Fluorescent Light Retrofit

[F 1]

Some of you may recall my post awhile ago about getting a 25 gal setup up and running for free. Well I got it home safe and sound and had to spend many hours just cleaning it. It was covered with some kind of white calcium or mineral deposits. Anyway, it looks almost as good as new now.

The light was a double incandescent fixture that was rusted, burned and crusted with the aforementioned white deposits. I had an 18" double fluorescent desk lamp sitting around so I gutted both the lamp and the aquarium light fixture and performed a retrofit.

The light fixture now has two 15 watt fluorescent bulbs labeled as “Daylight”. Should I be concerned about these bulbs? Will the wavelength produced by the “Daylight” designation be alright or should I replace the bulbs with a more aquarium friendly type?

F1

 

[sinistral]

Grats on getting the tank up and running. If you aren't going to keep plants, I don't know that there will be much difference to the fish about the color spectrum (you might notice though if the light looks more yellow or green)-- so it should be fine. Is there any way of checking what the color spectrum is? Some of the "daylight" bulbs I've seen are in the 5000K range which is a bit too low for plant keeping if that's what you're planning to do in the future.

I wonder if you might be concerned about algae...?

 

[F 1]

The light produced seems very white with no hint of yellow or green. I don't remember is there is a manufacturer's name on the bulb but if there is I'll see if I can find the specs on the bulbs.

I am going to keep it planted. It had some swords already in it. I'll be adding bacopa and some other broad leafed plants that were in my old 10 gal. I guess I'll always be concerned about algae but hopefully proper stocking and cleaning will take care of that.