can I cram up my plants like this??

leogtr

I ran out of space and I made this thick forest in the corner of the aquarium. is that okay guys? IMAGE_315.jpg

thank you for your help!

MyLittlePleco

Seems good to me, although I'd try and make sure all the plants are getting enough light. Thick clumps of vegetation may restrict the light getting to the plants on the inside of the "forest".

leogtr

yeah yeah I tried to but the smallest ones in the front and the tallest ones in the back

Mikaila31

depends on how much light you have. If not enough light reaches the lower leaves the plants will drop those.

Some times my plants like to form one huge mass if I let them get out of control. They can also trap my larger fish in certain areas lol.

leogtr

its a 20w 6700k fluorescent bulb. Im going to experiment with a 20w 18000K bulb do you think thats a good idea Mikaila?? it says its suppose to be better than the life-glo. Have you ever heard of the aqua-glo?

Byron

The Life-Glo is the best single tube for a planted tank. It is triphosphor, which means high in blue, red and some green to balance for the closest colour rendition to sunlight.

The 18000K means more blue in the colour, but without knowing the spectrum breakdown I can't say if it is OK, but i would highly expect not. On my larger tanks i like a mix of Life-Glo and a "bluish" second tube, I've never seen one this high in Kelvin. Makes me think it might be too blue, something akin to actinic which are not good plant lights.

The Aqua-Glo is high in blue and red, nothing else, which should suit plants. But there are two drawbacks. First, it is half the intensity of the Life-Glo so that means much less light. And second is the purplish hue it gives the tank. Fish and plant colours are not natural.

I have an Aqua-Glo, tried it with a Life-Glo over a dual-tube tank, but no go.

And I agree with what others said about the bunched plants and light.

Byron.

leogtr

oh really gosh I was looking for a brigther 6700K bullb but I couldnt find one. The one that I have seems to be not that bright so I was looking and it said that the 18000k aqua glo was good for planted aquariums.

it is strange but thank you Byron that was most helpful :)

Byron

Just so you know, brightness has nothing to do with the Kelvin rating which is simply a measurement of degrees of colour as we perceive it. Sunlight is somewhere around 6000K [sorry, forogtten the exact number). Lower numbers (like 4500K) mean more red and less blue for a "warm" appearance, higher numbers are the opposite for a "cool" asppearance.

The spectrum of the tube is important, as this is where the "highlights" occur. Life-Glo has that, here's the spectrum chart.

Attached Images

Life-Glo 2 spectrum.jpg (28.1 KB, 105 views)

leogtr

thank you very much for explaining that to me :)

Mikaila31

I always recommend GE's 9325K bulbs. They are only online... but I love mine so much. I had a life-glo bulb for a while and never liked it. Its always bothered me that they have that huge green spike in them... like a lot of bulbs do. I use the GE's on a few of my tanks, all others get super cheap CFLs which I don't like much but thats okay since they are so cheap. IDK how the GE ones compare for brightness, they do amazing for colors.