# Noob with Giesemann Aquafloras



## Jiordie (Jun 4, 2009)

Hi,

I believe this is my first post here. Just to introduce myself, I am VERY new to the planted aquarium hobby and aquaria in general. I started my first fish (and half-dead plant) 20g about 9 months ago and upgraded to a 50g about two weeks ago, bells and whistles hopefully forthcoming. I came here a few weeks ago just to figure out how to keep Amazon swords alive and quickly became obsessed.

Anyway, in the process of choosing bulbs for my 2x39W Hagen Glo T5HO, I found plenty of pictures of Giesemann Midday tanks as well as Midday/Aquaflora tanks, but zero pictures of Aquafloras by themselves. Maybe I don't know how to search effectively.  I figured I'd give them a shot and see for myself, particularly because I wasn't fond of the yellowish cast in photos of the Middays.

I'm hoping that the picture will help someone else at least a little bit. The colors in the picture below are exactly what I see in my tank, though the lights seem much brighter in person. There is a pinkish cast, but I think it would be hardly noticeable in a more heavily planted tank. And to be fair, I only really mind the blatant redness of the Flourite, which was brown under my previous light.

I'm thrilled that my cherry barbs actually look red instead of dingy orange and that my _Rotala colorata_ (?) and _Ludwigia repens_ (?) are wonderfully pink in hopefully the right places.

Anyway, here you go. Bear in mind that I'm still in set-up mode and have very few plants. And OH! Before I forget, I know that someone will tell me to make sure I have CO2. Just to get it out of the way - I have 2x Hagen DIY CO2 canisters/ladders running now. I have to gauge my long-term commitment before spending more money on pressurized 

I'm a NOOB in every sense of the word, so feel free to toss any and all advice my way.


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## bosmahe1 (May 14, 2005)

Jiordie,

I was using the Giesemann Middays for a year and think they are a little to yellow as well. I have a fixture that uses 4x39 watt bulbs so I mixed them with current 6700 K bulbs which look a little blue-er. The combination of 2 x 6700 ks and 2 x Mid days looked good to me. The thing I was concerned about was the Current 6700 Ks have a rather low PAR rating. I am currently running 2 x 6500 K GE Starcoats and the 2 x 6700 k Current bulbs. I think it looks good and so far grows plants well. In month or so, I'm going to mix the Starcoats and year old Giesemann Mid days to compare the appearence and growth.

Thanks for attaching the picture of the Aquaflora bulb. I was curious as to how it would look. Is that a picture of 1 x mid day and 1 x Aquaflora?


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## rich815 (Jun 27, 2007)

I have the Hagen GLO T5HO fixtures over my 72 gal. 1x54W and 2x54W, both 48". What I did was use one of the PowerGLO lamps in between two of the LifeGLO lamps. Great combo of light and my fish and plants look great.

You tank looks good but sparse. (Ah, I remember when my tank was so CLEAN looking!). I'd add some stem plants to soak up nutrients and help prevent algae....


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

I used the Giesemann Middays with a Tek 4x54w and found they washed the plant colors away. Then had issues with GDA and gave up on T5HO. The color was odd and cant really say it was yellow.

I would suggest trying the Planta by Aquamedic over the Aquaflora. It has a better spectral output but is a bit on the reddish side. (both gifs shown are in relative energy output; they are not normalized plots)

http://www.aquacave.com/planta-t5-lamps-by-aquamedic-982.html

Planta:









Aquaflora:









I have some T5HO bulbs for sale - see the link:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/sale-trade/62789-fs-lighting-equipment.html#post479693
PM me if interested in trying any.


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