How long can I keep it like this?

O

Opicana

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May 13, 2006
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My NOVA extreme light fixture has only been set up a couple weeks.

Thursday night, the 10,000K bulb went out. Now, there is only the freshwater (54w) bulb remaining.

Friday morning, I e-mailed NOVA. Late Friday evening they responded, telling me to contact bigalsonline.com (where I purchased it). I e-mailed bigals immediately.

Bigals got back to me this morning. They want a picture of the bulb first. I can't do that til late tonight when I get home. I am guess that means the earliest they will ship something out will be Wednesday.

My tank is moderately planted, with low-light plants. No CO2. They seem to be doing fine as of now, but how long can they last like this before they start dying?
 
your plants should be fine.
the 10000k bulb really does nothing for the plants anyway.
You should run in the 6500K range for best results with a planted tank.

the 100K is purely for asthetics in a FW planted tank.
 
If there's still a working bulb, they should be fine.

And I wouldn't say the 10000k bulb does nothing. I know most people refer theirs to be around 6700k, but IME, the kelvin ratings don't matter much.
 
Plagerized from the net...
(http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/aqu...10-000k-little-lesson-light-temperatures.html)

<PROFESSOR MODE ON>
Color Temperature is the measurement of color expressed in Kelvin (K). The reason this measurement is called a "temperature" is because it was derived from a theoretical object called a "black body radiator." When the radiator is heated, it changes from black to red to yellow to white to blue. The lower the Kelvin rating, the "warmer" or more yellow the light. The higher the rating, the "cooler" or more blue the light. It does not actually reflect the actual heat temperature of a light. For example, you can have an 18,000K fluorescent lamp which is cool to the touch. Therefore if you are using a light source such as fluorescent lighting, you will probably not affect the physical heat temperature of the water. Now if you use Metal Halide as a light source, you will need to have a decent distance between the tank and the lamp if you do not wish to heat up the tank.

Here is the color temperature spectrum in Kelvin (K):
Color_temp2.png


Freshwater aquatic plants require peaks in the red spectrum for optimal growth, as freshwater aquatic plants' photosynthetic ability is most sensitive to red light.

Coral requires mostly intense blue light, hence the need for actinic lights. Blue light which is produced is generally not used by freshwater plants and therefore should be avoided.

If one were to use a light source which produced peaks in the red and blue spectrums, the overall effect would look quite garish. If one were to use only red light, the fish in the tank would look rather odd. Now we all want our fish and plants to look their best, so to compromise, there are full spectrum lights in several temperature ranges, and depending on the look you would like to go for.

Referencing the color temperature chart above, typical bright sunny days average between 6000K and 7000K. We all agree that clean bright sun is what makes our fish look the nicest, and as a side effect, generally helps us grow healthy plants.

Therefore, as a result the optimum spectrum for an aquarium would be 6,700K as it offers the most realistic lighting for fish, and the necessary red wavelengths for plants to photosynthesize properly. So that color temp is a win win situation.

10,000K light would emulate the light from an overcast day in real life, 18,000K would be closing in on Actinic light, which would not be beneficial to freshwater aquatic plants, so I would avoid such color temperatures in a freshwater tank
 
Well, my plants were doing magnificently before the outage, and they seem to be about the same right now....maybe some slowing of growth, but its hard to tell in this short a period of time.

I have a 72g tank....two 54w bulbs already make me a low-light tank...If it is true that the 10,000k is useless....than my tank is a really, really, really low light tank. However, my plants grow fast and look very healthy....so that would mean that the whole at least 2wpg...isn't true...

Well, there at least seems to be a consensus that my plants will be okay....which is all I really care about. :p
 
Color temp doesn't really tell you how much PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) the lamp gives off, as color temp only describes the appearance- many different spectral outputs can give you the same color temp. I'm sure someone somewhere has analyzed various lamps for the actual PAR output, but I haven't seen that info.
 
Notophthalmus said:
Color temp doesn't really tell you how much PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) the lamp gives off, as color temp only describes the appearance- many different spectral outputs can give you the same color temp. I'm sure someone somewhere has analyzed various lamps for the actual PAR output, but I haven't seen that info.
Click to expand...

here you go

http://www.aquabotanic.com/lightcompare.htm
 
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