What Fluorescent Bulbs For Malawi Tank ?

[mystic.bertie]

the malawi set up i just bought has tese 2 bulbs fitted

zoo med - coral sun

zoo med - ocean sun

see link http/www.zoomed.com/db/products/Search.p...amp;Search.y=20

anyway the coral sun tube is giving off a blue effect and im not sure whether its helping the fish's colours or not, can someone please tell me what bulbs would be best in a malawi tank

cheers

 

[Inchworm]

Hi mystic.bertie

You might have more luck getting an answer in the Hardware section. I'll move your thread there.

 

[Colin_T]

if the coral sun globe is the actinic420 (blue) then it is too much for most fish tanks. The ocean sun (10,000K) is fine and would be my choice but any globe with a temperature or Kelvin (K) rating between 5,000K& 10,000K is fine for showing off fish.
Globes with a temp above 10,000K generally have too much blue light and can look wierd.
Globes with a temp below 5,000K can make the water look yellow.

 

[mystic.bertie]

if the coral sun globe is the actinic420 (blue) then it is too much for most fish tanks. The ocean sun (10,000K) is fine and would be my choice but any globe with a temperature or Kelvin (K) rating between 5,000K& 10,000K is fine for showing off fish.
Globes with a temp above 10,000K generally have too much blue light and can look wierd.
Globes with a temp below 5,000K can make the water look yellow.

hi thanks for the reply, yes the globe is the coral sun actinic 420 blue, should i just change this for another globe, i am not sure which brands are available to me locally, so is any 10.000k globe ok or does it need to be any specific kind for my malawi fish to show off their colours better ?

i have a juwel vision 260, is it worth buying the reflectors for each globe ?

 

[Colin_T]

Generally any brand of 10,000K globe should be fine, they are all fairly similar as to the colour they provide.

Reflectors help direct the light downwards into the tank so you get more light in the tank and less wasted light. If the lights are in a hood without reflectors, then you can paint the inside of the hood white or silver. This will help reflect the light down into the tank and make it appear a bit brighter.
Unless you have live plants in the tank you don't really need bright light. Only enough light to show off the fish.

 

[mystic.bertie]

Generally any brand of 10,000K globe should be fine, they are all fairly similar as to the colour they provide.

Reflectors help direct the light downwards into the tank so you get more light in the tank and less wasted light. If the lights are in a hood without reflectors, then you can paint the inside of the hood white or silver. This will help reflect the light down into the tank and make it appear a bit brighter.
Unless you have live plants in the tank you don't really need bright light. Only enough light to show off the fish.

cheers colin, ill try and get a globe at my LFS, ill skip the refectors as im not keeping plants and 2 globes should be plenty to show off my fish. my juwel vision 260 hood's design and material does not make it possible to paint so ill stick with 2 globes, cheers for the advice