Totally Lighting Challenged -- HELP!

[Roan Art]

I am so bloody lighting challenged it's not funny. Here I am trying to work up a spreadsheet for new tanks and I just cannot handle the lighting.

I know what I need, just that everytime I go somewhere to find it I get all this mish-mash lingo that boggles my mind. HVO, CFS, flourescent, tube, lamp, actinic, HQI, straight pin, square pin, T5, T8

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!! I have a headache!

The only thing I looked at that I even remotely understood was this one:

48" Current USA 260w Orbit 4 Spectrum Pro Grade Aquarium Lighting System

The 48" Orbit fish tank striplight fixture comes complete with two 65w dual daylight 10,000/6,700k & two 65w dual actinic 420/460nm SmartPaq bulb. Total of 260 watts. Four Lunar Lights with separate power supply and a sleek, powder coated aluminum hood with raised docking mounts. $269.99​

What I get out of the above is: 48", about 3.4wpg, lunar lights, looks good. The rest is mumbo jumbo. Is it a good light?

Blargh. PLEASE -- if I list what I want, would you guys give me some brands, models, whatever that will fit the bill? Any old place that carries them is fine. I can source cheaper, usually, I just need to know *what* I'm sourcing:

1.) I need lighting of 3-4 wpg over 75g tank that will probably have vals. I would prefer 4+ watts, if it doesn't go over my budget. I think vals will grow okay with 3 wpg. Suggestions/corrections welcome/needed

2.) Anything over $400 is definitely not in the budget. I need to buy two of them. Anything under than would be even better.

3.) I would like lunar lights

4.) I must have a reliable brand name and good bulbs, tubes, whatever

5.) I do not want retrofit or kits. I want a complete "hood" or strip or whatever they are called.

All those ones that have actinic bulbs can simply be replaced with FW bulbs, right? Do those actinic do anything but add color?


Please help,
Thanks
Roan

 

[indiginess]

sounds like a nice setup, actually. i'm sure you might be able to scrounge a little cheaper, but between seperate shipping and the ease of setup, it sounds like a decent deal.

you might want to leave in the actinic bulbs, at least one. they produce light with spectographs spiked predominately in the blue spectrum. its xenon if i remember correctly.

the photosynthetic process is most absorbative in the blue light spectrum, thus the 'best' for plants, and least absorbative in the green (guess thats why theyre green huh).

think that will be plenty of light for most plants, with fertilizer, of course.

 

[indiginess]

just pulled a book off the shelf...

actually chloroplasts have more visible light abosorbtion spikes than that.

in the blue AND in the red (actually theres four, chlorphyll A & B in both areas, six if you count the back end reaction)

this would explain why manufacturers of lights are so inclined to indicate the 10,000K and 6500K values on their products (blue and red light). those numbers are related to lightwave physics, but i forget how. that would also explain why most lights look kinda purple. red+blue and all.

finding answers is fun. does that make me a dork? :

 

[indiginess]

Sylvania Gro-Lux bulbs are good substitute for many of the commonly available 'Aquarium Plant Bulbs' and can be found at many home improvement stores for significantly less.... like 8.99 for a 48". don't quote me on that price, as its been a few years, and i live in the midwest.

their spectograph (light wave output) is comparable to bulbs twice (or more) the price.

i remember a really good thread/post on the comparison if anyone wants me do dig it up... i might anyway (go FI).

 

[sardesign]

Marineandreef.com has the Orbit series cheaper than anywhere on the net. I bought mine there (and of course I don't need anymore). I'm tearing it apart to reuse on my big tank now .

 

[Roan Art]

Marineandreef.com has the Orbit series cheaper than anywhere on the net. I bought mine there (and of course I don't need anymore). I'm tearing it apart to reuse on my big tank now .

So, I did find a good light? Man, what a load off my -- I went to AH Supply like everyone else and got totally lost. Most of that is retrofit and I don't have anything TO retrofit. Just my 36g and I'll just buy a smaller version of whatever I get for the 75gs.

I haven't done a lot of sourcing, just for glass canopies, and the site I got the Orbit price I quoted wasn't bad for canopies and the shipping costs were very good. Their actual shipping bites, though. I ordered a glass canopy for the 36g as a "test run" to check how long it took to ship -- Ordered Nov 20th and on Nov 22nd I received an email saying they expected to ship "next thursday or friday" and I would get a tracking number from Yahoo!. TWELVE- FOURTEEN DAYS???? Two weeks to even get it out the door? Obviously they are just very slow or they don't carry the lights in stock. That's not good enough for me.


I'll check out Marineandreef, thanks!

Roan

 

[Roan Art]

sounds like a nice setup, actually. i'm sure you might be able to scrounge a little cheaper, but between seperate shipping and the ease of setup, it sounds like a decent deal.

Glad I found a good light! Whew!

The shipping price is good there, but the actual ship times are horrible. I will not be ordering large $ from these people. As I was telling sardesign, I ordered a glass canopy for the 36g and they aren't going to ship until 12-14 days from my order date. No thanks

you might want to leave in the actinic bulbs, at least one. they produce light with spectographs spiked predominately in the blue spectrum. its xenon if i remember correctly.

I looked up "xenon" and it's all Greek to me -- sorry for the pun

the photosynthetic process is most absorbative in the blue light spectrum, thus the 'best' for plants, and least absorbative in the green (guess thats why theyre green huh). . . .

in the blue AND in the red (actually theres four, chlorphyll A & B in both areas, six if you count the back end reaction) . . .

Now color I can understand. I'm an artist So you are saying that the complemtary colors of green are the ones that plants use to photosynthesize? So, red, blue, violet, orange, in that order? If true, then yellow would not help much in the growth area, even if it's pleasant to the human eye.

What about red leaved plants? They don't use the same color ranges, do they? More like blue, green, yellow, violet, orange, red?

this would explain why manufacturers of lights are so inclined to indicate the 10,000K and 6500K values on their products (blue and red light). those numbers are related to lightwave physics, but i forget how. that would also explain why most lights look kinda purple. red+blue and all.

Yes, it would and now I know a lot more than I did before I posted this

finding answers is fun. does that make me a dork?

Yep, you are a dork, but then I love to find answers to, so that makes me a dork as well

Roan

 

[Roan Art]

Sylvania Gro-Lux bulbs are good substitute for many of the commonly available 'Aquarium Plant Bulbs' and can be found at many home improvement stores for significantly less.... like 8.99 for a 48". don't quote me on that price, as its been a few years, and i live in the midwest.

their spectograph (light wave output) is comparable to bulbs twice (or more) the price.

Good to know! Thanks very much

i remember a really good thread/post on the comparison if anyone wants me do dig it up... i might anyway (go FI).

I found a chart at Foster & Smith. I haven't looked at it much yet, but it seems very basic:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?dept_id=0&siteid=6&acatid=415&aid=1103

Roan

 

[indiginess]

this particular graph does not account for time, so order is not measureable.

but for a somewhat accurate correction (for a fellow color afficianado)....

violet/orange, (nanosecond) blue/red

chlorophyll a chlorophlyll b

i reality they are electron cascades.

the 5th and 6th electron cascades are spiked in the violet-green, and i think thats the transition phase....

oh wait... the book says 'chlorophyll a is bluegreen' and 'chlorophyll b is yellow green'

but neither absorbs green, so its a combination of the two.

i have to quote the source after all this.

biology campbell, rice , 2002. p. 183

(most of this was from memory, but its better to be true to the source)

edit: actually what i mentoned as the 5,6 spectrograph spikes would actually be the 3,4 in order of electron cascade. (transition phase)

 

[Roan Art]

ROFL! Time? You mean speed? I'm a lighting dunce, I speak color but not nanoseconds

Do you have a site for the electron cascade impaired? Something in layperson's terms so I can get a grasp of what you are talking about?

Roan