Is It Safe To Only Have 1 Bulb In A 2 Bulb Light?

[onidrase]

I've noticed recently that often times when the lights are off in my 75 gallon tank, my fish are fearless, roaming around searching for food, the whittling hobo even comes out to suck on the front of the glass when I stand right next to him, but I've never seen him with the lights on

The cichlids are the only guys who are out and about with the lights around, some people often ask me when they see my tank "Where are all the fish?" and I just have to say "they're in there... somewhere.."

The light fixture is a double t5, it's bright as heck, It's actually better at lighting up my room at night than the ceiling fan thing is. My tank is also void of plant life having silver dollars who like to destroy everything. It's just black, brown, and some more black, a little more brown, a touch of red, and some lighter brown, maybe a little gray. So there's nothing in there that's really reflecting into their eyes and causing them to be all too shy.

Ultimately, is it safe to take one of the bulbs out of the light fixture and just run it on one bulb? Or are there maybe some bulbs out there which glow dimmer so it's not blindingly bright?

Thanks much

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Sell the t5s and buy a plain old standard fluor. Just try to get a bulb with a high CRI value. That stands for color rendering index and it refers to how natural colors will look under the light. A rating of 100 means they will look the same as they would under natural sunlight. Anything over 90 will be great and even the high 80s are acceptable.

If possible get a t8 fixture.

You can run the t5 with a single bulb, but that will just mean 1/2 of the tank is too bright

You can also raise the lighting higher above the tank which may reduce the intensity enough it you can get it high enough in an acceptable fashion.

 

[onidrase]

Sell the t5s and buy a plain old standard fluor. Just try to get a bulb with a high CRI value. That stands for color rendering index and it refers to how natural colors will look under the light. A rating of 100 means they will look the same as they would under natural sunlight. Anything over 90 will be great and even the high 80s are acceptable.

If possible get a t8 fixture.

You can run the t5 with a single bulb, but that will just mean 1/2 of the tank is too bright

You can also raise the lighting higher above the tank which may reduce the intensity enough it you can get it high enough in an acceptable fashion.

oh! I totally forgot I had a t8 fixture in my closet

came with the tank, it seems to give off a bit of a purple glow, but nothing too bad. I actually kinda like it, though I do enjoy the idea of natural sunlight simulation, though I feel like the lights in there are 50/50 actinics.

The fish are immediately coming out to play after the lighting change and what a difference those lights made, I no longer feel like I'm staring at the pure essence of the blazing sun when I watch my fish at night. I'm actually rather terrified of how bright a 4x t5 fixture is.