LED Without LEDs -My First T5 Grow

I just chopped BK 1 yesterday as she never recovered from whatever I did. And I am thinking about that. The primary and secondary leaves all turned light brown. I thought this was from internal nute burn, but now wondering whether it was from having 2/8 Coral Waves, which could have burned them up. I pulled the second one, but only during the last week. By then, the damage (however it was caused) was done. It could be all the above contributed- high pH + >1900 ppms due to high water consumption + 2/8 Coral Waves. But of too much UV & IR is bad for us, they could also be bad for our plants. NO?

Man it would be great if more people were actually posting videos of successful grows with T5's and pics.

Originally Posted by PetFlora

I just chopped BK 1 yesterday as she never recovered from whatever I did. And I am thinking about that. The primary and secondary leaves all turned light brown. I thought this was from internal nute burn, but now wondering whether it was from having 2/8 Coral Waves, which could have burned them up. I pulled the second one, but only during the last week. By then, the damage (however it was caused) was done. It could be all the above contributed- high pH + >1900 ppms due to high water consumption + 2/8 Coral Waves. But of too much UV & IR is bad for us, they could also be bad for our plants. NO?

I HIGHLY doubt any aquarium bulb on the market has the capability to damage a plant unless it is actually touching the leaves. 1900 PPM?????? that is REALLY high. I only use 950 ppm at the most for hydro. I know it's a bit different but still seems high. Anyway, back to the drawing board!

If i have time i will ask him about the fiji purp, i can talk on german with him ...mayby this is a plus tomas tell me all his secrets

Originally Posted by Psytranceorgy

pr0f mentions the company on PAGE 57. I caught the reference and expanded upon the meaning on PAGE 62.

The company is nlite and it appears they are defunct. They made a bulb called PURple and published that graph as the spectrum. The spectrum graphs for their other bulbs were also published, and all the graphs share the same format/style.

I would personally use the ZooMed Flora Sun or Coralife Colormax as a "purple" base bulb that provides red spectrum coverage further out than the UVL Red Sun @ 633 nm. There are a couple of others that I would use before buying a Fiji Purple as well... The AquaticLife Roseate's are advertised having their peak at 650 nm, for example, and the Aqua Medic Plant Grow also looks like a great candidate... I posted about some other 'puple' or 'plant growth' type bulbs on Page 63. I am sure there are more...

AquaticLife Roseate http://aquaticlife.com/
Aqua Medic Plant Grow http://www.aqua-medic.com/
ATI Purple Plus http://www.atiaquaristik.com/en/
Coralife Colormax http://coralifeproducts.com/
Current/TrueLumen Freshwater Flora http://www.current-usa.com/
Giesemann Aquaflora http://www.giesemann.de/
JBL Solar Ultra Color http://www.jbl.de/en/
Wave Point Color Wave(same as Red Wave) http://www.wave-point.com/
ZooMed Flora Sun http://www.zoomed.com/

The above all have a similar spectrum (yes, some look better than others...for sure). God (and Thomas Pohl) only knows if they are similar to the KZ Fiji Purple's spectrum... but I suspect that they are...

Of course you still want to pick up your UVL Red Suns and use them! They are unique in their spectrum, and you definitely want some of it!

This is great! Thanks Psy! I was actually rereading the entire thread the other day and demarcating the pages where people talked about their bulb configurations and was probably so preoccupied with that aspect that I completely glossed over the section you are talking about haha.

I too was looking at the AquaMedic Plant Grow which does seem to have a 650-660nm spike as well as 430ish, 550, and wasted 600 peaks. It looks fairly good as far as compromising for the Fiji. One down side is that they are roughly the same price as the Fiji, but at least we have a valid spectrum to run with. I read a few different reviews so I thought I'd post em and see what you guys think:

AquaMedic Plant Grow Reviews:


Source: http://www.aquacave.com/plant-grow-t...medic-982.html

The bulbs are much better than the stock bulbs. I was recommended to these bulbs due to a black algae problem in my tank. Following installation, my plants are growing well and the black algae does not seem to be advancing. These bulbs work as advertised.

Next Review:
I am using two of these lamps in a four-lamp T5 fixture over an 80g high tech freshwater planted tank. I recently replaced two of four "no-name" 6500K lamps with these Aqua Medic Lamps, and the results are astounding. The plants are all pearling at a phenomenal rate. These lamps are now a "must" for my tank. The next experiment for me will be to replace the remaining two "no-name" broad spectrum lamps with two fresh broad spectrum lamps (Giesemann PowerChrome midday 6000K lamps?).

Source:http://www.aquascape-boutique.fr/AQU...PLANT-GROW-24W

Plant Grow is a growth lamp for plants in fresh water aquariums. The lamp accentuates the red and blue parts of the spectrum and comes close to the absorption spectrum of water plants. These wave lengths stimulate photosynthesis and so create excellent condition for luxuriant plant growth. In addition the colours become more vibrant in any fish with red pigmentation



Here is a rather scathing review that gave me pause about buying this bulb but please take this with a major grain of salt because first and foremost, it is from 2006. So is a review from 5 years ago really applicable today? Probably not. Also it is the only negative review I have found. I would hope that all of these issues have been corrected at this point in time or else I'd be reading plentiful negative reviews all over vendors websites which I am not. On the contrary, contemporary buyers seem quite pleased with their performance, but I figured I'd post it anyway for posterity sake:

taken from: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/r...1/cat/52/page/

There is a long version and a short version of this review, long version being my experience with the bulbs and short version being the bottom line.

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Short version: AquaMedic planta bulbs are truly an unacceptable choice for any planted tank for the following reasons:

-Their intensity is less than or equal to standard T8-T12 bulbs. The intensity drops at an astounding rate as the bulb gets older.

-Due to very weak intensity, plants do not pearl.

-Also due to weak intensity, plants grow slowly, stunt, or end up dying.

-The spectrum will make your plants look washed out; red plants will become brown

-The color these bulbs produce is a very dull pink, not aesthetically pleasing at all.

-They burn out within 6 months, 8 months tops.

-They are a potential fire hazzard. When they burn out, the glass on the ends cracks and/or melts.

Bottom line: Do not buy Planta bulbs. They're a waste of money and your plants will do horrible. As a much better alternative, look into GE StarCoat 6500k bulbs.

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Long version: This is my experience with AquaMedic's bulbs. Others on the forums have confirmed having the same problems.

My fixture is 6 feet long and holds 8x39w HO T5 bulbs. When I first installed the fixuture, lighting was staggered 4x10,000k AquaMedic and 4xPlanta AquaMedic bulbs. Within 5-6 months, 6 of 8 bulbs had burnt out. And by burnt out, I don't mean they just stopped working. Apparently they became so hot that the glass near the ends of the bulbs had melted. After conversing with other members, this seems to be common with AquaMedic bulbs. I can't help but think AquaMedic's bulbs may pose some sort of fire hazzard. After all, glass has to get very hot to melt.

Plants seem to do decent with the 10,000k/Planta combo. I assume this was only because of the 10,000k bulbs.

I had cheap and easy access to more AquaMedic Planta bulbs, so I replaced all bulbs with AquaMedic Planta bulbs.

Within 3 months of putting all Planta bulbs in my fixture, the limited intensity they started with had dropped to the point that plants were starting to stretch for light(long internode spaces, etc.).

Within 5 months, 4 of the 8 brand new bulbs had burnt out, again with glass cracking and/or melting. My plants had absolutely no red at all, just dull brown. Many plants had stunted or died. There was absolutely no pearling in the tank with CO2 levels at 30ppm+.

I replaced the burnt out bulbs this time with GE 6500k bulbs, and moved the 4 remaining bulbs to one side of the tank. When I first turned on the fixture, I was instantly blinded by looking at the GE bulbs. They were at *least* 5-6 times brighter than the Planta bulbs. Within 2 minutes of the fixture being turned on, all plants on the GE side of the tank were pearling like mad. The Planta side of the tank looked dark and dull... Plants looked pale and dying. Within a few days of the GE6500k bulbs being on the tank, the bright reds I've always wanted had shown up and the plants have grown about 4-5 times faster than they did with the Planta bulbs.

Planta bulbs are by far the absolute worst bulbs I have ever owned.

All that being said, I think I will try a few AquaMedic Plant Grows and see. They seem like the best choice for capturing that 660nm peak. I know I posted it, but I wouldn't put too much stock in that bad review.

Also I need my fixture before I can do anything. I think I've settled on the New Wave 8 lamp HO T5. It's ballasts are advertised to put out zero heat and zero noise, which I'm not sure I believe, but since no one else's fixture makes that claim, I thought it was worth a shot.

Psy, I couldn't find any actual spectral graphs for the Zoo Med bulbs, do you know where those might be found?

The Plant Grow was the first bulb I was thinking of getting before seeing the "color spectrum" that was posted as the Fiji Purple. I switched because I thought it was the real spectrum chart. Now that I have had a chance to see it first hand, I realize that it is way on the blue side of the spectrum. As I researched bulbs further, I noticed that the best bulb I could find in that 660nm region was the ATI ProColor which has been discontinued as was stated earlier in this thread. Supposedly it was discontinued because it is a bit on the red side, which is what all of us seem to be searching for. There are a few stores that still have these bulbs in stock in the 2 ft, 24watt size. Not sure how many however. The Aqua Medic Plant Grow have a fairly similar spectrum. The only way to say for sure would be to compare the light side by side. They both look fairly PINK from what I've seen in photos online. There is also the Sylvania Gro-Lux bulb which DOES exist in a T5 HO, but unfortunately only in Europe. Here are the spectral analysis of all of them:
Aqua Medic Plant grow

Ati ProColor

Sylvania Gro-Lux, Narrow spectrum top, Wide spectrum bottom.

Strangely enough, the Gro-Lux narrow spectrum looks exactly like that mystery KZ Fiji spectrum that is floating around the internet.......must be the Gro-Lux spectrum.

Originally Posted by Redoctober

All that being said, I think I will try a few AquaMedic Plant Grows and see. They seem like the best choice for capturing that 660nm peak. I know I posted it, but I wouldn't put too much stock in that bad review.

Also I need my fixture before I can do anything. I think I've settled on the New Wave 8 lamp HO T5. It's ballasts are advertised to put out zero heat and zero noise, which I'm not sure I believe, but since no one else's fixture makes that claim, I thought it was worth a shot.

Psy, I couldn't find any actual spectral graphs for the Zoo Med bulbs, do you know where those might be found?

I posted the Zoo Med graphs back on page 111 (link). They had no problem providing them for me via email.

Gosh - it's like people don't memorize all 149 pages of this thread or something! We could probably use an FAQ/Index.

I'm currently running Flora Suns along with Coral Waves for side lighting. I'm also going to add Red Suns in the future.

The Flora Sun has as good a "base bulb" graph as I've seen (from what's available), though I'm also somewhat interested in the Roseate. I think it's supposed to have like 20% yellow/green light - meh, could be worse.

I'd love to hear what you think of your new fixture and what kind of heat it puts off. When will you get it?