lighting question

[ronyam040404]

I bought a Coralife dual strip lighting fixture for my 29gal tank this weekend and it came with a 10000K 55W bulb and one 55 watt actinic bulb already installed. I think I will probably replace the actinic bulb but, do I need to replace the 10000K bulb also? Is 10000K too high?

thanks
Susan

 

[djlen]

I would replace only the acitinic with a 6700K, install it and see how it looks to your eye. The 10000K won't hurt the plants, but is not as natural looking as something in the 6 - 7000K range, IMO. See how it looks with a tube in that range before replacing both.
Maybe the place that you bought the hood will exchange tubes for you.

Len

 

[geoffgarcia]

I didn't think strip lights came with 55w bulbs? is it a 4ft tube? that should be 40w.
if its powercompacts then its a different story.

 

[ronyam040404]

Thanks for the advice (again), len. I was worried about that 10000K light.

I made a mistake in my earlier post... the lights are each 65W and yes, it is a compact flourescent fixture. It looks pretty sharp! I can't wait to start setting this whole thing up. Where is that UPS man!?

Susan

 

[Hydro]

Coralife also makes a double PC light strip for freshwater, which comes with 2 x 65w 6700K bulbs. You probably got the one for salt water with the actinic bulb.

While you can certainly replace the actinic bulb, but if you got yours at your LFS and the freshwater version is available, you may be able to exchange it. It will save you the expense of purchasing a replacement bulb, unless of course you can use the actinic bulb elsewhere or you got a great deal on the light strip.