Light question.

Why is this light so dull? I have never had a bar light this before, so I have no clue how it should look.

This is how it looks with the "white light" setting:
View attachment 107696
There is also an all blue setting.

I will post more info on it later, but conspired to my 29g tank, it seems really dull. And its not the water, because the water is clear.

@Byron

I cannot be of much help here, as my experience with LED is next to zero, and the unjits I tried were all inadequate and went back. LED is no different from fluorescent lighting in that it comes in varying spectrums. It does seem to always be on the cool (blue) side, which means insufficient red for plants, unless you have a specific plant light unit.

So does the wight light setting look perfect for a bar light? I wouldn't know... Anyone else? @Colin_T @seangee ?

You said you found a light socket in the garage the other day right? If you're worried about it just get a 6500k glove and use that for the lights

Can't see the pic anymore but it looked OK to me. Tank glass needs cleaning which will affect what it looks like looking into the tank. Check the glass on the light if it is a used one. Sometimes they can build up limescale or a haze on the glass which can be scrubbed off

seangee said:

Can't see the pic anymore but it looked OK to me. Tank glass needs cleaning which will affect what it looks like looking into the tank. Check the glass on the light if it is a used one. Sometimes they can build up limescale or a haze on the glass which can be scrubbed off

Click to expand...

It used to have a limescale on it, but I thought i cleaned it. Whats the best way to do that? I will also scub the glass really good.

JuiceBox52 said:

You said you found a light socket in the garage the other day right? If you're worried about it just get a 6500k glove and use that for the lights

Click to expand...

No, I'm not using that. This bar light is actually made for fish tanks, I will do as @seangee said, and then I will see where I stand.

PheonixKingZ said:

It used to have a limescale on it, but I thought i cleaned it. Whats the best way to do that? I will also scub the glass really good.

Click to expand...

Nylon pot scourer. White vinegar will help it it is limescale but elbow grease should be sufficient.

seangee said:

Nylon pot scourer. White vinegar will help it it is limescale but elbow grease should be sufficient.

Click to expand...

Ok, thanks.

Should I go ahead and do a water change as well?

I've found that with led lights you want them to be the exact same length as the tank. If they are shorter, they sometimes don't do the job.

I'm not an expert in light. But you can do some experiments or read about how the Discus keepers use the different colours lights to enhance the fish colours.

Usually brighter light will look better especially if you have dark background.
But I think you can't make any judgment at the moment as there is no fish and plants in your tank.
The effect will be different when you put fish and plants in it.

Different colours lights will have different effect on the fish, background, etc.

I like blue LED as it enhances my fish colours.
If your fish is darker in colour, you will need brighter light to show off their colours.

I used cheap solutions to change my LED white light.
I wrapped it with blue plastic gift wrapper which I bought for $1-$2.
If you wrap more layers, the light will become dimmer.
You can also combine blue and red by wrapping half the LED length with blue and another half with red wrapper.

Get those transparent plastic gift wrapper that doesn't have any design on it just plain one.
Get either a blue or red. But blue seems to be better.
You don't need a big roll. Just a small roll is more than enough.

But it will better to wait until your fish and plants have arrived before making any changes.
Probably you don't need to make any changes.

Here is how the gift wrapper looked like.