Jump to content

Best colour temperature / spectrum for algae

revolutionhope

By revolutionhope
in Equipment & DIY

 Share

Recommended Posts

revolutionhope Shrimp Master

revolutionhope

Posted
Posted

Hello forum dwellers, hope all the aussies are keeping their shrimps nice and cool as we swelter through what will probably be another record breaking season for weather extremes. ..

m looking at increasing my lighting intensity for my shrimp tanks at the moment. Currently some are still using old school t8 fluorescent tubes

I want to avoid buying new expensive aquarium-specific lighting so I'm looking at purchasing LED retrofit tubes to replace them. Specifically I like the look of the Philips core pro tubes as an affordable option.

These are available in 4000 and 6000 kelvin. Does anyone have any input as to which would be a better option? I'm sure 6000K will be better for vegetative plant growth however I am not looking to grow many plants.

I am considering that if I go with the 4000K option then the beneficial algae might be able to utilise it more effectively (compared to the plants) compete better with the plants for the available nitrates. I've had difficulties previously with plants using all nutrients and not leaving enough spare for algae and consequently biofilm to proliferate.

All ideas and suggestions are welcome. :-)

[emoji173] [emoji111]

Will

Link to comment
Share on other sites
jayc Shrimp Guru

jayc

Posted
Posted

That's a first.

You WANT to grow algae?!!

 

I think you have come to the right place. There are lots of expert algae growers here  ?

3000K or 4000K and leave it on for 16 hours is my secret recipe.

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
revolutionhope Shrimp Master

revolutionhope

Posted
  • Author
Posted

You the man. That's what I wanted to hear! It makes sense to me give that the discussions I found suggest algae is better adapted to using the lower frequency wavelengths than plants are. Cheers buddy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
jayc Shrimp Guru

jayc

Posted
Posted (edited)

@revolutionhope

Well, to be more specific, the green from leaves and algae is unwanted light reflected. So that means they absorb red and blue. That is, 430-460nm blue, and 660-700nm red to be specific.

So if you have an RGB led that you can select colour ranges on, try using only the red and blue lights for maximum algae growth.

If not, try the red lights.

Also when I said 3000K, I don't know if there are any lights that produce 3000K  to be precise, so 2700K might be a better choice, since that is readily available.

 

Edited by jayc
Link to comment
Share on other sites
revolutionhope Shrimp Master

revolutionhope

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Philips core pro led t8 tubes come in 4000k neutral or 6500k cool white. I went with the neutral.

Think they will be a good little investment.

f8d303fd5129f9ffb57fe0b925e70ccc.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Join Our Community!

    Register today, ask questions and share your shrimp and fish tank experiences with us!

  • Must Read SKF Articles

    Shrimp Disease and Treatment
    Tibee, Taitbee, Pinto, Mischling, F1, F2

  • Tropical Fish Forum
    Discus Breeding Guide
    Discus Disease and Treatment Guide

  • Posts

    • sdlTBfanUK
      Shrimp molting before eggs are hatched

      By sdlTBfanUK · Posted

      I would hazard a guess that perhaps those eggs were unfertilized and thereby unviable? Did the eggs change colour, usually yellow to grey as the yolks used up, or any eyes in the eggs. Is your water ok, using RO remineralised and the parameters in range, as I have heard others say that if the water isn't good it can 'force' a molt? How is it going overall, do you have a good size colony in the tank, you may have reached 'maximum occupancy' as a tank can only support so many occupants.
    • beanbag
      Shrimp molting before eggs are hatched

      By beanbag · Posted

      Hello folks,  The current problem I am having is that my Taiwan bee shrimp are molting before all their eggs have hatched.  Often the shrimp keep the eggs for 40+ days.  During that time, they lose about half or so, either due to dropping or duds or whatever.  Shortly before molting they look to have about a dozen left, and then they molt with about half a dozen eggs still on the shell.  Then the other shirmp will come and eat the shell.  These last few times, I have been getting around 0-3 surviving babies per batch.  I figure I can make the eggs hatch faster by raising the water temperature more (currently around 68F, which is already a few degrees higher than I used to keep it) or make the shrimp grow slower by feeding them less (protein).  Currently I feed Shrimp King complete every other day, and also a small dab of Shrimp Fit alternating days.  Maybe I can start alternating with more vegetable food like mulberry?  or just decrease the amount of food?
    • ngoomie
      Shrimp and meds containing gentian violet

      By ngoomie · Posted

      Yeah, cancer risk was a thing I'd seen mentioned a lot when looking into gentian violet briefly. I kinda just figured it might only be as bad as the cancer risk of malachite green as well, but maybe I should look into it more. I've been doing a pretty good job of not getting it on my skin and also avoiding dunking my unprotected hands into the tank water while treating my fish at least, though. Maybe I'll just not use it once I'm done this course of medication anyways, because I know a store I can sometimes get to that's pretty distant carries both malachite green and methylene blue, and in pretty large quantities.
    • jayc
      Shrimp and meds containing gentian violet

      By jayc · Posted

      Can't help you with Gentian Violet, sorry. It is banned in Australia violet for potential toxicity, and even possible cancer risks. I thought it was banned in Canada as well. At least, you now know why there isn't much info on gentian violet medication and it's use. But keep an eye on the snails after a week. If it affects the snails, it might not kill them immediately. So keep checking for up to a week. Much safer options out there. No point risking your own life over unsafe products.
    • ngoomie
      Shrimp and meds containing gentian violet

      By ngoomie · Posted

      Hello! I have a tank that currently does not contain shrimp, but does contain neon tetras which I am currently treating for Ich, as well as some bladder snails. Shrimp will be a later addition, likely cherry shrimp but I'm still doing research just to be sure. Initially I'd intended to buy some sort of Ich-fighting product that contains malachite green after doing a decent bit of research on it, most of which indicated that it should be shrimp-safe so I'd be good if I ever needed to use it again once shrimp were actually introduced (though I should note I'm aware shrimp can't get Ich, I'm more wondering in case the tetras could get Ich again, or something else that responds to similar medication). I ended up not being able to find any MG-containing products without either having to travel quite far or wait multiple days for delivery (which I was worried could lead the Ich to be fatal), and ended up picking up 'Top Fin Ick Remedy', a product that contains gentian violet which is a triarylmethane dye like malachite green. The bottle has two slightly differently worded warnings about its use with invertebrates ("not recommended for" and "not safe for" respectively), but when I'd been researching malachite green, I'd also heard of products that contain MG but not any other ingredients that would be harmful to inverts still being branded with warnings that they could be harmful, just as a "just-in-case" since the manufacturer didn't test it on any inverts, and I'm wondering if maybe it could be a similar situation here. I'm having a very very hard time finding information about gentian violet's use in fishkeeping at all though, it seems currently extremely uncommon. What I will say though is that I'm on day 2 of treating my tetras with it, and the bladder snails seem just fine -- in fact today I noticed what looked to be a bladder snail that appeared to be newly hatched (because of its size) that I hadn't seen before that was zipping around the tank without issue. But obviously, shrimp are not snails, and bladder snails are also notoriously hardy little guys, so what I'm seeing right now could easily be totally inapplicable to cherry shrimp. It might even be inapplicable to other species of snails, for all I know. Has anyone else here ever used anything that contains gentian violet in a tank that actually does contain shrimp? Were they okay, or should I make sure to not use it once shrimp are added?
×
×
  • Create New...