Advice needed for changing lighting tube

[HeMan]

Hi bros ,

Need some advice on whether am I able to change my light tubes to a lower watt tube?

Current Light set I have

.Aquazonic (super bright type) T5
.2 tube ( 1 tube is 24watt & 12000k)

I on 1 tube daily for 8hrs, but my plants doesn't seems to do well ( frogbit, hornwort etc)

I cant ON both tubes as the lights case is burning hot when I On both tube.

My question is can I change a lower watt and lower kelvin tube on my lights?
And if can , how many watts and kelvins do you recommend for a shrimp tanks with low tech plants ? And how come my lights are so hot ?? Is it due to high kelvins?

Many thanks for the advice

[limz_777]

t5ho is always hot , quite normal

[HeMan]

I see , thanks .

Can I change to lower watt tube using my existing light set?

[milk_vanilla]

Aquarist tend to use 6.5k to grow their plants.
Even theres a lot of talks saying that kelvin doesn't affect the plant grow, chlorophyll over their leaves can adapt any light accordingly with their chemical nature process, meaning It's only for your eyes view sake.

In the other side, I do change to 6500k from 10k and my glosso spread better, just did trial and error.

[limz_777]

i find 6.5k quite yellowish

hornwort/frogbits is quite a easy plant to grow perhaps your tank doesnt have enough nutrients ?

[AQMS]

How big is your tank?
T5 is hot, so if you want it to cool down, you need a fan to go with it.
I am not sure about the colour being yellowish because its been quite some time since
i stop using t5.
Freshwater aquarium plants benefit from lighting with a Kelvin temperature in the range of approximately 6500 degrees
that is because it have more red spectrum in that range.

[HeMan]

Mine 2 feet
I see thanks

[AQMS]

2 feet by 1 feet using 1 tube is not enough.
Even the depth of the tank play a part for the light penetration.
Read this article it will give you more useful information on lightings.
http://www.americanaquariumproducts...._lighting.html

[HeMan]

Thanks bro zerofighterx101, that means the heat is not because of the higher kelvin in the tube?

[AQMS]

I am not sure about the relation between kelvin and heat, maybe someone else can answer that question.
From what i know and remember is that Watts is a measure of power level consumed.
More watts mean more power consumed,Light bulbs give off energy as both light and heat so
more watts mean more light and heat are given off.

[HeMan]

Thanks alot guys for the advice

Mine is 2 feet by 1.5ft. 20gallon