Question about CFL lights.
- Thread starter Jellymolly44
- Start date
I should get 1/3 of blue light and 2/3 of red light. How can I determine how many nanometers I have? It says that kelvin only matters to the person themselves as far as being more pleasant to the human eye. Very interesting btw.
I am by no means an expert on the subject, but to the best of my knowledge, in order to determine what nm a given bulb peaks in you have to see the spectral graph of that bulb. If you cannot find it, then the color temp (kelvin)
will give a good idea as to where the bulb peaks. Low Kelvin 3000K or so will have more red, high Kelvin 10,000K more blue. Daylight bulbs 5000K-7500K have the full spectrum with a lot of green. Which is what the human eye sees as brightness. So to achieve the 2/3 red, 1/3 blue & appeal to my eye, what I done was use two bulbs that peak in the red (aqua-glo I believe) & two Daylight 6700K bulbs.
It really was overwhelming to me at first, because I'm somewhat of a perfectionist. But I've come to terms with the fact that I cannot duplicate nature & my plants are growing so I'm happy for now.
will give a good idea as to where the bulb peaks. Low Kelvin 3000K or so will have more red, high Kelvin 10,000K more blue. Daylight bulbs 5000K-7500K have the full spectrum with a lot of green. Which is what the human eye sees as brightness. So to achieve the 2/3 red, 1/3 blue & appeal to my eye, what I done was use two bulbs that peak in the red (aqua-glo I believe) & two Daylight 6700K bulbs.
It really was overwhelming to me at first, because I'm somewhat of a perfectionist. But I've come to terms with the fact that I cannot duplicate nature & my plants are growing so I'm happy for now.
Thanks a lot that really helped. I hope I can succeed. But I have a 75 gallon aquarium with two 6500K bulbs. They are 32 watts. Don't know the lumens though. I guess I can add an aqua glo-bulb. Thanks a lot for your help though. I hope I can get that java moss to grow awesomely.
ya best thing i have done so far is take my cheap floresent strip lights and take out the bulb and everthing and put brackets in for Compact flo bulbs... cfls,,, these babies blow my t5 away.. have four over a 29 and can grow just bout anything... have seven and a two bulb t5 over my 55 gal.. and good on plants...im using 15 watt cfls,, there is a DIY thread on here somewhere show how to do this build... you wont believe difference
Watts is the power consumed by an electrical device.
A CFL is a fluorescent bulb, that was designed to replace a regular incandescent screw in bulb. A 23 watt CFL uses only 23 watts, but puts out the same amount of light as a 100 watt incandescent bulb, just uses alot less power.
I have 4, 20 gal long tanks, each has 3, 13 watt cfls on it, and its perfect. Your hex tank is deper, So I'd try the 23 watt bulbs. but I think I'd stick with only 2.
Be sure to get DAYLIGHT bulbs if you intend on growing any plants.
Dont use Soft whites. try to avoid cool whites if you can.
Daylight bulbs are the best for plants. usually they are in the 6500K (kelvin) range.
A CFL is a fluorescent bulb, that was designed to replace a regular incandescent screw in bulb. A 23 watt CFL uses only 23 watts, but puts out the same amount of light as a 100 watt incandescent bulb, just uses alot less power.
I have 4, 20 gal long tanks, each has 3, 13 watt cfls on it, and its perfect. Your hex tank is deper, So I'd try the 23 watt bulbs. but I think I'd stick with only 2.
Be sure to get DAYLIGHT bulbs if you intend on growing any plants.
Dont use Soft whites. try to avoid cool whites if you can.
Daylight bulbs are the best for plants. usually they are in the 6500K (kelvin) range.
