lights for planted tanks

[Mindsgoneawol]

what type of light is best for freshwater plants. i am thinking about doing a retro kit with t-5's.. should i get 65k bulbs and or 10k bulbs?

[Hop]

Moreso what do you want to keep and do you plan on injecting co2?

Too much light without co2 injection=green soup

[YLChik]

we used cf light bulbs, like for your lamps - 3 over a 20L and 2 over a 10g

no co2 and no green soup

[Hop]

Yes very true There are many factors I can tell you that 3 MH over a 125 with an empty co2 tank does cause green soup quickly

[Mindsgoneawol]

i'm thinking about putting another 55 gallon tank together for a freshwater planted tank. the poor algae eater is getting too big for the 10 gallon tank. figured i would do a tek retro with t5's. i don't like the look of fixtures over a tank.

don't wanna do a soup tank though ..lol. although i know algae eater would be in heaven.

[tlgreve]

I have always used cf on my low tech plant tank. Make sure your algae eater isn't a plant eater

[Wiskey]

Amy,.. That's why I suggested the soil for you, as it breaks down it let's off CO2 to some degree - Plus your habbit of overstocking works great for CO2 additions in that tank

My most recently setup FW tank uses 1 6500K bulb, and one 10K bulb - Before that I always simply used 5500K - 6700K bulbs.

Really depending on the tank size you would probably be better off to just go get a cheap shoplight from HD using NOF bulbs. (shrug) it's what I did with my lower light planted tanks.

Whiskey

[Mindsgoneawol]

Originally Posted by tlgreve

I have always used cf on my low tech plant tank. Make sure your algae eater isn't a plant eater

well.. just using the algae eater as an excuse to put the tank together.. lol.. (after i get this reef tank done.. lol.) it actually doesn't mess with plants . (or should i say whats left of the plants i had..)

i thought about the shop lights too.. trying to figure out what it is i want to do. i would like to mount the lights to a canopy. which is why i was looking at the retrofit kits.. (i actually like the kit i got for said again reef tank.. lol..)

i have been looking up plants.. and checking out another site just for planted tanks. after doing some reading i may try out a diy canopy for the 10 gallon and use the 13watt cf (65k) bulbs like i have on the fuge. maybe even toss in a coralife 50/50 bulb in there to get rid of the yellow look.. lol.. use the 10 gallon as a test bed of sorts. (if nothing else i could look around for someone who has a pond or larger tank that could give it a home. or put in the soon to be empty 29 gallon tank)