Juwel T5 lighting

[Mark Allen]

Hi all,

I have the T5's in my Juwel, as you may have guessed by the thread title, and have 2 day light tubes. Noticed they do NATURE and COLOUR. Any advantage in a planted tank to mix? If so what's a good mix to have?

 

[alto]

From Juwel's (new design) website
- it seems all the freshwater lamps are similar intensity, you may notice some changes in growth type (as this is affected by spectrum) but overall you can likely just choose whatever appeals esthetically

Present Day light tubes are on the "blue" side, I'd be inclined to run one Day light & one of the others (if you have more red plants, the Colour will emphasize those reds - they will appear more red without actually being more red, though after a couple months, actual plant color maybe slightly altered as well)

 

[three-fingers]

There are many threads and discussions about this if you do a search on this forum, I'd highly recommend you read some .

Basically there is no advantage from changing the colour of tube, unless you just prefer the new colour.

I generally don't recommend florescent bulbs specifically sold for aquarium use as they are a total rip off as far as plant growth is concerned. Personally I quite like pink/purple "tropical" tubes (like Sylvania Grolux), as I find they display fishes colour very well, but they cost about 5x more than a standard "daylight" or "cool white" tube with no advantages as far as plant growth is concerned. So I use these sparingly, well aware that the extra cost is simply for my aesthetic preference.

If you feel like experimenting, this stickied thread is good for reference:

https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/cheap-ho-t5-fluorescent-tubes-update-with-photos.555/

There is a lot of misleading marketing regarding lighting for plant growing (aquatic or terrestrial). The bottom line is, unless you are growing only one specific plant species with a specific aim, there is no optimum lighting spectrum and what looks best to your own eyes is the most important factor.

 

[alto]

There is loads of information on the Sylvania website re spectra, CRI, (color) temperature, intensity/lux/lumens ... unless a tube is mass produced for some directed market, it will be more expensive ... most of the aquarium marketed fluorescent tubes are higher end re phosphor cost & limited production.