light question

[gbb2]

is it safe/good/smart to put a blue tube light instead of the white one for my tank?

I do have live plants

[Shelley]

what kind of light is that?

[gbb2]

the tank light in the lid of the aquarium

[Newtious]

blue.. like atnic? post some info on the light rendering of the blub.. like the color temp?

[gbb2]

blue.. like atnic? post some info on the light rendering of the blub.. like the color temp?

um, I don't know?

it's the light that is in the top of aquariums. right now there is a white colored light tube. He wants a blue colored light and I don't know if that's advisable, what with the live plants.

[Newtious]

its its like a really really blue light from my understanding its used as a night light for salt? but i could be wrong i know its for salt water tanks though you can use it for fresh and for fresh planted tanks but i dont think it will provide much growing energy for your plants so if your trying to calculate your Watts per gallon exclude this light normally lights that are for plants are around the 5k or 5000 Kelvin anything from i thin 4700 to 10000 is usable anything over or under is mostly for look but this is my understanding Gdominy is my plant guru and knows way more then i do.. maybe send him a pm also normal light bulb type are not advisable for planted tanks if your stuck for ideas look up hydroponic grow gear its the same for fish tanks.. plants are plants in or out of water.. they still require the basics light food (Co2 helps) and water but im new so if im wrong PLEASE correct me

[Jacques]

You'll need to identify that "blue" bulb to know if it will work well with plants or not, as per the other posts. If it's actinic, I have no experience with those, but I understand they are designed only for saltwater coral reef tanks, and do not grow freshwater plants. If it's one of those blue "plant grow" bulbs, it would work, but you might not like it's colour: those give off a weird pink or purple light, which also can make fish colours weird.

Most planted tank keepers use, as Newtious said, bulbs that closely match natural sunlight. I've had good luck with bulbs with colour temperatures of 5500K to 6700K.

But you should also know that those single fluorescent canopies do not hold enough light power to grow many species of plants. Yours is probably a 20 watt bulb, and with that you will be limited to "low light" plants. You might be happy with those species, though. Otherwise, you will have to retrofit or replace that stock canopy with a light that gives more like 40 to 60 watts or more.

Here's some of my bookmarked sites about lighting....which can sound complicated at first, but plants do need certain types of light, that a non-planted tank doesn't. Once you read these, there will be a short mid-term exam. ;)

The first article is from another fishkeeping club, the Calgary Aquarium Society.

http://www.calgaryaquariumsociety.co...ht_Part_1.html
http://www.thekrib.com/Lights/faq.html
http://aquaticconcepts.thekrib.com/Lights/
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/..._Lighting.html

The simplest and cheapest way I've found to get enough of the right type of light for a small tank is to use a canopy that has a double incandescant light fixture, not a fluorescent tube fixture, and install two Philips Daylight Twister Compact Fluorescent screw-in bulbs. Two of these 27 watt 6500K bulbs give a decent amount of light for my plants, and their light looks nice and natural. So if you don't want to read all that stuff, and take the exam ;), just go this route. Later, if you want to grow plant species that need more light, well the skies the limit....and your wallet, too!

These guys: http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/s...k=P_PartNumber