BTW everyone seems to be talking Colour rendition, Kelvin, Lumens, Lux etc
but it seems to me that you still have to decide whether you want a lower
light requirement tank or a higher one first then select your plants. If
you want to grow bunch plants and fast growing things then you need
brighter lights, if you want to grow Crypts, A nubias etc then you chose
lesser intensity. Usually the plants tell you if your choice ia suitable
;-)
Nobody seems to have mentioned duration of lighting yet - I think the timer
is a simple, cheap and almost essential piece of equipment on a plant tank.
12 hours on is a good starting point for my money - since you are having
ALL planted tanks Julie perhaps you could have your whole room's lights all
on the one timer and just vary the number of tubes and spectrum choice over
each tank depending on the plants inside.
Asa far as personal choice is concerned - I have tried a lot and all seem
to be a bit inferior to sunlight ;-) My swimming pool grows the best algae
I have ever seen. Go for the cheapest triphosphors around 5000 K you can
get from a domestic lighting shop, put at least 2 over each tank, make the
front one a "grolux" type if you think your fish look a bit washed out, 12
hrs on and off, just add CO2 to your real planted tanks and stand back.
Regards,
Bruce.
bhansen at ozemail.com.au
----------
> From: Julie Zeppieri <jazep at www.peter.unmack.net>
> To: rainbowfish at pcug.org.au
> Subject: Re: [RML] topic anyone?
> Date: Wednesday, 19 November 1997 4:34
>
>
> Hope this helps.I also hope we all keep going w/ this thread, as I am
> getting ready to put my tanks up again very soon, and need to light them
> (ALL) as well and as cheaply as possible. ;) Gonna have me a real live
> fishroom here to celebrate the New Year, and almost all of the tanks are
> gonna be planted ones, to one degree (lots of Java fern/moss and wood) or
> another (fully-done display tanks). Even the breeding/fry raising ones
> will be planted... at least that is my hope. Y'all can blame Wim and
> Rhonda for this, as I think those are the two whose fishroom set ups have
> influenced me the most. Wish me luck, eh? ;) ;) :)
>
> Julie <><
>