# Light Combinations



## KyleT (Jul 22, 2002)

First off Welcome to The Planted tank board!

Now on to the question. Lucky you getting a PC setup. I would die for one on my 55 gallon!

Don'g go with the actnics they do nothing for plants. 

I personally use 4 40 watt T-12 bulbs on my tanks. Two of them are 5000K and 2 of them are 6500K. It has been the best set up I have had so far. 

However since you are able to have 4 bulbs you might wanna try a set up such as 2 5000 K, 1 6500 K and 1 8800. 

Or 1 5000K, 2 6500 K and a 8800. basically I would go for a mix in the 5000K-10000K range. I personally think my plants do better in lower K like 5000-6500K however many other people use higher color bulbs to much success. Check out what steve hampton said in this post about usin higher K bulbs! 

Hope this helps! Kyle


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## Steve (Jul 31, 2002)

It does. Could you point me out to some pics with the look of these bulbs? I dont want to order and return it through the mail if the tint is something I dont like.


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## KyleT (Jul 22, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Steve_
> It does. Could you point me out to some pics with the look of these bulbs? I dont want to order and return it through the mail b/c I dont like the tint.


Check out Dr. Jay's Tank and then my post here. for an example of 2 5000 K and 2 6500 K bulbs. 

Then you can check out 2la's amazing tanks here. He uses a mix of I think 6500K bulbs and 9325K bulbs. 

And actnic bulbs are primarily used on reef tanks as corals are what benefit from them. 

For some beautiful reef tanks click here

Kyle


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## bassjunkie303 (Aug 6, 2002)

hey, i'm new to this board, i need some advice: for my 29 gal. (to be moderately planted) i'm getting a double bulb strip, what 2 bulbs do you think would look best? i was thinking 1 5000k and 1 6000k (tri-phosphor bulbs), with the 5000k to the back to highlight the plants and the 6500k up front to highlight fish. does this sound like a good combo? any feedback much appreciated -D


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## bassjunkie303 (Aug 6, 2002)

btw, the tank is going to contain boesemanis, and some cool rasboras with warm colors and have pretty much all moderate light plants if that helps any. i was also considering a 6500k in back with a higher K up front (8000k-10000k) but i'm worried about the contrast being too great :bounce: <----(this guy's cool)


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## KyleT (Jul 22, 2002)

> _Originally posted by bassjunkie303_
> hey, i'm new to this board, i need some advice: for my 29 gal. (to be moderately planted) i'm getting a double bulb strip, what 2 bulbs do you think would look best? i was thinking 1 5000k and 1 6000k (tri-phosphor bulbs), with the 5000k to the back to highlight the plants and the 6500k up front to highlight fish. does this sound like a good combo? any feedback much appreciated -D


First off welcome to the board bassjunkie303. 

This is currently what I am and alot others from the board are using. It is a good combination and plants seem to really benefit from it. However some people like the higher combinations like you said. Such as a 6500K and a 9325K bulb. 

Check out this thread. It explains what everyone is using. 

Kyle


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## steelo27 (Mar 3, 2015)

Hey guys, im new to this forum. I need some good ffeedback here cause i posted this in 2 other forums with no response. So i have a 55 gallon (long), established aquarium that for the first 8 months i kept as a fish only tank. But i have since decided to try my hand at live plants again (its been years since my last attempt..didnt do any research then though and just thought if i throw the plant in water it would grow lol).

So first i thought i will just do low light plants, so i upgraded the standard lighting with a 48" LED Finnex Fugeray Planted +, which i have read in many forums is sufficient for low to barely medium light plants. Then i started to learn that all the pretty non boring plant require medium to High light. So i bought an additional fixture which is a cheap Oasis (...i think lol) with 2 48" T5 HO bulbs at 54 watts per bulb. So i am now running both the Finnex LED and the T5s. So the T5s put my tank at approx 2 watts per gallon by themselves. But being that LED's cant be assessed by the old watts per gallon method, i am having difficulty knowing what level of lighting i have. Is it low, medium or high? Really would like to know because I have some high light red plants on the way ((Rotala macrandra and Ammannia Gracilis) lol. My tank is 18" deep from the subtrate surface to the lights which shine through a glass top. So do i have low, medium, or high lighting ya think? Any help or insight would be a huge help.


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## steelo27 (Mar 3, 2015)

Seems like this forum is dead. Ive noticed everything i research comment or post on is mostly from over 10 years ago... Sad


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## mistahoo (Apr 25, 2012)

I don't blame the active members. Most of the things being asked have been asked time and time again in all forms. All while being answered a numerous amount of times. Too many are just too lazy to use the search feature, and after a while it just plain out gets old.


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## jeffkrol (Jun 5, 2013)

steelo27 said:


> So the T5s put my tank at approx 2 watts per gallon by themselves. But being that LED's cant be assessed by the old watts per gallon method, i am having difficulty knowing what level of lighting i have. Is it low, medium or high? Really would like to know because I have some high light red plants on the way ((Rotala macrandra and Ammannia Gracilis) lol. My tank is 18" deep from the subtrate surface to the lights which shine through a glass top. So do i have low, medium, or high lighting ya think? Any help or insight would be a huge help.


Consider LED's are 1/2W = 1W t5.. Go from there.. also keep in mind red is not "just' light.. 

Nitrogen, CO2, Iron, and color spectrum all play a part.. sum of the parts determines success or failure..


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## aquarium hippy (Feb 7, 2013)

steelo27 said:


> Seems like this forum is dead. Ive noticed everything i research comment or post on is mostly from over 10 years ago... Sad


Try posting a new thread instead of adding to one that is 10 + years old. You may get a better response.

I am not sure what light range you are in but I would say likely in the high end of medium. You should be able to grow the plants you have listed with these lights as long as you are taking care of ferts water chemistry and co2.


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