Is my lighting bright enough?

[SamMarie1323]

I purchased a green BTA a few days ago and it hasn’t changed colour to green yet besides the tips, I’m wondering if anyone knows if this lighting is sufficient or not?

 

[muzikalmatt]

The only way to truly know for sure is to measure with a PAR meter. Typically BTA's want 200+ PAR and upwards of 350 to get full coloration. Your PAR levels will depend on how high the light is mounted over the tank and how deep your tank is, but I would venture to guess that light is not putting out the level of PAR the BTA needs regardless of those variables. It might survive under that light, but I doubt it would fully color up the way you want it to.

 

[tnyr5]

It's far more likely that that light simply isn't blue enough to show the green fluorescense.

 

[muzikalmatt]

It's far more likely that that light simply isn't blue enough to show the green fluorescense.

This is a great point! You can see hints of green in the picture he posted but without the blue spectrum he won't get that eye-popping florescence.

 

[SamMarie1323]

This is a great point! You can see hints of green in the picture he posted but without the blue spectrum he won't get that eye-popping florescence.

Even with the blue light it doesn’t look much different!

 

[muzikalmatt]

Even with the blue light it doesn’t look much different!

Ah yes, I see. It should definitely be greener than that. You might need to give it some time as you said you've only had it a few days, but I would do some research on your light and see if you can see what kind of PAR output it's giving you. Then at least you'll have something to go by without having to make any PAR measurements.

 

[mcshams]

BRS rents par meters for a week if you need to check. Good PAR meters are expensive, and not very useful once you've dialed up your lighting for a tank and/or are switching lighting...so people rarely spend the $400-$600 for one.