Marine Lights

[barker_23]

Hi,

Hope someone can help me. A while ago i purchased a Arcadia Overtank Light jobby, with marine lights, 2 marine white and 2 blue.

Since then i have decided not to go with marine for now and im going to just go with tropical with a few plants for now.

Would i be able to use any of the above bulbs with this type of setup or not, i would like to have some sort of blueish light in there.

Hope someone can help me please.

Thank you for any help given

 

[BigC]

Whats the size, make, and model no. of the Arcadia luminaire
Regards
BigC

 

[barker_23]

Hi, thanks for replying

its going on a Rio 180

The size of the Luminaire is 100cm and its a 4 tube one.

Thanks in advance

 

[BigC]

I think you can just replace the tubes (mix n match) with the suitable tube to match the wattage. Your tubes will be either T5 or T8 make sure you choose the correct replacements.
Check out the Arcadia site
http/www.arcadia-uk.info/product.php?pid...p;sub=&id=4
Regards
BigC

 

[barker_23]

Yeah i have the T5's but what i really need to know is will it have any effect on the tank/fish/plants if i use the Marine Whites and the Blue tubes?

 

[K-Holed]

If you're happy with the quality of light you get from the bulbs, then you can use the existing bulbs if you wish. It may be a little overkill, but that's a personal choice.

 

[barker_23]

Thanks for that, i am also guessing that the marine lights will be more energy consuming too???

 

[K-Holed]

Not nessecerily.Basically most of your light is going to be in the blue end of the spectrum. The human eye prefers light in the red and green sections of the spectrum. Some people find the blue tinge undesirable, but it does have it's benifits especially in a marine environment.

 

[barker_23]

Yeah thats what i thought, i just didnt know if they would do any harm, i think what i will do is fit the marine lights on for now, see how i get on, then i might go for the plant pro tubes.

Thanks for your help

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah the worst thats gonna happen is an algae outbreak or not as good plant growth, so by all means try them

if you're after super plant growth though do change them out.

 

[Dave Spencer]

The main issue is not the spectrum of the lights, but the fact that you want to run 4 T5s with moderate planting.

If you wish to run all four, then from the outset you will need 75% substrate coverage with fast growing stems, pressurised CO2 and a fert regime such as EI or PPS. Failure to do this will mean all manner of algae outbreaks which will be virtually undefeatable, unless you greatly reduce the lighting.

To be able to run a moderately planted tank, your best bet would be to just run two of the tubes.

Dave.

 

[barker_23]

I would only be running 2 tubes at a time i would only have the 2 white tubes at a time. The other 2 would just be blue to have before the whites come on

 

[rabbut]

The marine whites will be 14,000K and will look close to that of daylight, I.E. blue tinted. Most tanks run arround the 6500K-10000K range, so those tubes are way more blue than normal. Lower K rating equals a softer yellow/red colour light, such as that off your normal internal house lights, where as your marine whites will look more like daylight.

To see the difference, look outside for a few seconds, then into a room lit with artificaial light. The room lights should look a soft yellow. Then look out into the daylight and you will see the daylight is blue. I used to use this fact in the lightling trade. For theatre productions some lighting enginers would use a realy weak blue gel for indoor outdoor scenes, and a weak yellow for indoor ones. To an un-trained audience, they would see the light as white, but would be able to tell you without props whether the scene is indoor or outdoor. They however would not be able to tell you why.... Basically, compaired to an artificially light room, the blue-ness of the Marine Whites will be evident, where as they won't look any different with daylight about If you like the effect, keep them, if not, swap one or both out.

Those Marine whites will realy show the Blues in your fish, but may bleach out the red.... Swapping one with a normal T5 tube of lower spectrum would realy show the colours.

HTH
Rabbut

 

[OldMan47]

Actually Rabbut, the surface of the sun only runs 5500 to 6000K depending on which source you believe. A 14000K is more like the light would be after it filtered through many meters of seawater. The spectrum shifts because lower energy wavelengths are removed by passing through the water and leave behind only the more energetic, higher temperature, wavelengths. The yellow and red that are attributed by people who see a 6500K bulb are more a case of personal preference than the real color being off compared to noonday sun. As Rabbut said, blues will be enhanced by the light from the marine bulbs but the full spectrum of fish colors will be more true to life with a 6500K bulb than a marine bulb. My own personal preference is a 6500K although I am well aware that a 5500K would give me more realistic colors. Another thing you can look for on a bulb's rating is CRI (color rendering index). It is a measure of how well the bulb can reproduce color compared to sunlight, with 100 being perfect. It is rare to find a bulb rated at more than about 85 CRI but they do exist. If realistic colors is your objective go for the bulb with the highest CRI. It may not be the best for plant growth or fit some of your personal preferences but it will be the most realistsic.

 

[barker_23]

Many thanks for the replys guys, Im gonna try the marine ones for a while and see how i get on, if i was going to put a different tube in would the arcadia plant one be ok?

Thanks