10-25-2009, 05:16 PM
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#12 |
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Originally Posted by MoneyMitch  Thank you guys so much again, now i dont mean to beat a dead horse here but tom barr stated that you can use what you want over your plants and growth would be the same for plants under red/blue compared to household.
Check this link out tom barr comments on i think the last page. K rating on bulbs and Plants. - Aquarium Plants - Barr Report | Don't get too far ahead of yourself. I read through that thread, and Mr. Barr is not far off from what I've been advocating. He does not, as I read it, say that any light will work. He mentions the K rating being important for the appearance (the balance I mention frequently) and the cool fluorescent tubes work as well for growth; these are higher in the blue colour that plants most need. In another thread a few weeks back I suggested a mix of full spectrum and cool white to whomever it was, and I have done the same before. This is what I use on my tanks, and I know it has worked for the past 15 years.
Only recently have I discovered the reason, in a study by K. Richards that appeared in the July 1987 issue of FAMA, pp. 16-20. I don't have access to this, but it is cited in Ms. Walstad's Ecology of the Planted Aquarium, p. 180 and 185. The experiment tested plant growth under different fluorescent tubes. The best growth, measured as the most oxygen produced by the plants, occurred under a combination of cool white and Vita-Lite which is a full spectrum tube. The second best was under cool white, and the third best under Vita-Lite. I don't know the specifics of Vita-Lite, how it compares to the full spectrum tubes like Life-Glo that we have today, but I suspect the results are close enough. Now I can see why my tanks have done so well for so many years. And I am not going to run out and change just because Mr. Barr or anyone else disagrees.
Byron.
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