New 600g Setup

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Trouser Cough Trouser Cough

Hey TB. Hope you had a good Easter. So what do you think of this one? bulbs It's cheaper, I'm pretty sure it's outdoor rated, up to 50w, and dimmable.

So if you don't mind let's chat about my other tank(s) for a minute. I'm using a G5 Aqua Star Coral Reef / Marine fish. this one I have this on both 55g tanks. Shelby's is painted black back, with a black bare bottom. The other one is painted black back, with black sand. The one with the painted black back and black sand generates a ton of bright green algae between the 7 day wc gap. Yet the other one literally gets none. I have the lights set to the exact same settings though so this makes no sense to me. The manual reads as followed:

Channels | color of the led chips
A | 14000k cold white
B | 45nm Royal Blue+457nm Dark Blue
C | 430nm Violet Blue+470nm Blue
D | 420nm+410nm Purple
E | 3000k warm white
F | 500nm green

I have it set to the following:

a=100 b=0 c=0
d=0 e=10 f=40

I'm just totally confused as to how the two tanks, only difference is substrate, and the one gets massive amounts of green algae. Is it because the black sand is reflecting the lights or something?..... I mean, she has a ton of snails in her tank but I can't fathom they do so much work they're removing every single trace of green algae before I see it. That's just not realistic. I'd see SOME.
 
The tank with the sand substrates has more nutrients. The sand may be releasing some silicates, it is also trapping debris like uneaten food and waste that could release phosphates and other nutrients that algae will use to grow.

The tank with no substrate is going to remain cleaner as the waste gets trapped by your filter and cleaned out with your water change.

Also, that bulb you’re considering is very yellow since it’s 3500k. For replicating sunshine in aquariums, most people go with 6k-10k lighting.
 
Jon M said:
Trouser Cough Trouser Cough

Hey TB. Hope you had a good Easter. So what do you think of this one? bulbs It's cheaper, I'm pretty sure it's outdoor rated, up to 50w, and dimmable.
Click to expand...

That's a 6 watt lamp that they're saying will put out the equivalent of a 50 watt incandescent lamp. It probably wouldn't do much at all for your application.


Jon M said:
So if you don't mind let's chat about my other tank(s) for a minute. I'm using a G5 Aqua Star Coral Reef / Marine fish. this one I have this on both 55g tanks. Shelby's is painted black back, with a black bare bottom. The other one is painted black back, with black sand. The one with the painted black back and black sand generates a ton of bright green algae between the 7 day wc gap. Yet the other one literally gets none. I have the lights set to the exact same settings though so this makes no sense to me. The manual reads as followed:

Channels | color of the led chips
A | 14000k cold white
B | 45nm Royal Blue+457nm Dark Blue
C | 430nm Violet Blue+470nm Blue
D | 420nm+410nm Purple
E | 3000k warm white
F | 500nm green

I have it set to the following:

a=100 b=0 c=0
d=0 e=10 f=40

I'm just totally confused as to how the two tanks, only difference is substrate, and the one gets massive amounts of green algae. Is it because the black sand is reflecting the lights or something?..... I mean, she has a ton of snails in her tank but I can't fathom they do so much work they're removing every single trace of green algae before I see it. That's just not realistic. I'd see SOME.
Click to expand...

We're outside my depth when we start talking about portions of the light spectrum that would accelerate algae growth but I'd wonder about a couple things just because...

- Do both of those tanks have identical nitrate levels just prior to a wc?

- Do both of those tanks have the exact same fixture, same power supply, and are the same age?

- Do you have a UV sterilizer on either tank?

- Does the tank w/ the sand appear to reflect more light than the bare bottom tank? Ambient light is hugely reliant on reflectance factor.

But as far as individual settings for specific lights intended for aquarium applications... there's somebody else here that would probably be far better at parsing that than I. Sorry.
 
phreeflow said:
For replicating sunshine in aquariums, most people go with 6k-10k lighting.
Click to expand...

We all see differently. Colors, brightness, etc. so in a way a lot of different answers can still be correct for different people's vision. An example of that is that technically there's not even a color called sunshine as all outdoor lighting conditions during daylight hours result in different light color based on cloud cover, etc.

Be that as it may, my vision would not consider 6k-10k to be in the realm of sunshine. As an example, 10k would be similar to those annoying purple-blue headlights that some people buy not realizing that they won't show contrast during poor driving conditions. Not like a little bit purple-blue... 10k is at the extreme end of that spectrum and representative of the odd headlight you see very rarely.

To me I would normally see comfortable light as somewhere around 3000-3500. 4000 would be closer to the light you'd find at an industrial facility and more inclined to promote a feeling of heightened awareness. 5000 would be more of an inspection light color w/ sharp contrasts and what might seem to some to be uncomfortably stark.

Here are examples:

Color Temperature (Kelvin)

Color temperature is a characteristic of visible light and is stated in units of absolute temperature, known as Kelvin (K).
www.westinghouselighting.com www.westinghouselighting.com
 
That turned out pretty sharp! If you've got any pair of lamps you can screw into that (like to regular old 60W old school light bulbs as an example) we can probably get you into the realm of what might work better based on how you describe the light. Too much, too little, too yellow, too white (or blue), etc. Any pair of lamps you can stuff in there will give a place to start from and we can convert lumen output from incandescent to LED, etc. Got any pair of lamps laying around that would do the trick?
 
phreeflow said:
Also, that bulb you’re considering is very yellow since it’s 3500k. For replicating sunshine in aquariums, most people go with 6k-10k lighting.
Click to expand...

I need to apologize for having misunderstood your previous post, P phreeflow . For replicating sunshine in aquariums you are absolutely correct and my understanding is that somewhere around 7k kelvin is about perfect. To my eye that wouldn't look like sunshine but from the plant's perspective it's as close as you can get.

I've also seen some marine guys using lamps in the 10-20k kelvin range as it provides light but IIRC it doesn't provide UV within the band necessary to grow marine algae.

My apologies if I misunderstood your prior comment.
 
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Trouser Cough Trouser Cough - ya I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! I'm plugged in some bulbs I had laying around. I'm not home ATM but when I get home I'll post the bulb details and we can go over it. It lights the tank literally perfect, well see if it's similarly perfect when it's filled. I assume the water may minority effect the lighting as opposed to how it looks empty but it does appear to exclusively light the tank and not the surrounding area of the room. It does look more yellowish than white but I don't know if that's maybe me looking at the tan under the tank since I haven't added sand yet. I'm thinking I'll leave no substrate while we plumb, then drain , add substrate, and refill.
 
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