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Lightbulbs and blue-green algae experiences
Nothing scientific here, but a few observations concerning
lightbulbs and blue-green algae.
I have a planted 10gallon tank in my office with two 15W fluorescent
bulbs. I was using the generic aquarium/grow lamps that came with the
strips. Plants are Anubias barteri var nana, Microsorium pteropus,
Cryptocoryne willisii and Myriophyllum sp. With this set-up I had
patches of blue-green algae covering the gravel and some of the
plants. After the positive comments about Triton bulbs I switched both
bulbs. With two Tritons over the tank, the blue-green has nearly
disappeared.
In two other 10 gallon tanks I tested the notion of "If you have
enough light, the quality doesn't matter as much." I have incandescent
strips for these tanks and I found GE 13W compact fluorescent bulbs
with incandescent base at Wal-Mart for $5/ea. These bulbs are 2700K
color temp. One tank is planted with Vesicularia dubyana,
Ceratopteris sp., Ceratophyllum demersum and something that is
probably an Echinodorus sp., but might be a Cryptocoryne sp. The
other tank has the same mystery Echinodorus/Cryptocoryne,
Ceratophyllum demersum and Microsorium pteropus. After a
couple months with these bulbs the blue-green algae has taken over
both tanks.
I need to do something about my two blue-green farms. The CF bulbs are
replaceable. They have 4-pin (G24q-1?) bases. Does anyone know where I
can get a better spectrum bulb for these? Thanks.
Hope you have a very nice day, :-)
Tim Ayers tayers at bridge_com
St. Paul, Minnesota
Bridge, Inc. www.bridge.com