I Got the Wrong Bulbs!!

SP2

SP2

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Nov 28, 2003
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Lansing MI
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I just recieved some bulbs that I ordered and got the wrong ones!! I got something called smartlamp. Its a 96 watt bulb but is 10000K and one half of the tube is blue. (ultra-actinic). My question is will these work for planted tank? The tank is a 135 gallon. It will have a total of 4 96 watt bulbs over it. 2 are regular 10000k bulbs and I will be adding these bulbs. I know I should probably get all new bulbs and go down to 6500K or so, but for now I want to go with these. Any thoughts?? Thanks
 
I personally wouldn't do it. Especially if you ordered something else and they screwed up.

Actinic wont be of any value to your plants and plants generally prefer between 5500-6700K - so the 10,000k is a bit high.
 
The light you got is for a reef setup. While you can use it for a planted tank without any ill effects onthe plant, you probably will not be pleased with the blue cast of the actinics. This light spectrum is used by the plants, but it's not as vital for them as it is for corals.

Of course, you could always decide to go salty.... ;)
 
I ordered a light and these came in it. I took them to my LFS and they said they would trade me for what I wanted, then it turned out they didn't have what I wanted. SO....I ended up putting them in. The plants LOVE them...they are going nuts! I am sure its just the extra wattage but I don't mind the color too much so I guess I will just run them for awhile then order what I really want when I get the cash. Thanks for you replies!!!
 
Basically you have the equivalent of 3 10,000K bulbs and 1 acintic bulb right? That's not bad really. I've personally never used acintics but I hear they make a good combination with daylight bulbs. They supposedly make fish colours look really good, although Leopardess is right that the light might not be very useful for plants.

Leopardess just a side note: plants don't really care what colour temperature a bulb is. K rating has a greater effect on what we think of the bulb, as in what colour it makes out tank look. It really doesn't measure light that the plants get.
 
However there IS a relationship between a colour temperature and the peak wavelength in its spectrum. It's called Wien's law.

Wavelength (nanometers) = 3,000,000 / Col temp (Kelvin).

So at 4,500K, the peak wavelength is 666nm (red) at 6,000K the peak wavelength is 500nm (bluish green) and at 7,500K the peak wavelength is 400nm (deep blue)

Outside these temperatures, the peak is outside the visible spectrum.

And in every case, that's just the peak wavelength - all other wavelengths are present as well, in slightly lesser intensities, adding up to a more-or-less white result.

So the power from each part of the spectrum is different at different K ratings.
 
Color tempertaure is the color that a standard heated object emits at a given temperature. So, as gbolton said, redder at lower color temp, bluer at higher.

It all gets very complicated when one starts to deal with fluorescent bulbs that emit in sharp peaks, rather than broad spectra.

In the end, aquatic plants have become very adaptable when it comes to spectrum. If you can stand looking at it, then a given fluorescent bulb will probably be fine. Diana Walstead did some experiments on various types of NO fluorescent tubes, and found that (gasp!) GE cool white gave better growth than anything else.

K rating simply means how the light looks our eyes.
Click to expand...
That sounds more like color rendering index.
 
If that were the case, you'd be able to grow plants in pure actinic light. And you can't.

From everything I've read, the K rating does matter as it is indicative of the spectrum that the light emits. Most of us would like to find a light similar to the sun at noon.

There are some threads about this at aquabotanic if you're interested. You might have to search for them...
 
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