48" Biolux bulb question

[Jazsaxman]

hey there everyone, picked up a tank and it came with 2 x 48" Biolux bulbs and arcadia controllers. Can anyone tell me what the bioluxs are like? The tank is a tall 4ft and we'll be turning it in to a planted discus tank. Could we use these bulbs or are we better off with something else? We already use a combination of power-glo and aqua-glo on a 5ft discus tank.

[Faran]

Hi jazsaxman and welcome to the forums. Where in the world (or NZ) are you? Name brands mean little to the experienced fish keeper as most of us switch to a much cheaper and just as good standard flouro bulb. The main things you want to look for when selecting a bulb is the kelvin rating. Many others have covered this topic before, so instead of re-hashing the same old info I'll just put up a snip of another thread -

i am not familiar with TLD86. Is it a florescent tube? white, pink or blue?

why do you need a 25 watts tube? a general guide line is that there ought to have 1 to 2 ratio of wattage to litre of water in your tank.

if you have a 100 litre tank, you will need to have around 50 watt for a planted tank.

Kelvin message the colour temparature; 5,500 to 6,500 is more toward day light (highly recommended) and 8000k gives you the blue light and 10,000 gives you the pink.

florescent tube with 2,500 lumens should be chosen for planted tank.

i normally go to this wholsale lighting shop who is cheaper than any LFS.

(I've edited out the contact info as putting up contact details is against the rules of these forums)

[DiverJohn]

Biolux are fine IMO

Its what i use

[Jazsaxman]

Hi jazsaxman and welcome to the forums. Where in the world (or NZ) are you? Name brands mean little to the experienced fish keeper as most of us switch to a much cheaper and just as good standard flouro bulb. The main things you want to look for when selecting a bulb is the kelvin rating.

Hi there,

That all very interesting! Are the 6500K bulbs a general all purpose type bulb? Is there a benefit in a standard, planted or non-planted tank for a bulb like the Hagen Power-glo or Aqua-glo thats a 18000K bulb?

Steve

[DiverJohn]

HI Steve,

The Biolux is not really a "general purpose" tube. As well as having a hi Kelvin rating ( 6500K) the Biolux also has a hi CRI or Colour Rendering index. Thats what the numbers on the tube mean. 9=CRI, 65 = colour ( in this case not related to to 6500K tho).

You can get other tubes that are 6500K but a lower CRI. 865 or 860.

And you "general purpose" tubes you get in offices are usually in the "8" CRI. EG. 840 is a wam white

The other number on teh tube is the Wattage of the tube and in most cases give you a clue to the lenght! Because the bigger the tube... teh more energy you use and the more light you get.

30W(atts) is a 3 footer, 36W is a 4 footer

18000K tubes are I think more for Marine use as the colour is quiet 'blue'.

HTH

John

[Jazsaxman]

Hi,

How do the Biolux compare to a bulb like this one?

http://www.lampspecialists.co.nz/productPDFs/5278h.pdf

Thanks,

Steve

[DiverJohn]

Purely based on the information on the "fact sheet".

IMO they may not be that good...

CRI is low (70+) Compared to the biolux at a CRI of 90+

[alanmin4304]

People sometimes forget that the lights need to reasonably cover the whole tank and that the amount of light required is a factor of the area and depth of water. If a certain amount of light grows plants well at a depth of 300mm then 600mm may require 10 times the light not 2x. At this stage you are probably getting too much light at the top so like most things with aquariums life is a compromise and you need to experiment and see what works for you. The hours the lights are on is also a big factor and will vary depending on how much plant you have and how vigorously it is growing. CO2 injection will also make a difference to the amount of light required. Basically you want as much light as you can get without causing problems with algae growth.

[Jazsaxman]

Ok, had the tank with fish and plants in for about 3-4 weeks now. The plants all shot away when they first went in doubling their size with in a week and prob trebled by now. But everything has slowed down.

The swords are sending out long (1ft long) stems which I guess are going to have either a flower or babies on them. Crypts are dieing back which I expectyed they would do. Things like ambulia are starting to get a slight dusting of brown algae on them. Does that suggest I have a lack of nutrients or a lack of light?

[DiverJohn]

If you havent been fertilizing, then it could likely be nutrients, and perhaps not only micro nutrients ( like iron) but possibly even macro nutrients like nitrates.

It is also possible that you may be 'suffering' from what i call 'LFS die off' thats when the plants you buy from the LFS look great for a couple of weeks then die off as they become aclimatized to your tank. Happens to about 50% of the plants i buy. But dont panic, if you have good conditions they should grow back, maybe even stronger than before.

HTH

John

[Jazsaxman]

Ok, so proberably a good time to remove the nitrazorb that was in the filter so as to help keep levels in control while the tank cycled. I'll see if the plants perk up again with that first. Then I'll consider the nutrients. Thans.

[DiverJohn]

Yep, sounds like a plan... just a note of caution tho, if you have been using "nitrazorb" keep an eye on your nitrate levels when you take it out... The nitrazorb may have also slowed down the growth of the benificial bacteria. But it sounds like your not 'rushing' which is a good thing

[Jazsaxman]

yup thats a good point. We'll continue to keep on doing regular water changes to keep everything hopefully balanced.