rottie98

I now have a 75 gallon freshwater setup. I bought a used light in my LFS yesterday for 100.00 . The light has 2 Actinic lights and 2 other lights that have 10k on them and they are white they are all 65w. soon I will be getting some plants not sure yet of what i am going to be getting. my question is with plants do i need the Actinic lights, i actually like the white better than the blue. the blue light just seems to make my tank dark. sorry for the my stupidity , i am trying to learn about the plants and lights and it really confuses me.
thankyou
John

mathas

Actinic bulbs benefit marine tanks far more than freshwater, so to answer your question, no you don't need them. Your plants would receive far more usable light if you replaced them with a bulb suited to freshwater tanks, however, 260W over 75 gallons is quite a lot of light.

If you were to replace the actinic bulbs with something more suited to freshwater plants, you would have to tread very cautiously to avoid algal outbreaks. Additionally, the more light your plants receive, the higher their demand for nutrients and carbon... if you use that much light, you may find that you need to fertilize on a regular basis and provide supplemental carbon somehow (either gaseous or Excel) to avoid growth problems.

Regal

What type of light fixture is it? My 75 gallon has four 65watt bulbs so I was wondering if it's Power Compact like mine.

The actinic bulbs do nothing for plants but if it's the same type of light as mine I can tell you the bulbs are expensive. The fixture included bulbs but at more than $20 each to replace them I'm not looking forward to replacing them when they burn out in a couple years.

I can tell you from personal experience on the same size tank that Mathas is right. 260 watts is too much for a 75 gallon. I have had BBA algae and Staghorn and now string algae since I got this light fixture.

I was going to suggest two 10,000k bulbs and two 6,700 bulbs. (If it’s the same as mine then the bulbs are 10,000/6,700 combos) but if you have two switches maybe you should just use one and not use the actinic bulbs at all. That would give you 130 watts and maybe less algae. You will still need co2 of some sort.

rottie98

Very useful info thankyou very much

rottie98

hmmm I realyy dont know what kind of bulbs they are, im sorry. Its a JBJ acua lighting. Its got 4 bulbs and 2 switches and 3 fans, only thing that is weird is the only works off of one switch. the bulbs are in a shape of a u then there is this white ceramic end on it that plugs into the light fixture, dont know if that explains what type it is. when i bought it at the LFS it was used and came with no manual at all. thanks for all the useful info.
I guess i will do what you said and use 10k in the front or the back and something lower on the other side, or just use 2 10k and not use the other 2.

Regal

Oh ok, mine is a Current Dual Satellite so different brand but the U shaped bulbs are power compact bulbs. If you decide to get new bulbs check to see if the pins on the end of the bulb are in a line or in the shape of a square because there are different pin configurations.

You can probably find the manual online. It sounds like you found a really nice power compact fixture at a great price!