Lighting question

I bought a light fitting the one that sites on the outside of the tank with two wires going into the tank for the light. I also bought the florescent tube and paid a pretty package for the tube. My father bought the same size tube from a local hardware store and literally paid a tenth of the price. Could I use the cheaper florescent tube in a non planted tank?

 

If you want the lights spectrum to do nothing but illuminate the tank I don't see why not.

 

ya i dont have any live plants just fake one's. oscars in tank

 

Then the cheaper light would suffice.

The more specialized lights provide a different light spectrum more suitable for plant growth.

 

Light Spectrum is Red,Green Blue ,Yellow,Purple etc. That makes White hey?

Then White is White is it not?

 

I undertstand your logic... all I know from what I've read certain plants prefer certain types of light... i.e more red, or more blue, or more green... I dunno... just different to plain white. And the specialized lights give more of that spectrum that they need.. i.e more red spectrum

 

i'm guessing, seeing as Slojo's reasoning is correct, white is the "full spectrum of colour" so when you go into a specific colour its because someone, at some point, somewhere found out that some plants thrive when some of the colours are taken away

I dunno, plants grow in the sun, there isn't any Monday blues sun and friday pink sun etc, so i dont Really get it, but i wont argue with it as some people have results to prove the claims, and therefore there has to be logic to it somehow

but to the original question, yes, if the light is cheap and allows you to see the fish without frying them, its sufficient

 

Do you guys want a link to a scientific paper on the wavelengths of light that create the best growth for plants - or would you prefer a laymans description ?????

 

Layman-it on me?

scientific papers make my brain go pfffffffffffft.

 

:burnout: LoL

 

Ok here goes - just a human skin will burn with a certain wavelength (portion of the spectrum) of light and needs a different part of the spectrum to assist in the production of certain required Vitamins - so do plants. They will photosynthesize their food using energy from one part of the spectrum and use this for growth. Another part of the spectrum will produce vigorous growth in the plant where a second part of the spectrum will still produce growth but not as vigorously..

So the light manufacturers will produce globes that will emit more energy at specific wavelengths for plant growth or metabolism.

That is it in a nutshell ....................

 

and the scientific reason...

(just joking)

 

whalllah, and there you have it folks

Today's lesson was brought to you by the letter "G"

 

maar is die verskil in plant groei tussen n R150 buis en n R7 buis die moeite wert

 

Ek self gaan 1 R22 wit buis insit, en 3 R34 pienk plant buise, afhangend waar jy gaan koop maak ook n massiewe prysverskil

 

maar dit is hoekom ek vra oor of is dit die moeite wert is om sulke duur buise te gaan koop
is daar werklik n groot verskil in plant groei want as jy na die lfs luister dan is dit soos dag en nag en ek dink hul en die mense wat die buise maak loop die mense baie in

 

I think Zafgak explained it very well, but just to ad my 2 cents.

There's a huge difference between a plant lamp and your average shop light. Plant lamps are specifically designed for optimal plant growth, manufactured strictly within the spectrum that plants utilize. This manufacturing process is more time consuming and much more expensive.

 

Hey bug and Ferry - I understand the economics of plant lamps as they make MUCH fewer of these to a normal tube - so law of supply and demand exists. Personally I do not use any plant type tube and my plants grow very well - thankyou

Skies my engels, my afrikaans is baaie kak !!!!!!!!!

 

Your Spelling is excellent (In afrikaans)

 

lol, i just reply in afrikaans to accomodate for bugfree,

i personally think white lights only will be fine for some plant growth, if the growth of plants isnt your aim, but rather a happy fish thinkin he's swimming under the sun, then white is fine in my opinion, the plant will take from the spectrum what it can get

If its a full-on dutch aquarium, go for plant-only catered lights and pay up to have lush, fast growing plants

If you want a bit of both, get a tube of each.

I'm going for a white tube to help show the true colour of the fish, and the grolux tubes to help plants grow, as in the end i personally want a few lush plants, i'm going for 3 versus one, as opposed to 1:1 because i kinda like the pink-effect if you view the tank as the only light source in the room


the bottom one only has one grolux tube, the top has white light (ignore the fact that the tank is near empty, its only an under construction tank)