T8 Lights

[Box]

Hi all
one of my t8 bulbs have gone and i dont want to pay lfs prices
so i popped in to homebase and b&q and they have the right size t8s
but the number on the bulb is 840 white light or 830 warm white
Are these any good for a heavy planted tank?

Any advice would be great

Cheers

Box

 

[DrRob]

They'll grow plants perfectly well. I tend to buy bulbs from places like lampspecs with the captain chaos discount code. Go for the 840 at least, rather than the 830 if you go that way as I supsect you'll still find it looks a little on the yellower end of the aquarium light spectrum. I've got a tank under some 865's at the moment and it looks fine, but still yellower than my other tank with a 10k. I personally prefer the look of the 10k bulbs but you'll pay more for them.

 

[Box]

Cheers drRob
Would two 10ks be too much light or be to bright ?

 

[DrRob]

10k refers to the perceived colour of the light, rather than it's brightness. In other words what humans see, rather than the light output. Some colours look brighter to us than others and 10k's tend to the whiter look. 865 daylights by contrast look fairly yellow. For brightness in plant terms you generally want the wattage and most lights in that range will be fine, although you can pay more for specialist plant bulbs, but potentially at the expense of the lighting look of the tank. It's all personal preference there.

 

[Box]

Cheers again I see the light!!
Think I'll go with 2 10k from lampspec as I don't mind paying a tenner but my lfs wants near on £20 for aquatic bulbs

 

[DrRob]

There was a discount code on here not too long ago. Something like captain chaos. Not sure if it'll still be valid.

 

[Box]

Yes mate still works
Cheers