,000k for light & a 6,700K for plants. If you'd rather, just start experimenting with different bulbs until you find one the plants like...

 

[forsaken]

these ones were actaully made for plants. "daylight bulbs". ok i thought u guys were saying it wont work. I'm glad it will. the tank looks great with the bulb.

 

[mgamer20o0]

i think you are confusing your self.

 

[JakeH]

I know I'm confused... I'm glad it looks good, bro. Post up some pics.

 

[sostoudt]

ok I ended up with a 4 pack of 100 watt bulbs that are 6,500k. It is a spriral bulb. I have a dome light reflector. which is the silver ones that reflect light and make the tank brighter. So should I still get 2 domes? and use 2 100 watt lights? that seems like WAY too much. should i get 2 60watts? 2 50watts? 2 40 watts? or just stick with the 100 watt? The ends of the tank are sorta less bright. still bright just not as bright as the center. will the tank be ok with one dome? thanks.

are you sure it is actually 100 watts, and not some less wattage that is equal a 100 watts of regular bulb. usually say something like 23=100 watts or the like
i have seen 100 watt cfl before, not at a regular store tho.
i think its more likely you have 23 watt as listed above.

if they are 23 watts, and your tank is 29 gallons. i recommend you trying to get 3 of the bulbs above your tank. so you have 69 watts, that just above 2 watts per gallon.

 

[forsaken]

so comepact florescent bulbs suck? So since its 23watts=100 its actaully only 23watts which is .79watts per gallon. correct? so i need a bulb that is 100watts=100watts

 

[forsaken]

bump

 

[sostoudt]

so comepact florescent bulbs suck? So since its 23watts=100 its actaully only 23watts which is .79watts per gallon. correct? so i need a bulb that is 100watts=100watts

well no they dont suck since flourscent is what most fish tanks and plant tanks use. i would say incadscent(the regular oldscool bulbs) suck.

basically what there trying to tell people is, 23 watts of this equals a 100 watts of the incadescent. so if you bought a 100 watt cfl to replace the old incadscent for reading and regular house lighting, most people would say its 4 times brighter then the old one i had, IM GOING BLIND!


but flourscent and compact flourscent is a industry standard in aquarium and plant lights, so any recommendation you get on wattage is already for cfl or flourscent. you will never find a petstore that sells you incandscent bulbs, if they do there idiots.

i can check look for the specs on the internet, what does the package say(or name of product/brand)