# Types of lights ?



## bsmith (May 6, 2005)

what are the kinds of lights that you can get for a freshwater tank, i really like the kind in saltwater tanks because it looks blue, but what is out there and what are the differences including price ? thanks


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## maxpayne_lhp (Jan 19, 2005)

White-color is the best to me! And it's cheapest!


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## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

50/50 is usually best of FW to bring out most color of fish but have seen some natural daylight colors of 12k pull some very nice colors too.


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

A tri-phosphor bulb (mine is called triton) is pinkish and makes my rosy barbs look even rosier than usual. But I don't think I'd want to use a triton as the only bulb, so if I had only one bulb it would be a daylight bulb.


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## DavidDoyle (Jan 18, 2005)

Try reading here for great info on lightiong and bulbs- http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/4742/lighting.html

Tritons are supurb bulbs- they are not pinkish- rather they are a full spectrum, tri-phosphor, daylight bulb. The do not have to be replaced until they burn out. They are great as the only bulb for a tank.


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

To me the Tritons look pinkish, in comparison to a daylight bulb. I think they have more red in their spectrum than daylight bulbs. But you're right, they are very good bulbs. I wouldn't want one as the only bulb in a tank for aesthetic reasons, not because there would be anything wrong with it! I just think that the pinkish light makes the tank look a bit funny.


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## Gracie6363 (Mar 13, 2005)

my 10 gallon tank i have a lights incandesant hood.... i bought at walmart these bulbs for it called deep blue sea. They are regular bulbs, coated dark blue. I use one of those and one flouresant thats made for the tungsten hood.


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## bsmith (May 6, 2005)

ok so what are basic prices for each of the top 3 kinds of bulbs for a 30" bulb ?


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## bsmith (May 6, 2005)

i have been looking on ebay and found a "Zoo Med RL-36 Reef 50/50 " bulb and a "Power~Glo Fluorescent " & "Marine~Glo Fluorescent " & "Zoo Med OL-36 Ocean Sun " & "Sun~Glo Fluorescent " 
WHATS THIS MEAN !!!! all i need to know is for my freshwater tank, whats the best 2 ? thanks this is new material for me


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## blakeoe (Apr 27, 2005)

i Just put two aqua-glo lights in mine and they look pretty good and my plants love them.


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## sbsociety (May 1, 2005)

I use the 50/50 too... It runs about 16 bucks at Petco, but this one private owned little shop by my house sells the same ones for 8 bucks... I don't go there though cause it's small and they only sell goldfish. (If the tank is even stocked)


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## bsmith (May 6, 2005)

i have no plants, just fish, you think it will still be good, and make their colors stand out really well ? they are all about the same price on ebay so it just depends on which one is the best ?


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

Perhaps the color of bulb you want depends on the fish you have? As I mentioned, the pinkish Tritons make my rosy barbs lok especially rosy. So maybe if you had red/orange/yellow fish the Triton would be good. But if you had blue/green fish, maybe the 50/50 bulb would work best. (This is just a guess; I have never tried a 50/50 bulb.)

Er, I think the 50/50s are available only in compact flourescent format; if you're getting just plain cylindrical bulbs 50/50 is out, but you could get one daylight bulb and one marine blue actinic bulb; that's what 50/50 bulbs are!


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Triton bulbs are not pinkish (at least not to me or what the K and CRI tell me). Bulbs higher in the spectrum (up to 10K) will give off a more pinkish glow. 8800K bulbs are very pink. 5000K is what is know as natural daylight. Nice white glow with just the smallest hint of yellow. Anything lower than 5000K is getting more yellow to the eye. 6700K is great for showing off true colors. 10K or 10000, is whitish-blue (not actinic). WHatever you chose be sure to purchase a bulb with a high CRI (over 90) and a good lumen output.


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

What can I say? The Triton bulb I use looks pinkish to me in comparison to an Arcadia Freshwater Lamp, and in comparison to an Interpet Daylight bulb. I use the Interpet Triton bulb. Perhaps Triton bulbs made by other companies are different?

Hmmm, well, at least someone else agrees with me that Tritons look different from daylight bulbs. On this web page,
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/2637/index.html
Hoa G. Nguyen writes that an Interpet Triton bulb looks "Purplish" which isn't too far off from my "pinkish".

Maybe color is in the eye of the beholder?


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Has to do with the CRI. And triton bulbs should have a violet tint. The higher the K towards 10000, the more violet the bulbs emits to the human eye. A triton bulb with a lower CRI may indeed "look" pinkish to the human eye but it not pinkish. THe bulb he uses in his comparrison chart doesn't give off much in the way of Lumens either. Not sure if this is true for all triton bulbs but I would imagine it isn't.


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

OK, I'll go for "violet" instead of "pinkish". The Triton I use appears brighter to my eye than the Arcadia Freshwater bulb that's next to it, but probably simple appearances aren't a good judge of lumens emitted.


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## malawi4me2 (Jan 18, 2005)

On my 120g FW, I run 2X96w 10K PC flourescent, and 2X96w 03 Actinic and I am happy with the effect. Also, my plants (java fern, giant vallisneria, and annubias barteri) are all doing very well. I think that it's all a matter of personal preference (especially since you don't have any plants to consider).


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## DavidDoyle (Jan 18, 2005)

From http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/4742/lighting.html by Richard J. Sexton




> Actinic
> These tubes emit light only from the blue end of the spectrum and are used in marine setups to supply the blue that is missing from normal aquarium lighting but is required by marine algae, anemones and corals. They are usually only available from specialty aquarium stores and are not cheap. They have little or no application for growing freshwater aquarium plants.


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## bsmith (May 6, 2005)

i am not sure what brand or style the bulb is but i got the 50/50 bulb at petsco and i love it. it is really blue and glows my blue rocks and accents the fish really nicely. i like that bulb a lot right now.


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## blakeoe (Apr 27, 2005)

Can someone explain this in lay terms? I would like to know what yall are talking about but all i know is the difference in florecent and incandescent. And i prolly misspelled them both.


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

Urgh... Basically, we're talking about the colors of light that the bulbs emit. This graph sums up the sort of thing we're discussing:








This is the graph for the Arcadia Plant Pro. bulb. At the bottom of the graph we have different colors of light; the bottom scale is the wavelenth of light in nanometers. To help you understand it better, the background of the graph shows roughly what color the wavelength corresponds to, eg at 500nm the light is green. On the left we have the amount of light emitted at this wavelength (the scale doesn't really matter here). Different bulbs emit different amounts of light in different parts of the spectrum. And there are several things that result from this:

One is, the bulb itself looks a certain color, and Simpte and I were discussing the exact color of the Triton bulb.

Another is the Kelvin scale that Simpte mentioned ("The higher the K towards 10000, the more violet the bulbs emits to the human eye. ") Here's a good explanation of the Kelvin scale, from
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/2637/index.html
"The Kelvin temperature is an approximation of the color tone of the light (the higher the bluer, the lower the redder). It is supposedly the color of light that a black body (a piece of metal) will radiate if heated to that temperature, but it's not very precise when applied to lamps other than incandescent. Noon time sunlight in the tropics is around 5000K. In the temporate zone, it's more toward 6000K."

And Simpte also mentioned CRI ("A triton bulb with a lower CRI may indeed "look" pinkish to the human eye but it not pinkish."). The Web page mentioned above explains CRI this way:
"The CRI (Color Rendition Index) is an indication of how true the colors in the environment (your plants and fish) will look to your eyes under this light, with 100 being best (that of sunlight)."


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