Need Help With Lighting! I've About Had It With These Flouresc

[Jackiee]

I'm trying to do new lighting on my tank because my old light just doesn't cut it. It does nothing for the color of my fish..
I've already started buying and trying all different types of bulbs the past few days and this is ridiculous!

I've been through just about every bulb at my LFS....
from 10,000K to 6700K to 6500K to 50/50 actinic, even tried just a "color enhancing" bulb made by Aqueon that didnt even have a labeled kelvin...

Now tonight, I just purchased a 5000 K bulb to try called ZooMed Flora Max, that I only got home to discover was defective and wouldnt turn on now I have to return it and try another one.

All the bulbs except the color enhancing one have been way too blue. the color enhancing one was way too red/pink.. The blue bulbs make my jack dempseys look amazing, but washes out the color of my gravel, driftwood, decorations, and blood parrots.

The red/pink bulb that was labeled "color enhancing" made my blood parrots look amazing, but made everything else in my tank look too red/pink/purple, and was not too easy on the eyes.

All I want is a nice crisp white bulb that enhances all my fish's colors without washing out/coloring everything else in the tank a color its not supposed to be!

Help?

 

[minnnt]

Are you just running one tube? This is where the problem lies. I have a Power GLO and Life GLO and they're excellent. I was advised to replace the front bulb with a blue one to enhance the look of the fish. If you do only have one bulb then go for one that reproduces daylight conditions (whichever one that may be) then add a strip of led lights of either pure white or VERY light blue.

HTH

 

[Jackiee]

Yes, I only have one strip unfortunately. I've tried 3 different bulbs with daylight labels. "super daylight, ultra daylight, full spectrum daylight" but none of them are what they say, they all look way too blue..
I've been back and forth to my nearest LFS (which is 25 minutes away) 5 times now! returning and exchanging bulbs! I was told 5,000K will be closest to normal white day light so that's why I tried purchasing the "Flora Max" bulb.. It says it's best for plants but it's the only one labeled as low as 5000K. But, my luck, it was faulty when I brought it home and was broke, it wouldnt light up, so I'm still clueless on what the color of it looks like... I'm hoping it's not pink or anything. I've heard some "plant bulbs" can look pink.

 

[minnnt]

I have a plant growth bulb on one of my smaller tanks and it is very pink.

I believe 6000k is the closest to daylight as this is the usual heat bulbs that car manufacturers use in their Xenon headlights which are designed to replicate daylight conditions.

Normally the higher you go the bluer the light, so 5k might be just right for you. If you could source a DIY led setup also, even if it is for your benefit not the fish/plants then all would be good

 

[KittyKat]

If you want a nice white, get colour 850 or 865 by Philips/Osram/whoever, they're 2-4 pounds online and about 7 pounds in a shop.. so expect to pay under $5 if you get them online in US.

 

[Jackiee]

What's the difference in color between the Osram 850 and 865? I would have to order those online.. My LFS only carries ZooMed brand, Coralife, and Aqueon.

I have a plant growth bulb on one of my smaller tanks and it is very pink.

I believe 6000k is the closest to daylight as this is the usual heat bulbs that car manufacturers use in their Xenon headlights which are designed to replicate daylight conditions.

Normally the higher you go the bluer the light, so 5k might be just right for you. If you could source a DIY led setup also, even if it is for your benefit not the fish/plants then all would be good

What Kelvin is your plant growth bulb? The one I tried buying that was faulty, said it was 5000K.. are all plant bulbs pink or just certain Kelvin bulbs? The employee at my LFS said he has used the Flora Max bulb in one of his tanks and that it just looks like outside daylight and he likes it, that's why I tried purchasing it.

 

[minnnt]

I have no idea, its one I inherited. I had a sun glow before and it was very... Erm... like a normal fluorescent light. Changed it for a plant growth tube and it is very pink. I don't mind either way, its on a fry tank that's not very planted. Lol.

 

[KISSfn]

I had an Aqueon 8000K that was very white. My fish didn't like it so I had to downgrade.

 

[KittyKat]

What's the difference in color between the Osram 850 and 865? I would have to order those online.. My LFS only carries ZooMed brand, Coralife, and Aqueon.

850 is sunlight, 865 is cool daylight (and the other colours are listed on wikipedia); they're not aquarium bulbs, just normal ones which are used in houses, offices, etc, so you may be able to get them from a hardware store.

 

[Mikaila31]

Walmart carries a GE bulb in the fish section. Listed at 9325K. I use this light on any of my show tanks. When you first plug it in it will look very pink. All fluorescent bulbs need a proper break in period so give it a few days. Its the only spectrum that was used in both my sig and avatar pictures.

 

[Jackiee]

Well, I went and returned the defective Zoo Med Flora Sun 5000K bulb and got a new one to try. I also bought an 8000K to see how it looked. After putting them both in, the 8000K was nice and bright but a little too pink for my liking.. The 5000K bulb was the best by far.. It makes everything seem as it should.. My orange Blood Parrots are absolutely glowing, but so are my blue Jack Dempseys. It's a good balance. Does not make my gravel look washed out or my decorations miscolored. It might have a very very slight pink tint to it but hardly anything. I think it looks great so I'm finally sticking with this one.

The 9325 bulb and any Kelvin like that isn't carried around my area, I would have to buy online and try it out, but with all the exchanging and returning I've been doing lately I didn't really want to mess with that over internet orders.

How much of a difference in color is there after the break in period? The 8000K bulb was brighter which I liked, but was too pink. The 5000K was dimmer for some reason (don't know why because they're the same wattage) but less pink so I've had it on the tank since yesterday. Would the 8000K pink tones diminish a lot after broken in? Or only slightly..

Thanks for all the help everyone! I'll try to take a picture that shows the coloration well.

 

[KittyKat]

As far as I understand, the bulbs are all the same brightness, the thing which varies is how you perceive the light.. humans are not as good at seeing in certain lights as we are in others.

 

[Geoff-]

The colours shouldn't change much over the life of the bulb, if anything it's your eyes adjusting to how the tank now looks.

The higher the colour temperature the more "blue" the light should look - a 9000K light source is very blue. Daylight is about 5700K-6500K, and incandescent light is very yellow and about 3000K.

I have found (with car headlights at least) that 4300K is a good "natural" light with some warmth left in it. HID bulbs that are 4300K look like halogen globes except a lot brighter. HID bulbs that are 6000K look like daylight.

For a fish tank I would try and stick with a lower colour temperature as it will match your room lighting better rather than being blue tinted.

Our eyes vary in sensitivity depending on the colour, we are much more sensitive to green light compared with red or blue. Plants actually like red and blue light, they reject green (as reflected light) which is why we see them as being green - we are getting the light they don't want and the helpful colours are absorbed for photosynthesis.

Different fish colours will 'pop' with different lights so it may be a case of trial and error. I'm currently using "tropical plus" compact fluorescents which have one red tinted tube for plant growth and one white tube for general viewing. Aside from them not being powerful enough they work great !

 

[Jackiee]

I seen a 5500 K daylight bulb at the pet store today and decided to try it. It had too much of a yellow/green tint to it. I put the Flora Max 5000K back on.. it has a little more of a pink tint but it doesn't bother me and it does more for my fish's colors.. seems to enhance all of them more than the 5500K bulb. Think I'm gonna stick with the 5000K one.

 

[Geoff-]

The tricky part with fluorescents is that they don't output a smooth colour spectrum like an incandescent.

In an incandescent if you run the filament much below its rated power you will get a very warm spectrum, like 2000K-3000K. If you run it at a normal level you'll get say 3500K and if you have a halogen bulb that runs hotter it will get up to 4000K. Each of these lights will seem progressively whiter. Daylight is whiter still at 5000K, again a nice broad spectrum of light (technical term is HIGH colour rendering index CRI because all colours are displayed accurately).

Fluorescents and LEDs use phosphors to generate single wavelengths of light. If you've ever seen a premium fluoro tube for an office it might say "tri-phosphor" or "quad-phosphor". This means there are 3 or 4 different phosphor types each one outputting a different wavelength. As a result you have a "red" peak a "green" peak and a "blue" peak at a particular wavelength and not a lot in between. Hence the CRI can't be as good as an incandescent.

Now when you have a tube that has one blue phosphor and one red phosphor, the relative strengths of each will result in a certain colour temperature rating in K. However, you only have blue and red light generated!! So it will accentuate blue and red colours and look really weird.