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Advice please T8s

lurcher

Member
Joined
6 Apr 2018
Messages
147
Location
Lincolnshire
I find lighting very confusing,(i’m old) i have a 3’ ,130 litre planted tank with just bronze cories in it,and that is all that will be in tank, 15 cories.please can lighting savvy members please suggest 2 x t8 tubes to buy that will be suitable for my cories and plants.i was given two 2 foot growlux tubes but these are far too pink and i have tried to get my head around kelvins ,spectrums and the like but it totally confuses me.i have a t8 set up and i like that.thank you.
 
Kelvin is what makes light look different in different parts of the globe.
Chroma is how RGB the tube looks.
Spectrum is a representation of what wavelengths of light are expected to be produced.
Spectrum charts show show at least one 100% peak in order to be valid. The are often invalid and smoothed or edited before being marketed. I generally regard spectrum charts as too unreliable and rarely (if ever) externally verified.
Few aquarium sector companies (if any) produce these tubes in their own factory. Industry standard tubes are also common.
The best approach is to look consider cool white up to very warm white. These are usually bounded by a kelvin range.
There are two other common groups - tropical ones (pink), and actinic (blue).
My favourite combination for your tank would be very warm white (orange) with either one pink, or possibly a cool white (depending upon whether you want your plants to pop). I would buy one of each, and play around.
I would get Osram tubes as they tend to cost about £5 each and are very reliable, and you can also possibly get HO high output tubes, although I am not sure these come in T8 fittings.
Many aquarium companies like Juwel only offer lights in their unique size range. This can mean you pay up to £20 for each new tube because they are no longer industry standard.
 
I find lighting very confusing,(i’m old) i have a 3’ ,130 litre planted tank with just bronze cories in it,and that is all that will be in tank, 15 cories.please can lighting savvy members please suggest 2 x t8 tubes to buy that will be suitable for my cories and plants.i was given two 2 foot growlux tubes but these are far too pink and i have tried to get my head around kelvins ,spectrums and the like but it totally confuses me.i have a t8 set up and i like that.thank you.

For a cheap start.. just add one 6500K tube to a growlux one.
 
Simon,could the very warm white( orange )tube cause algae,i also have been given two 2’ sun sun red tubes not yet used ,is red light a cause of algae,many thanks for your help and advice.
 
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