REMIND me....someone

[crazyred]

Angelmom, I know you know this....I have no idea how I've forgotten it.....what K rating should the lights be for fresh plants? :eek: yikes HOW DID I FORGET THIS??

I finally ditched the CF light and I went with a triple bulb strip light on my 55. If I get 40 watt bulbs I'll be right at 2 wpg....which is decent considering I'm not trying to grow glosso or setting up CO2, but what K rating do I need for best plant growth/

My choices are a tad limited by the bulb size (T8) but my options are these:

1. Sun-Glo 4200 K 40 W per bulb
2. Aqua-Glo 18000 K 40 W per bulb
3. Ocean Sun 1000 K 32 W per bulb
4. Tropic Sun 5500 K 32 W per bulb
5. Flora Sun (no K rating) 32 W per bulb
6. Ultra Sun 6500 K 32 W per bulb

If you were me...what would you get? I don't think the ones that came with it are going to help plants grow all that much. Advice?

[AngelMom]

5000K to 7500K. I use the 6700K, so I'd suggest the "UltraSun" @ 6500K ... you should be able to easily grow most low and medium light loving plants with those. ;)

btw ... that's whatcha get for not hangin' out here more. :p

[crazyred]

I know...I developed a serious case of mind fry by being away for so long. hahaha

I'm slowly working the 55 tank back up....I broke down the ECCO filter last week to clean it out and it BROKE!! Cheap plastic pieces!! I had to order the part from Eheim....the part was $2.00 the shipping was like $9.00 WTH? :eek:

Anyway, I also got the HOB filter going again...and I still have one fish in there (I thought he was dead). He's a tiny little brown Panque plec that is the exact color of my driftwood and has a little cave in there.

I'm going to switch out the bulbs, get a new heater (the Visitherm has some weird white stuff on it) and start buying fish & plants.

I've missed the beauty that I had with this tank back in the day so I'm going for it again....I just didn't have the time or energy for the hobby for a while, but it's good to be back.