Lights..............

[zoeb2912]

Hi all,

need some help with lights please.

At the moment i have 2 sylvania standard f30w cool white lights in a light-glo hood. came with tank.

what tubes would be best to bring out the fishes colours? and also good for the plants. thanks.

atm the tank has a yellow tinge and would prefer a crisp white with maybe a hint of blue? x

 

[DrRob]

You're after colour temperature. Usually quoted in Kelvin. Your tubes look to be 4200K, which is fairly yellow.

Bulbs sold as daylight run at around 6500K and some aquariums ship with 10000k tubes for a brighter white look.

The plants won't care.

You can replace with 6500K tubes fairly cheaply, 10000K's will cost you more. I've never tried going beyond that as it's been white enough for me and after that the pictures I've seen have shown things looking washed out.

 

[OldMan47]

To get rid of the yellowish tint, use a 5500K to 6500K tube. It is likely to be marked as a daylight spectrum because noon sun runs about 5500K in spectrum. I would avoid going much higher in temperature because you will start losing the benefit of the light for your plants. Research has shown almost no effect of spectrum in the range of 2700K to well over 6500K but a 10000K tube is really too blue and is better suited to use with corals.