GrahamC Posted July 15, 2012 Report Share Posted July 15, 2012 I couldn't read those articles as they link to a subscription magazine. Not sure what Tom Barr is saying ... but don't you want the plants to look their best? As I mentioned above, the OP has not qualified by what they mean by "best". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted July 15, 2012 Report Share Posted July 15, 2012 What you need to take care over is that when you buy a tube which is given a certain K rating all the light generated will not be as stated. There will be peaks and these peaks are what realy matters. Some people )eg the Dutch and the marahoochy growers have done a lot of research on what K ratings do what. We have shops here where when you enquire about what type of light is best you get an answer that would be very useful to a person growing da erb---this will grow plants wide and short and this will encourage budding. I have played with some of this info while growing Echinodorus sp emersed and have found that any changes in growing conditions (temperature, type of light and photo period) are about as usefull in encouraging their desire to propagate. I have had many conversations with Bob Ward from Redwood Aquatics who is very experienced at growing plants and has travelled the world to see the conditions many of these plants are growing in when in the wild. He always goes back to the good old days (he is another oldie) When we used to grow these plants successfully with ordinary light bulbs. The type of light in my opinion is frequently over rated but if you feel it is important you need to look at where the peaks are on the tubes you are looking for. In a previous life, when I first started growng plants there was no emersed plants in the shops and I was supplying much of the south Island with plants. The people regarded as the experts in growing plants were the Germans and they used a growlux, a cool white and a tenth of the wattage in incandescent. That is what Bob and I used when we graduated from incandescents. Worked for us both and is a lot cheaper than many lights being pushed at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amtiskaw Posted July 16, 2012 Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 There's a couple of interesting photos on this page. This is why I like the Life Glos - they have a red and blue peak, but also a strong "daylight" peak, so you get good growth and the tank looks nice. It's a good compromise in my book. Are they any better than a standard daylight tubes? Dunno, but at least I get a smug sense of nerdy justification for having thought about it a bit and convincing myself that it's worth the extra dosh for Hagens :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodKing Posted July 16, 2012 Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 Aren't all Juwel tubes all odd lengths anyway? I'm struggling to find a tube option that isn't their own brand for my Vision 180. As far as I can see, your only real options are whatever they have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoppers Posted July 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 Ok, I work in IT and some of the above posts left my brain scrambled. I ditched the blue bulb and the replacement options at the LFS were sunlight or tropical so have a tropical bulb. Luckily there was only one brand in stock that would fit. The difference is amazing. It gives out a warm light and the driftwood looks brilliant, the blue certainly washed everything out. Cheers Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 Ok, I work in IT and some of the above posts left my brain scrambled. We're just trying to reprogram your cortex I ditched the blue bulb and the replacement options at the LFS were sunlight or tropical so have a tropical bulb. Luckily there was only one brand in stock that would fit. The difference is amazing. It gives out a warm light and the driftwood looks brilliant, the blue certainly washed everything out. Cheers Steve So white with a red peak in a tropical bulb? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodKing Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 Anyone done the hunting and figured out who does the cheapest Juwel tubes in NZ? They all seem to be much them same from what I can see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoppers Posted July 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 So white with a red peak in a tropical bulb? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoppers Posted July 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 Aren't all Juwel tubes all odd lengths anyway? I'm struggling to find a tube option that isn't their own brand for my Vision 180. As far as I can see, your only real options are whatever they have. Any 36 inch bulb will fit (the rio 180 and the vision should have the same fitting - check the fatness - its a technical term), I think the juwel is 897mm and the others are 900mm. Mine had a different brand already and the fittings had flexed slightly to accomadate the extra. There are certainly savings to be made over the juwel bulbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodKing Posted July 19, 2012 Report Share Posted July 19, 2012 Legend, thanks for the info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted August 2, 2012 Report Share Posted August 2, 2012 Buy a powerglo. They're the second best plant light on the market, and last for a long, long time. A plant pro is the best T5 HO out there, but costs about twice the powerglo. I used to run 3 power glos and 1 plant pro just to keep myself happy (All 54W each T5HO). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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