# Lighting or Nitrates



## Got Greens (Apr 13, 2006)

Hello I have been using a coralife fixture with 2 65w 6700,2 55 8000 that i just previously changed from the 10,000.I haven't been so sucessful with my red plants with there color.Also keeping the nitrates down under 20ppm.I thinking of trying out metal halides.Can i add one metal halide to what i have already or should i go with metal halide coralife fixture. 
240w over a 75


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

You should have enough light now. What fertilizing routine do you use? CO2?


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

With 240W over a 75, you have plenty of lighting. Obtaining the best reds is often a balancing act. You need high PO4, high iron, and low NO3. However, you must balance that the nitrates don't crash when you throw high lighting into the equation. I used to be really concerned about my reds not being 'red enough', once upon a time. Then I realized, what the heck, I have an algae free tank, with healthy plants - so what if I don't see the deep reds until the plants near the top? Get some A. reinickii, it will be red throughout. My 2 cents.


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

Coralfe bulbs have inherently poor emissions for plants. They have a huge spike in the green area of the visible spectrum which does nothing for plants as far as photosynthesis goes.

Here is a spectral output graph for one of their 6700K bulbs. Very little output in the blue and the red region is actually in the orange. Another interesting fact is that their graphs only relate the output to the bulb being graphed...so in other words the highest peak is 100%. It should be rated as lumens per 1000 watts or some similar output.


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

edit


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## Got Greens (Apr 13, 2006)

hoppycalif You should have enough light now. What fertilizing routine do you use? CO2? 

I'm trying some new fertilizing routine.I'm not sure what im missing until i start doing a wider range of tests.My older setup i was using seachem N,P,K with TMG.I just started my new setup for a couple month's now.I went with power sand M,ADA aquasoil....For the dry ferts between layers i used Tourmaline BC,Bacter 100,Penac P,Clear super.For my liquids ferts I am using Green Brighty Step 1,I started using the step seriers after 1 month of the initial setup.So im not sure of my dosing so far.Im nervous of my dosing due to my Discus.If anyone is using the step series some advice is needed.Im tempted to as a little more iron from my seachem bottle but i here mixing can be a problem,not sure of that either.I noticed with my last setup i was using a Aqua 8watt uv and it did reduce the iron and fertlizer levels so i was dosing a little more than i needed to balance it out.Im not sure if this can be doing that again.Next month i will start the Green brighty step 2.

Co2...5lb tank with milwakee regulator and beetle series with a cachon ruby
2 bubbles a second


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