Lights suitable for plant growing

[Bellshill Belgians]

Hi there,

In the New Year I am planning a new tank. I have a 6 foot tank, 50cm high, 370L. I want to plant it with a south east asian theme (crypts, tiger lotus, rotala, java fern). I would like to try t5 lighting on it (my other tanks have t8s). I saw these lights for sale on that site

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =340649828

Would some of the plant gurus please give me an opinion on suitability. Seems like a lot of light for a reasonable price. I have also been looking at the Hagen glo t5ho as an option.

Thanks for your time

Joanne

[SamH]

Make sure they come with tubes and if so, what K rating/colour temperature.

Remember you have to balance all that light with CO2 and nutrients too...

(viewtopic.php?f=2&t=48813&)

[Warren]

I had really good success with the Philips or Sylvania brand TLD965 lamps (T8). If you have access to electrical wholesalers they are about $16ea for a 5 footer. You can pay $60+ at a pet shop but don't need to for good quality plant growing lamps. I used 8 x 58W 5 foot and 8 x 18W 2 foot lamps on my planted tank + CO2 + constant nutrient injection - looked almost like an Amano tank but not quite. You can also get the fittings cheap from a wholesaler but you'll need to know how to wire them up (safety first...)

The best colour temp for plants is 6500K. Colour 96 (vs colour 86) are the best compromise for colour rendering of the fish and spectrum for the plants. Depending on the type of plants you want to grow, the depth of your tank and efficiency of the lamps (some put out twice the lumens of others) you'll need between 0.25 - 1 Watt of light per litre. I was using about 0.5W of light per litre but none of the plants I used needed really strong light.

I also had really good success with metal halides but you'll need an open top on the tank to use these. With the amount of UV light that comes out of them you have to be careful what the light falls on. I managed to fade the side of my speaker and couch... And, you have to be very careful for sunburn (well lamp-burn in this case). The UV is so strong about 20 minutes give you a really red arm!

I wouldn't recommend metal halides if you are just starting out.