Archivarium 2004

WRX_STi · New Members Joined: 09 May 2005

hi, I have a 30 gallon hex..I want to replace stock bulb..my local stores have agua-glo and power-glo ..which one is better? I'm using this combined with a coralife mini light that has 9watt 10,000k and 9watt true actinic blue. would I be better off with color max by coralife? I can't find any 10,000k for a 15" so my options are limited any sugg?

benedictj · Advisors Joined: 05 Dec 2004 Location: new york, ny

I can't comment on either of those bulbs, but I would say that you'll want to get rid of the actinic. They do very little for plant life. Generally, actinics are for saltwater tanks.
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Best,

Jake

Taratron · Benefactors Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Location: AZ

I have actually found that UVB lights (made for reptiles) work wonders in my freshwater tanks. Admittedly, all of my plants are low light ones.
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But if you tame me, then we shall need each other....You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.
~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Neon · New Members Joined: 07 May 2005 Location: Russia, Moskow

And why, do not want to use special lamps for sea aquariums? Such as Marine (Hagen) Surprised

mark 45 · Regulars Joined: 12 May 2004 Location: Venice FL

I like the new Hagen Life-glo 2 bulbs. they are 6700k.

Mark

Darkblade48

2la · Benefactors Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Location: St. Paul, MN

People are mixing up color temperature with wavelength and spectrum. Light being rated at greater than 10,000K does not at all make it impossible to be utilized by plants.
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benedictj · Advisors Joined: 05 Dec 2004 Location: new york, ny

2la · Benefactors Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Location: St. Paul, MN

benedictj · Advisors Joined: 05 Dec 2004 Location: new york, ny

*speaking more clearly*
I can certainly admit I may have been speaking in generalities, but factually speaking, actinics are extremely inefficient at providing sufficent levels of spectrum. It is especially important to point this out, since for the purposes of this thread we are talking about an obstensibly deep tank (hex) with less than one watt per gallon.

Plants growth is commonly thought to be more of a function of red light than blue (and again, for the sake of clariy, not in a binary sense), so to get the output at which an actinic produces adequate red light, you'd have to use an extremely high wattage. Here's a thread that illustrates this much better than I can personally spell it out. See plantbrain's comments at the bottom.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-1026.html

I guess I just don't understand why, when a 5 to 67k can produce the necessary spectrum, at a far lower wattage than actinic, why anyone would advocate using them (not that that is what anyone here is doing). Sure, it might provide an aesthetic function on some tanks or serve as compensation in a tank lacking in the blue spectrum (?), but in terms of overall functionality in most cases it just seems lacking.
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Best,

Jake