Why do they cost so much?

T

tamccain

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Feb 7, 2005
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Why does aquarium lighting cost so much. I was at walmart today and I found some shop lights with dual flourescent bulbs for $7.99. These shop lights aren't THAT much different than aquarium lighting - so my question is, why do aquarium lights cost so much more than shop lights???

just a little rant on my part
 
Might be the ballasts and end caps rated for outdoor use or better, listed as waterproof. Could be the usual "hobby creep" associated with the laquarium industry. Some folks use shop lights, so, there ya go.
 
price discrimination would be my best bet. They know that if you have an aquarium, you want the right lighting, so you will pay more for it. For example lexmark makes a two printers that are the same model. They have a home model, and a business model. Exact same printer, only the home model has a circuit chip in it to make it pause between printing pages. The business one dosent pause, and therefore prints faster. THe home one cost more to make because they have to add a chip to hurt its performace, yet its cheeper. Why, because businesses will pay for a faster pritner, and you will pay for lights that say 'aquarium on them'. You can use most shop lights, but you dont want to, you are willing to pay more, so they can get away with charging more.
 
Well I guess the fact that I bought a shop light and am using it shows that "I" won't pay that much for one that says aquarium on it. I just put the shop light behind my current aquarium strip light and it somewhat disguises the shop light. Doesn't look too bad actually.
 
Because different aquarium lights cover different spectrums. For instance some 6500K full spectrum aquarium lights have a CRI index of 98 or higher and duplicate natural noon sunlight perfectly. Others highlight different parts of the spectrum to simulate different types of daylight and intensity. Most shoplights highlight the blue spectrum or red spectrum and do next to nothing for marine life. Sunlight is good for just about every living creature and some of the aquarium lights are the next best thing. For instance, reptiles will all but perish under a shoplight, but the more expensive "vitalight" will help them thrive. Also, in order to keep the "good stuff" coming from these lights, they should be changed at least once a year.
 
JosephMCorbett said:
Because different aquarium lights cover different spectrums. For instance some 6500K full spectrum aquarium lights have a CRI index of 98 or higher and duplicate natural noon sunlight perfectly. Others highlight different parts of the spectrum to simulate different types of daylight and intensity. Most shoplights highlight the blue spectrum or red spectrum and do next to nothing for marine life. Sunlight is good for just about every living creature and some of the aquarium lights are the next best thing. For instance, reptiles will all but perish under a shoplight, but the more expensive "vitalight" will help them thrive. Also, in order to keep the "good stuff" coming from these lights, they should be changed at least once a year.
Click to expand...

So are you saying that the balasts won't allow the bulbs to put out that spectrum of light, even if the bulbs are rated for 6500K +
 
What he's trying to say is that most normal output flourescent bulbs have a usefull life of about 6 months to 12 months (which is quite long for NO bulbs). Different light sources (compact flourescents, Metal Halide, etc.) may have longer life spans of retaining their initial color temp (kelvin rating). Many bulbs deteriorate over time and cheaper bulbs deteriorate quicker, in general! Normal daylight is simulated by bulbs with a kelvin rating somewhere between 5000K and 6700K, with personal preference being a major factor. Freshwater plants will grow optimally somewhere (or anywhere) in this range, but some people prefer the look of specific lights in their tanks. 5000K is red/yellow, while the 6700K bulb is a bit blue-ish. I, personally, prefer a 5300K or 5500K bulb (from AH Supply) bulb which seems to portray the most realistic color of freshwater planted tanks and most colored fish. Somewhere in this range should be what you like for a freshwater tank! Nobody can make your choice for you!
-Mark
 
Tamccain :confused: , you were talking about "Fixtures" and their cost.
JosephMCorbett came out of left field and started talking about different types of light/lights, and their associated color temps/ratings/uses and etc...
Your fixture may or may not be able to use certain types of light/lights becuase of possible ballast issues etc... don't worry bout'it ;)
You should have no problem with most common aquarium flourescent lights.
I too use home/shop fixtures, one real difference in fixtures is reflectors.
Reflectors help focus as much of the lights output as possible into the tank, you can retro-fit reflectors if you want, especially if you plan to do a planted tank or for other high light intensity needs.
 
its cause its at a petstore, look at the river rocks. they are probably offsetting the cost of all the fish most of them kill. i buy regular shoplights and change out the bulbs if im going with plants otherwise i just use whatever as long as its clean looking i have no problems at all and non of my tanks have algae. most pet store sjust cost a lot in general compare their prices to places like big als.
 
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