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lighting to bring out fish colours?

Joined
21 Feb 2009
Messages
333
Location
stroud, glos
hi,
i bought some green/false tetras over the weekend and wandering how would the best way of lighting the tank to really bring out the bright blue?

The fish dont show the same vivid bright blue as they did in the LFS tank unless i'm stood looking down at the front glass.

i have a luminaire which is about 6 inches above the water in the centre of the tank, the LFS tanks are lit with a tube just above the water line and at the front of the tank.

so i guess if i fit a tube in a simular place i will get a similar effect.

i have 4x54w t5 tubes, so dont really need or want to increase my lighting power any significant amount.

so this brings me to my question, what would be an cheap effective method of providing the extra lighting to make the fish really stand out? T8's, LED's another T5?

any thoughts or suggestions gladly recieved! :0)
 
Paradoxically, some fish will mute their colours if light is excessive, so it may be better to lower lighting rather than add more.

Providing plenty of shade via plants and decor will help, as will giving them the best water quality and food.

Another reason the fish may not be showing the same colour as the shop is the stress of the move and any diference in water chemistry etc. Some fish take longer to adjust, especially if they're wild-caught, like most P. simulans.

Spectrum-wise, any tubes with a higher blue content will help, so consider 6500K+ tubes.
 
George Farmer said:
Paradoxically, some fish will mute their colours if light is excessive, so it may be better to lower lighting rather than add more.

Providing plenty of shade via plants and decor will help, as will giving them the best water quality and food.

Another reason the fish may not be showing the same colour as the shop is the stress of the move and any diference in water chemistry etc. Some fish take longer to adjust, especially if they're wild-caught, like most P. simulans.

hi george,
thanks for your reply,
i understand what yer saying above, (the first 6 greens were put in mid last week and they did brighten considerably over the first 2 days)
but when i'm stood at the tank looking down at an angle at the front glass the green neons are really vivid and bright if i lower my viewing position so i'm viewing the tank directly on the colours go darker and less vivid.
so i figure a light as far forward and as low as i can get it in the tank will help aleveiate this effect? (the tank has a "top surround" so i can hide extra lighting nicely also)

George Farmer said:
Spectrum-wise, any tubes with a higher blue content will help, so consider 6500K+ tubes.

i'm only using 2 of the 54w currently, one is a plant gro type the other is a white 10k, so i got that covered too!
 
Themuleous said:
baron von bubba said:
so i figure a light as far forward and as low as i can get it in the tank will help aleveiate this effect?!

Check out your LFS you'll see most (if not all?) have their lighting at the front of the tank, for this very reason ;)

Sam

yeah! ;)
baron von bubba said:
the LFS tanks are lit with a tube just above the water line and at the front of the tank.

i was thinking that with a lot of planted tanks having luminares, how and what ppl with these set ups fitted to bring out the fish? or even if anyone actually does this?

i choose the green neons for thier fantastic colour, seems a shame not to do them justice!

thanks
 
baron von bubba said:
i choose the green neons for thier fantastic colour, seems a shame not to do them justice

Yeh def, I've got a few and they are lovely little fish. So too is the Axelrod's Rasbora (Rasbora axelrodi) which to my mind is an underrated fish, with beautiful markings given the right light and their condition.

Sam
 
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