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Plant grow bulbs


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#1 Guest_Gambusia_*

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Posted 08 December 2012 - 11:09 AM

Anybody have any experience with the Aqueon plant grow bulbs for aquarium hoods?

Thanks

http://www.aqueonpro...escent-lamp.htm

#2 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 08 December 2012 - 05:41 PM

They are more expensive than and less bright than the Daylight Deluxe bulbs sold at Home Depot.

To rephrase what I said on http://www.ratemyfis...pic5058.html:

Plants eat light. They photosynthesize. But they can't eat all the colors of light. Green plants reflect green back instead of absorbing and eating it. They eat blue and red light. Here is a picture of the absorbance of chlorophyll: http://upload.wikime..._spectra-en.svg

You'll see there are three main colors of light:
Blue, 400-500 nanometers, easily absorbed by chlorophyll and eaten by green plants.
Green, 500-600 nanometers, not absorbed by chlorophyll and not eaten by green plants.
Red, 600-700 nanometers, easily absorbed by chlorophyll and eaten by green plants. Not eaten by red plants. Red plants mostly eat blue light.

Some bulbs produce a wide range of of light wavelengths. Some bulbs only make tight peaks at very specific wavelengths and emit either very little or no light at other wavelengths. A 'white' light can be a wide range of colors or it can be only a few sharp peaks. It's impossible to say what your white light is composed of without looking at its spectrum. Diffraction gratings are $5 online or are built into some digital cameras. Here's a video that will show you how to use one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c44-iiINuVE

It's easiest to go with a full spectrum bulb so that you can know for sure the bulb is producing light at all wavelengths (in all the colors) that the plant needs to eat. I myself use these bulbs: Daylight Deluxe Four Foot Long 32 watt 2750 Lumen T8 Fluorescent Bulbs in this light fixture: Home Depot Lithonia Four Foot Shop Light 32 Watts T8 There's a $10 model at Walmart too but I couldn't find the link.

With 9 hours a day of 100 lumens per gallon of full spectrum T8 fluorescent light, the plants grow great, even red plants. When both Lithonia light fixtures are turned on (200 lumens/gallon) the algae grows a lot. But I need the second light to cover the top so fish can't possibly jump out. So I leave one light fixture turned off and have only 100 lumens/gallon.
I just rest the shop lights on top of my 4 foot long tank.
http://img.photobuck...imiru/015-3.jpg
http://img.photobuck...imiru/018-4.jpg
http://img.photobuck...imiru/016-4.jpg
The total cost I spent on my lights was $60, which could have been $40 if I had bought the $10 Walmart light fixtures. Or if I'd gotten $5 of plexiglass I could have covered the top of the tank and gotten the $10 fixture and $9 of bulbs for $24 total.

Edited by EricaWieser, 08 December 2012 - 06:06 PM.


#3 Guest_Usil_*

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Posted 08 December 2012 - 06:53 PM

You guys need to build yourself an LED system.

Usil

#4 Guest_Gambusia_*

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Posted 10 December 2012 - 08:31 PM

I already have an 18 inch hood for my 20 gallon tank and am simply looking for a bulb that will fit my hood.

The bulb I have now is old and apparently not a bulb for growing plants.

Thanks for the suggestions

Edited by Gambusia, 10 December 2012 - 08:36 PM.


#5 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 10 December 2012 - 09:25 PM

I already have an 18 inch hood for my 20 gallon tank and am simply looking for a bulb that will fit my hood.

The bulb I have now is old and apparently not a bulb for growing plants.

Thanks for the suggestions

Any bulb with lots of red and blue light will work. You could check out the bulbs sold at local hardware stores; they are less expensive than those marketed for aquariums.

#6 Guest_Skipjack_*

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Posted 11 December 2012 - 12:01 AM

Grow bulbs are not what they are cracked up to being. Cool white bulbs are your best bet as they have more of a blue spectrum, and are better for vegetative growth. Unless you are growing emergents, and are trying to produce flowers, the warm lights, (more red) are not needed. If you have a hood that will take two bulbs, then use one of each.

#7 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 11 December 2012 - 07:54 PM

I have had spectacular growth with blacklights.

#8 Guest_don212_*

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Posted 13 December 2012 - 07:58 AM

irate,your photo and motto always makes me think you are pulling our legs, or are you?

#9 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 13 December 2012 - 08:28 AM

^Ultraviolet light causes cancer. Check this out: http://www.ncbi.nlm..../pubmed/9163689

They are useful; put a UV-C bulb on an otherwise empty hang-on-back-waterfall filter and block any of the light from escaping into the room or fish tank, and you've made yourself a cheap UV sterilizer.

I'm not saying he's wrong and that UV lights wouldn't be useful for growing plants. Check out the absorbance of chlorophyll; there's a lot of absorbance at 400 nm: http://upload.wikime..._spectra-en.svg
But shining it on your fish would be a problem.

Edited by EricaWieser, 13 December 2012 - 08:30 AM.


#10 Michael Wolfe

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Posted 13 December 2012 - 09:13 AM

irate,your photo and motto always makes me think you are pulling our legs, or are you?


When you have know Irate for as long as I have you will realize that he is both pulling your leg AND telling you the truth... almost all the time... that is the beauty of it.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#11 Guest_Gambusia_*

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Posted 15 December 2012 - 08:51 PM

Grow bulbs are not what they are cracked up to being. Cool white bulbs are your best bet as they have more of a blue spectrum, and are better for vegetative growth. Unless you are growing emergents, and are trying to produce flowers, the warm lights, (more red) are not needed. If you have a hood that will take two bulbs, then use one of each.


Not sure what I have (got this bulb 15 years ago when I got my tank) but plants do not grow well under it (except some java fern that I used to have). Not even java moss grows well in my tank.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Edited by Gambusia, 15 December 2012 - 08:52 PM.


#12 Guest_Skipjack_*

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Posted 15 December 2012 - 11:51 PM

Not sure what I have (got this bulb 15 years ago when I got my tank) but plants do not grow well under it (except some java fern that I used to have). Not even java moss grows well in my tank.

Thanks for the suggestions.


Big part of your problem. Bulbs should be changed every 6-12 months.

#13 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 16 December 2012 - 01:51 AM

15 years ?!?! woah

I'm shocked that your bulb is 15 years old. Part of that is shock that it's still working. We had a bulb in the fluorescent microscope at work that was a few hundred hours past its lifespan and the person who was replacing it was like, "Stand back" And I was like "?" He said, "This old bulb is dangerous. When I try to remove it there's a chance it can explode." So be careful. That old bulb is very fragile. Don't let it hurt you when you're changing it. My advice is to turn it off and let it cool completely before trying to get it out. Use thick gloves and point it away from your face.

Edited by EricaWieser, 16 December 2012 - 01:54 AM.


#14 Guest_smilingfrog_*

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Posted 16 December 2012 - 02:15 AM

15 years ?!?! woah


I've got that beat. One of my aquariums has the original bulb that came with the hood which I bought back in either 1987 or 1988. There was about a 4 year period that it wasn't being used though, and I have not tried to grow plants with it since the early 1990's. It is noticibly dimmer than my other aquarium's hood but will still light up its tank.

#15 Guest_Gambusia_*

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Posted 23 December 2012 - 07:13 PM

I got the setup in 1994 (20 Gallon High All Glass with hood)

The thing is I use to have the tank in the window and rarely used the bulb.

#16 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 29 January 2013 - 09:22 PM

When you have know Irate for as long as I have you will realize that he is both pulling your leg AND telling you the truth... almost all the time... that is the beauty of it.


Ah Ha, somebody FINALLY understands me!

I'm thinking of changing my avatar, BTW...to something more representative of what I actually look like! (OK, maybe I worded that wrong).

#17 Michael Wolfe

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Posted 30 January 2013 - 09:01 AM

You look much like the cat only with a guitar in one hand and dip net in the other
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin




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