Lighting Question

[STEWARDSONS]

i just purchased an arcadia marine blue t5 39w bulb from pets at home which was reduced down to £10. i got it home and plugged it in and its a very pinky colour, in fact its not blue at all except for about a cm at each end and you cant really tell its on.

the tube is a light grey colour all the way along, could it be a dodgy bulb?

i was under the impression that they were pretty bright and with my marine white would give a sort of UV effect.

am i wrong?

 

[ian]

what Kelvin ratings are the bulbs?

It should say somewhere on the packaging.

 

[STEWARDSONS]

what Kelvin ratings are the bulbs?

It should say somewhere on the packaging.

does 420mn mean anything?

here is the description of the blue bulb

arcadia bulb

 

[StandbySetting]

420nM is borderline UV, it is an actinic tube and is designed to make corals fluoresce, it is not suitable for plant growth either, if you want the shimmer effect then you'll need metal halides which would be stupid on a freshwater tank or LED's, or are you after that purple glow that some UV tubes give off? Only certain compounds fluoresce when subjected to light at a wavelength of about 400nM.