Growing Bulbs

I agree that the right side of the tank looks nicer, well at least in my opinion. Thanks for the recommendation of the $6 bulbs. I guess I will have to decide how much I am willing to spend then look for the appropriate bulbs. If the cheaper Home Depot or similar bulbs work just as well I should just save some money and go with them.
 
Right Side

I'll be number three to say the right looks better and greener. I have had 10,000K bulbs and the lights changed the color of my pants from green to a "washed-out" yellowish/gray.. I have also had the 8800K's and they were a little better, but the 6700K's looked real nice! (6500K's would be fine too)

Since I haven't used that exact "9325K" bulb, I can only guess it would look in between the 10,000K and 8800K. And, that would be way too 'white' and bright for my tank.
 
Thanks for the compliment. I suppose it all comes down to personal preference, then. Most people I know were blown away by the improvement from the 6700k to the 9325k. This picture probably isn't a good way to tell since the left side is full of reddish plants like Sunset Hygro and Rotala indica, as well as the brown driftwood.
Check out this thread for more pictures comparing the full tank under 6700K and the full tank under 9325K.
 
I also checked the thread and there were no pics..

Even on the "home" website, page 2 and 3 are no longer available.

I'd really like to see the comparison with just the 6700K lights, then the other higher 'K' lights.. I know 10,000K's "killed" the green color my plants have... :(

("killed the green color" = "washed out" the green)
 
Go to page five (it took a while for the bulbs to get shipped). The pictures start there.

These 9325K bulbs aren't the typical high-Kelvin reef bulbs you guys are thinking of. I've got a 10,000K bulb that is as far from this bulb as can be. The light is more like the "beauty lights" or a Gro-Lux bulb. A lot of red and blue output (key areas of the spectrum for plant growth) give the bulb a somewhat purplish tint, but still brilliant white.

Also note that I only wired up these bulbs at 55w (2 outputs from a Workhorse5 ballast), while the 6700K's were run at 70w (all four outputs of a Workhorse5 ballast). They aren't as bright, and the plants *still* showed increased pearling.

Here is a picture of the bulbs, side by side (6700K obviously on top):

bulb-6700k vs 9325k-t.jpg
 
I just went to the link, and to page 5 and still no pics.. :confused:


Seems like those 9325K bulbs have a 'coating' on them, or some other gas added to color it some..(?) It doesn't look like the 10,000K or 6700K "white" light bulbs I use.

Is there a way you can post the comparison here on Aquaria Central?
 
The 9325K's are standard tri-phospor tubes, but the focus is on blue and red spectral output with little green. Midrange wavelengths are more intense to the human eye but serve to grow algae more than higher plant forms.

Aquaria Central only allows 550 pixel wide pictures so I had to resize. Here is the picture with just the 6700K bulbs...

tank-6700k only-t.jpg
 
And by the way, yes these look nothing like the 10,000K or 6700K "white" bulbs you generally see. These are optimized for plant growth (tailored to the Photosynthetic Action Spectrum). This just goes to show you how misleading the Kelvin Color Temperature rating can be. It is an index designed for incandescent bulbs, still being applied to fluorescent bulbs.

Here is the tank lit with only the 9325K bulbs. Even the fish's coloration is much improved. Harlequin Rasboras look brilliant and the orange hues on the Sunset Angels stand out a great deal more...

tank-9325k only-t.jpg
 
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